The son of a good friend of mine was left this watch by his grandfather and my friend asked if I could give him any information about it. I probably wasn’t a great help but suggested that paid for it to be serviced and cleaned up and given back to his son for his wedding next year. Without opening the watch the only thing he told me was that there is a 9ct stamp on the case and the bracelet is gold plated. I would be very interested to know what light those with far more knowledge than me can shed on the watch. If fully restored I think it would be a beauty.
Many thanks
D
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What is there to know?
It's a Seamaster, looks all original, on it's original bracelet. 60's I think. Serial number inside will give a year.
I'd get the crystal changed and maybe give the dial a very light dab with a bit of Rodico to clean it up. Other than that, yes service it, but don't let anyone polish it or redial it.
It's very nice.
I`ll advise on this but I`m not volunteering to sort it out. I`ve downed tools for a few months.
Interesting to note it doesn`t say 'automatic' on the dial, which suggests it's hand-wound. That may seem unremarkable, but the watch is definitely late 1950s and the only hand-wound Seamasters I`ve come across from that era had the 420 movement and the cases were made in England by Dennison. That ties up with the watch being 9ct, which was predominantly a British market thing. In those days movements were shipped from Switzerland and assembled into locally (British or American) cases to minimise import taxes which were high for watches (particularly precious metal), a far cry from today's situation.
Judging from the picture the watch has had a very hard life, the lugs have become rounded with honest wear and tear. Gold is relatively soft and this will happen, particularly when rubbing against a jacket cuff for years!
It's definitely worth restoring and provided nothing's broken it should be straightforward. The crown that's fitted is wrong for the watch, correct pattern genuine Omega items are still available and that's what it should get. It's v. important to restore the water resistance if possible, it makes a watch far more wearable because it only takes a splash from hand-washing, or getting caught in the rain, to get water in the case. A new crown will help, as will a new glass and caseback seal.
As for the appearance, there are two ways to go on this. One is to keep it looking as it does now, the other is to get it looking as close to 'new' as practicable. It's a question of whether the owner wants the watch to look sharp or to look aged albeit original. This doesn`t meet my definition of original because it was never designed to originally look like it does now, but others will disagree. It's possible the dial will clean up a little but it probably won`t improve much. Same applies to the hands, but getting replacements to match exactly would be v. difficult. New hands against an aged dial doesn`t really work, you either go the whole hog with replacement hands and refinished dial or work with what you've got. In an ideal world a correct replacement dial and handset could be fitted, but the only way to get that is to send the watch to Bienne at very significant cost and there's no guarantee the dial would be exactly right! Refinished dials are frowned upon by some, but that's the only way to get a watch close to looking as it did when new if that's the look you prefer. Hands can be re-plated but in my experience it's very hit and miss, I`ve yet to find someone who does it properly.
Lots of rubbish is talked about 'polishing', usually by those who have never done the work themselves. Polishing cases has got a bad name because so many are done badly, the aim should be to preserve the edges and facets and that's possible if it's done correctly. However, this example has lost its edges so there's an even stronger argument for carefully repolishing to get the marks and damage out, this will give a more pleasing appearance. Trying to restore the edges isn`t something I`d recommend, it would involve taking too much metal with no guarantee of success. I would give it a light polish with the aim of removing unsightly damage, that's not hard to do and involves removal of the minimal amount of metal if done correctly.
In summary, here's how I`d do it: Lightly polish the case, fully service the movement, fit a new glass, fit the correct Omega crown, clean the dial and remove tarnishing from the numbers/batons. Clean the hands and relume carefully with aged lume. As for the bracelet, it's better without it, it looks worn out to me and I'd have no hesitation in fitting a nice leather strap instead. I think the overall effect would be v. pleasing, the watch would be very wearable whilst retaining enough of its history.
Cosmetically it needs a lift, it can be transformed from what's currently an old scruffy watch into something that'll look smart on the wrist. As ever the dial's the contentious area, you can`t be sure how good or bad they are till the movement's out of the case. Hopefully this'll clean up sufficiently to look reasonably sharp again, same goes for the hands.
Sound advice as always from Paul and after seeing some of his watches after similar work they do look stunning.
Clearly you need someone highly experienced who will work with you to undertake a sympathetic restoration. I would keep away from the Omega service centres etc as they will just replace everything.
Simon Freece may be a good shout, he is the go to man for rare and vintage Speedmasters and I'm sure could undertake most, if not all of the work that Paul suggests.
Once done, send for an extract from the archieves (done via the main Omega website) and that would be a nice touch if it being passed down the family line.
The one issue for me, but not necessarily for others is the size. Those late 50s early 60s watches are relatively small by today's standards and not everybody is happy wearing them. If it's a no no and it won't get worn, is it worth bothering.
All food for thought...
If the visible damage that can be seen is to the dial then I would suggest finding a replacement or even a redial. Loose the bracelet as it’s already too badly damaged to repair and put it on a nice leather strap.
Thank you for your information and advice. I will pass it on to my friend and if he goes ahead with the restoration I will try and post pics of the result.
What Paul said.
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