A chap came to me this afternoon for some help with his late father's watch: Now, he's asked me to get an original crown and buckle and service the watch. It's in need of a new rotor bearing; the crystal isn't original; and, while some jewels are swimming in oil, others are bone dry. Poor little thing wasn't looked after very well at its last service. The case is a 9ct Dennison case but that means it doesn't have the Omega reference in there. Instead it reads 13308 at the top and 988325 at the bottom. I can't get a hit using those numbers. Can anyone help out? As I said above, I'll be looking for a crown and buckle so please shout if you have any hiding in a drawer.
That's where I'm at but thought this is the best place to throw out the question. As I said (did I say?) it's a Dennison case. I'm going to guess that a dome crown is correct but, again, if anyone can confirm that'd be great. The owner has told me alsorts about the watch and his father. The current owner went with his father to buy the watch in 1960. His father wore it regularly after that. He was a watch lover and left 83 watches when he passed but this is the one the son wants to wear to remember him. He's quite upset that his father had it serviced when he was 80 and the watch repairer replaced both the original crown and original buckle, returning neither. So I want to make sure I get parts that are as correct as can be for when this goes back.
I can't make head nor tail of the Dennison numbers and you'll be lucky to find someone with exactly that model, unfortunately. Being a 9ct Dennison it's a 1960 dress watch so, is it a water resistant case? Probably it isn't so, it might use a hermetic crown (basically a dustproof crown but combined with a pendant tube) and not what you're used to seeing on a Seamaster, for example. They are usually slimline like the one fitted on that watch today, although that doesn't seem to be an Omega crown. Here's an example from one I had in recently - 1960-61 cal 285. It's an Omega crown. Probably not much help, Chris
Well that looks familiar! my 1955 18K Dennison 31108 case caliber 501 says "hi" my grail watch! I just love the way the light plays on the markers on that dial! There a nice article on Dennison cased watches in the other topics section of Desmond's Constellation site, worth digging up. A lot of Omegas were cased in England to avoid tariffs, The 18k 31108 case was pretty much the same as the Tresor case sold in other markets. I think the 9k version existed because thats the lowest grade of gold you could sell in England and still call it gold. By the way, the A.L.D. marked in the back of the case is Aaron Lufkin Dennison, the founder, obviously, of the Dennison watch case company but also the man many call the father of the American watch industry, being one of the men behind the Waltham watch company, among others. After he left Waltham he went to England and started the Dennison case company. I think they went under in the last 60s
I have a 13308 and posted about it recently. Finding someone with that exact reference actually turned out to be easy!
Another Denison 13308 . . . . . . but fitted with a bumper cal 354 movement. Remarkable that Denison cases were issued a single reference with different calibers. Art
Look at all yooz guise! Could one of you measure the crown for me when you have a moment? No rush as I'll not get started on this until at least early next week. I can dig through my little boxes of treasures then and see if I have a correct match. If not, I'll have to start begging in a WTB.