I wasn’t close to my late father who died last year at the ripe old age of 92. He did however have an interest in watches that is probably where I got the bug …. He could never indulge himself, but his pride was a 1971 stainless steel Omega model number ST168044. He would buy Seiko dress watches as well. For his 80th birthday I had it serviced for him as my present – he had never had it serviced in over 37 years !
His last years were spent on a dementia wing of a specialist nursing home. They looked after him well, are paid a pittance and things get lost/removed/taken by other residents/put in the bin etc.
The only thing he left me was “my Omega watch”. When he sold his house some years prior I collected the box and papers. He kept things meticulously.
It was Covid lockdown 2 when he passed away and when we were able to go through what few pitiful items he had in his room there was no watch.
The papers themselves are interesting in terms of how they have survived in such a pristine condition for over 50 years. And £79.50 in 1971 on an inflation calculator is £1,250 today which would have been a fair whack for him. Also of note which I have not pictured is paperwork from 1972 when the movement was changed under warranty.
My recollection (and I was a young boy at the time) was that it came on a black leather strap and later on he bought a steel bracelet – see spare link in the photo (which is different to the models I think are the same on ebay). I don’t “do” ebay, but the listing numbers for similar watches are 701639 and 692847 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/265754663241
So I wonder if the TZ collective have any idea how to possibly track down the watch. Anyone finding it would probably try and sell it for couple of hundred quid. I would not wear it either, but it would be nice to reunite it with the box and papers and it would be a bit of family history – 2 of my 3 sons have the watch bug & it would be the origin of the story.
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