Reply With QuoteI'd wear it as is....lovely.
Congratulations on a great find.
I was luck enough to pick this up yesterday, it was in tarnished, un-loved condition with a particularly tacky strap.
As soon as I got it home I junked the strap and spent 10 minutes with a polishing cloth which revealed the engraving I thought I had seen under a loupe.
Am I right in thinking this is a 1970's Seamaster in 18ct gold? As you can see there are some scars from an incompetent trying to change the strap and scratches where someone has tried to lever off the caseback!. The face and hands could use a light clean and the crown has been replaced but everything is working as it should.
My question is, should I source a decent strap and wear is as is, battle scars and all, or send it off to have the work done? If the latter, do you have any recommendations?
Any comments would be appreciated.
Barry
I'd wear it as is....lovely.
Congratulations on a great find.
That's quite interesting, I've not seen one like that before, what sort of size is it as a matter of interest ? If that's the original crown the watch doesn't seem to have had a lot of use, the Omega Logo on the dial seems to have been re-affixed at some stage too ....... Curiouser and curiouser, nice find !..
If it were me, I would have it nursed back to health..... but that's more through compulsion than preference. Why not wear it for a bit, and find out whether when you look at it you go 'oooh yeah' or 'hmmm, i wish it didn't have that scratch...'. If it's the latter you have your answer, and if it's the former then save the money you'd have spent on restoration for a time when you KNOW you want a watch all nice and shiny.
T
What you have found, i am afraid, is a vintage fake. It wont be gold either. Sorry.
Cheers
Foggy
I think you may have been unlucky as it's a fake Seamaster.
Cheers,
Neil.
You beat me to it Ian!
Cheers,
Neil.
Indeed, Neil. We've both seen plenty of these over the years ;-)Originally Posted by Neil.C
To the op - to clarify, nothing about this watch is Omega. Some people actually now collect these vintage fakes.
Cheers
Foggy
So I've been done! well that makes me feel like an idiot, but at least I can save some money on refurb. Are these fakes old or are they modern copies of vintage watches?
Barry
They have some age, Barry, as i was seeing them twenty years go.
Cheers
Foggy
Ouch....
Nice looking though! .
Alarm bells started ringing the second I looked at it.
The font of the writing, the slightly too clunky batons and hands.
It would be interesting to see what movement is in that. Any chance of a pic of the innards?
Fascinating when you find things like this, part of the history of fakery in the watch trade... If you get a chance to open it up it would be interesting to see what's in it in terms of movement, which I suspect could be an ETA as many were. .... I've seen others with other weird fonts on the Seamaster name and most of them seem to have wobbly Omega logos with a tendency to drop off ... The crown seems to be standard for one for these though, as does the engraving on the back. so one can assume they come from a common source despite the range of cases that they use..
Most seem to have unworn crowns so that one presumes they weren't actually used much, presumably bought as known fakes or discovered fairly quickly as such and not used much and stuck in a draw. Many of them did have Swiss movements of some sort in those days so should have kept running, so that wouldn't have been the reason they had so little use. You said it's running so presumably the inept removal attempts of the caseback meant someone knew what it was and wanted to see what was under the hood...
All fascinating stuff and a glimpse of the times... presumably you weren't charged the sort of money that a real solid Gold Omega would fetch ? If you have you obviously have recourse but I suspect you didn't pay near what it would have been if real ........
Anybody know what the case will be made of? I'm amazed that chip on the back of the bottom right lug hasn't got through to metal underneath plating...
Brass (or some similar alloy) I would have thought.
I have a much more modern pseudo-German Chinese-made watch which is a similar faux gold colour. The metal is in fact that colour all the way through -- it's not plated at all.
Dare I ask, how much did you pay? It's a not unpleasant looking watch in its own right.
Hope he didn't pay too much, not a nice feeling being stung.
As Foggy says we have been seeing this stuff for the last twenty years so can spot them a mile off.
IME the seller usually has it on a table or whatever without comment and waits for an "expert" to draw their own conclusions.
Cheers,
Neil.
The Omega logo is rather wonky!
"A man of little significance"
No I didn't pay too much luckily, but it still leaves you with the feeling of being an idiot.
The case back is solid and access to the works is via the bezel which will lever off. I don't feel I have the expertise to remove the crystal and then the crown but I too would like to see the movement.
This is a good lesson for me personally but it's still a nice looking watch and I will wear it to remind me that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Thank you all for your imput.
Barry
That's good.
Yes it a nice watch and is worth wearing. Would be especially nice if you could get the dial de-branded.
Both Foggy and Neil beat me to it. Sorry, but it's definitely a fake. I`ve seen a few of these around over the years.
Paul
Sorry for your bad luck, but at least this post made a lot of us here a bit wiser when it comes to Omega vintage-fakes...
Presumably... looks like a much nicer hue than I'd expect for brass. *shrug*
T
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