Hi all, a few of you will remember my recent WTB post where I had been left £500 from my recently departed dear Grandmothers will. She never had much money bless her but that didn't stop her always carrying a touch of class, right to the last days she always took pride in herself and was pretty trendy for an oldie. She was the World to me so with this budget I really wanted to buy something special to remember her by, like her parting gift. With the above I wanted to exclude my typical military/military looking pieces, or anything too unrefined where I would imagine her looking with a disapproving face. Anyway was given plenty of options from the good folk here, most of which I'd have jumped at had it not been for the above frame of mind, I love a bit of 70's chunk but it had to have a certain bit of refinement too. Scowling ebay I noticed something I had long admired from Tom Dicks' 9ct Gold F300 transformation thread, not in anywhere near the condition of course but as it had Best Offers I thought no harm in popping one in. It was priced at a slightly ambitious £800 and to my surprise they countered with £600, a very fair drop but with my funny frame of mind I didn't want to dilute this idea by adding a chunk of my own money to this purchase so explained my situation and again left them with my £500 offer. It was accepted Not the bargain of the century perhaps but I was pretty thrilled, and this would be something I can further improve later on by sending to STS for a case refurb which will most certainly be in my plans. So then, here it is after arriving yesterday. Lastly my dear old Nan who was the sweetest person you could ever wish to meet. THOUGHTS ON THE WATCH.... The good: It was sold as date not working(not unusual for these F300's of course) but after noticing it actually seem to change at the unusual time of 6:30 I decided to pop the dial off to see the damage. Turns out it's just the one tooth which is sheered, you can see it in my pic highlighted with a red circle, with this the only day that doesn't turn over by itself is the 10th. I can live with this happily for now so better than expected there. I reset the hands so the date now turns over correctly at 12. It was sold with an old Omega box which is always a bonus, but I suspected it was probably a random box rather than the original. In fact after looking through the 1974 Omega catalogue which features this watch(my Birth year too, bonus!), look to the back page and sure enough, this very box! So looks like this most likely is indeed what the watch was originally sold with. The bad: As is often the case with watches sold on ebay, it was supposedly recently serviced. In light of the above with the calendar clicking over at 6:30 I would find this hard to believe unless they really couldn't be bothered. No big deal as always read that sort of comment with a pinch of salt, and will get it down to Paul at electronicwatches at some point to get that done and possibly the date wheel replaced with one of his metal ones. There are a couple of marks on the dial, you can make out the main on just after 12 which kind of looks like water ingress at some point. There are also a couple of lighter tide lines on the dial further down you can see at certain lights. Thankfully I couldn't see any signs of rust under the dial so perhaps this was down to something like a damaged crystal at some point, either way I couldn't find a way to remove the stain so that will be staying. The ugly: The thing we all love to hate, overpolished case. It has just slightly more defined edges than a bar of soap and sadly nothing like Tom Dicks' fine example, but still that was a rare example he found there and beggers can't be choosers, you pays your money. Even the original crown has been so polished the Omega logo is all but polished away. As mentioned earlier it will be off to STS at some point, might loose some Gold but I would like to bring it back closer to how it should be with the different finishes and edges. Those 3D dial markers are very dull and again I couldn't find a way to clean them, tried things like some Jewel Clean on cotton buds but they remain very dark. Don't know if there's any way to bring them back to the lovely gold they once were? I did at least manage to clean the Omega logo on the dial with this method so while not shiny, it does stand out a little better than it did. Anyway, that's about it for now. Next on the list will be a new nice quality strap and then in a few weeks hopefully off to STS for the case. Those that stuck with this thanks for reading, slightly boring post maybe but I wanted to post it and update down the line once it's all complete, and oh course to pay my respects once more to my beautiful Nan who will always be in my memories and with this watch from her money she left me I will wear it with price for special occasions. Thanks for reading
What a great way to remember your grandmother. I still have my grandfather's rings and wear them from time to time. Even though I never really had the pleasure of knowing him (passed when I was three of Melanoma) it makes me feel somewhat close to him. Wear it in good health.
Congratulations ! Impressed with your confidence, to delve as deeply as you have, into the movement I am sure your Nan will be somewhere, smiling with pleasure, at the joy you getting from the watch BTW ....There is another Steel Seamaster f300 in the Sales Forum from @marturx in beautiful condition, at an incredibly good price.........if you felt like adding a 'Companion' https://omegaforums.net/threads/omega-seamaster-f300hz-ref-198-001.66274/
Very nice idea and thanks for sharing the story. They're an interesting watch and different to wear as well. Regards, Chris
yes ... we found an envelop with billions at the end of the twenties, that my grandma helt ... she could have bought aboubt 20 ALS with this money ... DAMN!
Looks nice, needs a little love though as you say. STS will bring the case up nicely. A new date wheel can either be found on ebay if you look hard enough or as I think I mentioned in our message conversation, Paul W does metal ones for about £90 plus fitting. What is the case number? Don't recognise that one.
Ahhh well that makes it a much better deal then, pricey for a plated one that needs work perhaps but cheap for solid one. I'll come up well no doubt. Paul has a nice pic of a (slightly worn) 198.5001 on his website by the way. ps may be worth taking a look at the hallmark on it for confirmation, I would have put a 34m serial at more like 1972, (my birth year!)
Indeed, I wasn't interested in a gold plated model as I don't like when the plating starts to wear away. Didn't think a solid gold would be a possibility but just goes to show I guess. Very solid case on this model made by Shackmans, so should be fine for some refinishing. Crazy to think this model was almost double the price of the Speedmaster in 1974, how much would you have to pay for a '74 Speedy these days?
Great story and a great way to remember your grandma! I realy like the case! Reminds me of the seamaster sparkle cases. Solid is a huge plus over plated! I'm sure this one will turn out lovely after a spa trip. Wear it in good health!
What a great story and a lovely tribute to your grandma! I love your choice and hope it cleans up exactly the way you hope!
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