STS - Swiss Time Services
A friend of mine has this watch
It was given to him years ago by a family member. He doesn’t wear it so he decided he’s going to sell it.
He wound the watch to make sure it’s working and he thinks he has overwound it.
I said I’d ask on here for some help as to where he could send it to get it repaired.
I know the obvious is Omega but I think the price they are likely to charge would be so expensive as to make selling it afterwards, pointless.
I could well be miles out on my thoughts on the Omega route though so any and all advice would be much appreciated.
Cheers.
STS - Swiss Time Services
What about asking Walkerwek1958 on here
https://forum.tz-uk.com/member.php?1253-walkerwek1958
Steve
I’ve had Genesis Watchmaking service a few Omegas for me and been very pleased with the work.
My local watchmaker fixed mine.
The main problem with these is that they are front loaders, you need someone with a graber to get the crystal out. After that it's just a standard Omega movement, 10xx if I remember inexactly.
Cheers guys. I’ve directed him to Genesis.
Movement will be a 601 hand-wound, later 1012 models had a slightly different case with polished finish. Getting the crystal out is easy with a crystal lifter but there's always a risk that an old crystal will crack whilst being removed, thankfully generic replacements that fit correctly are readily available.
The split stem is another quirk of the design, there's a technique for separating the crown/outer stem from the inner.
What is his plan for the watch? You mention selling it afterwards, if this is the case I would suggest doing nothing and selling it as is. He won’t recoup his service costs so will be a waste of money in this instance
Given the current prices on these, and the price of a service, he might well be advised to sell as is. It's a fine, unmolested example and, frankly, a good original dial and sharp case are where the value lies. The 601, as previously mentioned, is easy to work on, ok for spares and generally very well protected by this type of case. Anyone who was serious about the watch should know this. Quite a lot of collectors would put a premium on it being untouched.
As it is, I reckon it's probably £400 plus or minus £100 if it is well described with good pictures. Mind you, I have just been pulled up on undervaluing Omega.
Last edited by M4tt; 3rd July 2022 at 11:19.
This watch is likely to be coming my way, looking forward to having a good look at it and it’ll be interesting to know the full story.
I suspect the grained finish has been re- done, there are subtle differences with the original finish that can’t be replicated, but it looks to have been done v. nicely. Dial and hands are excellent and correct, apart from the fact that the movement needs sorting (a relatively minor issue) the watch is very saleable. Hand- wound models fetch less money but as I’ve stated on another thread they’re far less likely to need big money spending on worn parts.
Genuine Omega straps for these are now the wrong side of £100, thankfully there are some excellent generics available for £25 that are good quality and fit properly.
As a collector of old Omegas I find it surprising that someone wouldn’t want to keep a watch like this!
I confess that if it is redone, it caught me. Care to make today a school day and explain the subtle differences for future reference. I did wonder if it had been redone, but that was only because it was so nice and I concluded that it had just been in a draw forever, so I'm curious for tells I didn't know.
Hard to describe the difference, it's the spacing between the grained lines that was originally wider and it gives a slightly different effect. I guess that's down to the machine used on the original cases, refinished cases always have a conventional grained finish whether done by machine or done carefully by hand. Omega produced these watches in large numbers and it's possible there were inconsistencies in finish between batches.
Here's a pic of an original case in worn condition:
I have my own technique for refinishing these and provided the edges aren`t too deeply damaged I can get the sharp edge back again with the correct pattern of graining on the sides, which differs slightly from the top.
If this watch ends up coming my way it'll be interesting to assess whether it's had any refinishing or not, I suspect it has. However, it's possible this watch has had little use judging from the condition of the dial and hands, maybe it's spent years in a drawer. The original crown seal usually perishes and turns to a sticky goo, I can usually get a new O ring to fit and retain the original crown, a less common tap 10 on these.
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 3rd July 2022 at 15:47.
I'm pretty sure that Omega had most of the cases made for them - look for a stylised diving helmet, an odd inverted triangle, 'CB' or 'HF' on the inner caseback (or a couple of others that don't come to mind). I can't remember which companies that they represent but I vaguely remember Desmond and I discussing it over on WUS years ago so I can either find it or dig them out if you are interested. I know that there could be noticeable variation between them. What's that one?
I'm not saying you are wrong, but everything on this just seems to fit together exactly as you would expect. If it is redone, then whoever did it is bloody talented, because it looks like a sock draw special.
Last edited by M4tt; 3rd July 2022 at 16:32.
The more I look at the photo the less sure I am that it's been refinished, but that just illustrates the limitations of pictures! Looking at the area around 1 o clock it looks like original finish. It could be a sock drawer special, but there's no disputing that it's a nice example that should easily find a buyer. The fact that it's a non-runner is a drawback, but that can be sorted.
Inspired by this thread I`ve dug one of mine out to give it some wrist time, cal 752 with the slightly deeper case to accommodate the taller day-date movement.
upload photo internet
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 3rd July 2022 at 19:39.
They are a really nice, quite unique watch. I have this, a 1978 with the Omega 1010 calibre. They are well worth restoring and appreciating.
Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves
The later 1010 versions have a different case shape which is less oval. For a short while they produced a date version with the Tissot- designed 1481, this was around 1972. Not my favourite movement, the early versions or the 1010 are better.
Purely my opinion, I prefer the watch on a leather strap and I think the design works better this way.
I have a blue-silver-blue bullseye in an early starburst grained case (and so does my wife). It's one of my favourite watches. Mine's on a bracelet, which I think works much better on these than the strap.
I have a feeling Sish's sliver-blue-silver bullseye two posts above should have a polished rather than a brushed case. Could be wrong, there are so many variants of these. I found an excellent pdf doc on these, by Desmond somebody. Worth digging up and reading for anyone vaugely interested .
I'm on the lookout for a square cased Dynamic, much harder to come by. I only mention it just in case anyone is thinking of posting a pic of theirs to make me jealous, or even maybe selling...
Correct, I omitted to mention it but the case finish on the later ones should be polished. Someone's brushed this one and it looks OK, it could easily be made correct again but if he's happy I would leave it as is.
As for the square-cased versions, I had one years ago with a black dial, long since sold. On a black strap it was a cool combination, another watch that maybe I should've kept. I sold it at a time when I was drawn towards more expensive stuff beginning with R, I`ve gone full circle and I much prefer the vintage Omega stuff that's worth a few £100s........which is where I was at 15+ years ago!
Me too.
Never understood the fascination with Rolex. They're good, but they're not that (£££££) good. The Sub is OK (all variants look the same to me), but the others do nothing for me. If I actually had 10K to drop on a Sub, there's no way I would. Every single day of the week I'd choose 10 to 20 vintage Omegas, Hamilton electrics ,JLC's etc. instead. But hey, horses for courses right?
This is mine, which was fully (and beautifully) restored by Paul Walker some years ago. It has huge sentimental value to me as it’s the watch my parents bought me for my 18th birthday.
https://i.imgur.com/fgvuIZ8.jpg
Simon