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Watchmaking weirdness

Geezer
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So I bought a nice little Omega 2846 that I intend to give to my wife for Christmas. In the auction picture, I noticed on the crystal something that looked like an insect.

Omega 2846.jpg


Upon receiving the watch, I immediately notice that this is the wrong crystal (no tension ring) and it is indeed an insect.

Next step: disassembly and removing the crystal....

PXL_20221212_012514736~2.jpg PXL_20221212_012526178~2.jpg


To my great surprise, the insect is actually stuck inside the crystal. 😲 It must have died a horrible death by drowning when they produced it...

So the watchmaker who worked on this watch before me installed the wrong crystal type, and secondly ignored the obvious crystal defect... 👎

The rest of the watch is pretty nice though. 😁
 
Aroxx
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I can’t believe somebody put that on a watch. It would really bug me.
 
rspace
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wow! you should save it! Jurassic Park franchise is running out of ideas for sequels....
 
JimInOz
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I found a beetle in a pocket watch movement a few years ago 😵‍💫.
 
ghce
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JimInOz JimInOz
I found a beetle in a pocket watch movement a few years ago 😵‍💫.

Which one, John, Paul or Ringo
 
Geezer
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Haha, great idea! I instantly thought of Jurassic park too when I saw it.

QC at the crystal factory must have been asleep at the job the day they produced it...

rspace rspace
wow! you should save it! Jurassic Park franchise is running out of ideas for sequels....
 
janice&fred
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Geezer Geezer
So the watchmaker who worked on this watch before me installed the wrong crystal type, and secondly ignored the obvious crystal defect...

"Watchmaker" is probably a stretch, more like someone at home thought it was funny when they crudely installed that buggy acrylic and didn't bother with the tension ring 😁
 
Pvt-Public
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Want to get rid of the crystal?? I'll give you a coupe bucks + postage for it !
 
Archer
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I recall seeing a post on TZ many years ago with a gif of a new watch someone had bought, and a small insect crawled across the dial and then down into the date window opening...

I've been working at my bench and had spiders drop down right in front of me - with a loupe on that can be a distressing thing...they look like Australian spiders, even though they are tiny...

Shit happens...
 
noelekal
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I'll give you a few bucks more for it than Pvt-Public will.
Edited:
 
Pvt-Public
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noelekal noelekal
I'll give you a few bucks more it than Pvt-Public will.
oh-god-damnit-eric-cartman.gif
 
Aroxx
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That’s it, send it to Philips. This could be this season’s hot auction item. Just lie and tell them it came from a Rolex.
 
140dave
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ghce ghce
Which one, John, Paul or Ringo
What the 'ell ... You got something against George?
 
ghce
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140dave 140dave
What the 'ell ... You got something against George?

The forgotten beetle 😁
 
140dave
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...and for the OP ... once I knew it was actually in the crystal I would have put it right back on the watch and bought the wife something else. That would have been a fun watch in the office, dangle that wrist non-nonchalantly and see the reactions.
 
Larry S
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Baltic amber with bugs is rare and valuable.
 
akshayluc420
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marcn marcn
Secret to what makes a watch tick.
and fly off shelves...

Lovely piece OP, congrats and wear in good health
 
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