Water damaged 601 movement

Kik_Kat_Kish · Jul 9, 2022

Evening members of OF, hope you're all well. I recently brought a Geneve 131.019 that was listed on ebay for spare parts so I could utilise the BOR bracelet. Once I received the watch, the case looked in fair nick and didn't show any signs of polishing. Plus I love the Arabic hour markers albeit the dial is water damaged. With that in mind I thought it would make a nice beater watch I can wear for everyday use. The ebay listing did show the 601 movement with severe water damage. So my question to you all is whether it is worth sending the watch away to be assessed for servicing or to find a donor movement?

SkunkPrince · Jul 9, 2022

It's not a personal piece so it's probably not "worth it". That said, if you want to wear the watch and you "fell in love with it", then by all means. For this one, I would suggest at least Omega-authorized service or send it to Omega directly and get an estimate.

It were mine, I would not bother.

dsio · Jul 9, 2022

I wouldn’t spend money on it servicing it but if you like the watch I’d try to find a junk looking gold plated geneve 601 with lots of wear through on the case but a good movement and do a movement swap

Kik_Kat_Kish · Jul 9, 2022

Thanks for you advice @SkunkPrince and @dsio! If I can find a suitable donor movement I'll definitely make it a beater watch to wear.

Davidt · Jul 9, 2022

I’d consider sending it for service.

If it ends up needing loads of parts you could pull the plug but much of that may be surface tarnish and some parts for this movement are fairly cheap.

Actually, I wouldn’t have got into this in the first place, but now you have it, I’d give it a a shot.

kaplan · Jul 10, 2022

The watch looked pretty saveable to me honestly, even the case clamps aren't 100% seized and they are usually the first to go

I'd love to attempt to fix it myself, but living in a country with a mean customs, can't really offer it

It takes a lot of time to gently apply a rust resolver to parts, but in the end, it's quite fun and rewarding - worst best case scenario is a rusted and torn keyless works which will require parts

Archer · Jul 10, 2022

That’s likely very fixable...

Dan S · Jul 10, 2022

As a collector, I'd say that the condition of the dial doesn't warrant the cost of movement repairs.

Davidt · Jul 10, 2022

Dan S
As a collector, I'd say that the condition of the dial doesn't warrant the cost of movement repairs.

Completely agree. I wouldn’t have bought it, but now the OP owns it, I’d go ahead and try and resurrect it.

kaplan · Jul 10, 2022

There's quite a bit of people who enjoy watches in this exact condition, think of it as a post-apocalyptic fetish - it 100% won't amortise a decent service, but for example in Turkey it costs $10-20 to get a full service from a watchmaker who was trained from childhood, this watch would be a good candidate for such a service - the only downside is they don't baby the hands or the dial, so it's slightly rough

Dan S · Jul 10, 2022

Davidt
Completely agree. I wouldn’t have bought it, but now the OP owns it, I’d go ahead and try and resurrect it.

I think he bought it for the bracelet, which is fine. My personal inclination would be to hold onto it for parts, or just in case I happened upon a better dial. I wouldn't actively try to restore it.

Kik_Kat_Kish · Jul 10, 2022

Dan S
I think he bought it for the bracelet, which is fine. My personal inclination would be to hold onto it for parts, or just in case I happened upon a better dial. I wouldn't actively try to restore it.

That's right @Dan S initially brought it for the number 12 BOR bracelet. Taking on board everyones feedback comments the watches condition isn't up to collector's standards but if the movement can be serviced/ or replaced it would make a decent beater watch that I wouldn't mind getting scratched/ scuffed up.

Kik_Kat_Kish · Jul 10, 2022

kaplan
There's quite a bit of people who enjoy watches in this exact condition, think of it as a post-apocalyptic fetish - it 100% won't amortise a decent service, but for example in Turkey it costs $10-20 to get a full service from a watchmaker who was trained from childhood, this watch would be a good candidate for such a service - the only downside is they don't baby the hands or the dial, so it's slightly rough

@kaplan definitely going to start calling some of my watch collection "post-apocalyptic fetish watches" from now on 👍

SkunkPrince · Jul 10, 2022

Kik_Kat_Kish
number 12 BOR bracelet

12 identifies the clasp. There should be a four-digit number stamped on the folding part, that's the part number for the bracelet.

Kik_Kat_Kish · Jul 10, 2022

SkunkPrince
12 identifies the clasp. There should be a four-digit number stamped on the folding part, that's the part number for the bracelet.

Thanks for the clarification @SkunkPrince, I can't see any other digits on the folding part of the clasp but it does come with 570 endlinks.

SkunkPrince · Jul 10, 2022

Kik_Kat_Kish
Thanks for the clarification @SkunkPrince, I can't see any other digits on the folding part of the clasp but it does come with 570 endlinks.

Judging from your pictures, it looks like a 1037.

Water damaged 601 movement

Kik_Kat_Kish

SkunkPrince

dsio

Kik_Kat_Kish

Davidt

kaplan

Archer

Dan S

Davidt

kaplan

Dan S

Kik_Kat_Kish

Kik_Kat_Kish

SkunkPrince

Kik_Kat_Kish

SkunkPrince

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