Steves Barn Find!!

Bluemagic

Hi all,

long time reader, first time poster. Thought Id share this one with you! I was helping my Aunt clear some cupboards and wardrobes there last week when we came upon a few items belonging to my grand uncle long since dead. whilst going through it I found This at the bottom of a bag!

Being a big watch fan I was pretty excited and surprised that this guy ever would have had something like this. I suppose it would have been fairly run of the mill back then.
Anyway I said Id lash it up here to see if anyone knows anything about these earlier models and can enlighten me! Looking at the number on the movement it looks like it was manufactured in 50-51. Needless to say I could never sell something like this, Im sure it doesnt have a high monetary value anyway but Im chuffed with the find!!

Wibbs

Sorry B can't see your attachments(and the links don't work for some reason). It happens sometimes. Maybe reload them but just leave them as attachments? People around here will defo click

Bluemagic

Wibbs wrote: »

Sorry B can't see your attachments(and the links don't work for some reason). It happens sometimes. Maybe reload them but just leave them as attachments? People around here will defo click

Think it's sorted now, thanks Wibbs!

marcus1971

Old Seamaster cal 351 bumper wind - which has a funny feel to it at first until you get used to it, movement looks clean - probably needs a service though.

Those old Omega movements were, in their day, far better than anything the likes of Rolex were putting out. This is from the day when Omegas were the choice for those more inclined to appreciate the engineering behind a watch and were never considered run of the mill, Omegas were always considered a top quality watch for timekeeping abilities.... in fact the quality of that Omega - given when it was made - is far superior to anything they are making today,coaxials included.
They, once serviced, respond to regulation very very well, I had one of these that I regulated over a couple of weeks and once set up it was running to within 10 seconds per month with regular wear.

The dial is typical of a lot of vintage Omegas that just didnt seem to have the longevity of a lot of the equal brands from the same timeline, the "experts" reckon the lacquer they used wasn't up to snuff hence the pitting (the Geneve line, which is basically the bargain basement in the Omega stable, is the worst offender for this....never ever buy a vintage Geneve).....on the plus there are lots of dials available on eBay, both NOS and redials, keep the old one for posterity and pop on a new(ish) one and it will be perfect.

Value on these is anything from $300 - $1000, Something with a dial like yours would be in the middle if it is totally original (the crosshair dial is that little bit more rare), perfect condition original dial with well polished markers would top out at around $1000 - something with a sub-seconds dial would push $1500 in perfect condition.

A good watchmaker should be able to vastly improve the dial on yours as part of a normal service, a sympathetic cleaning should reduce the blemish at 1 o'clock to a shadow, brighten up the dial considerably to the point where the text will appear more sharp and less faded and with the markers polished back to their former glory and maybe a relacquer but NOT a repaint it would be a really nice watch for regular wear.

The hands look like they have lost their lume - which means that it, now in the form of dust n lumps, is floating around infront of and behind the dial- probably in the works, dont get it relumed, it ALWAYS looks crap when someone gets their hands on these watches and puts in that awful cheapo green lume pasted onto the hands and globs dropped behind the markers - it never looks right, its never evenly applied and it looks totally wrong, there is not a single watch from that time that would have lume that works today, so you would not be missing out on anything if it was still there anyways. If there was lume on the hands and it has fallen out DO NOT wear it or wind it until it has been serviced, the lume will grind away at the innards and cause problems, the bumpers are especially hard on the auto wind mechanism and do not need any more stress than normal to wear them out, when you do get it serviced make sure they don't replace the hands, you can get the old ones cleaned, polished or even replated, don't let the watchmaker talk you into replacing them with generic lookalikes that will make his work easier, like the reluming they never look right.

Its a nice watch, enjoy it and its history.......presuming your aunt did give it to you?

ronnie3585

Great find. Lovely looking piece.

Bluemagic

marcus1971 wrote: »

Old Seamaster cal 351 bumper wind - which has a funny feel to it at first until you get used to it, movement looks clean - probably needs a service though.

Those old Omega movements were, in their day, far better than anything the likes of Rolex were putting out. This is from the day when Omegas were the choice for those more inclined to appreciate the engineering behind a watch and were never considered run of the mill, Omegas were always considered a top quality watch for timekeeping abilities.... in fact the quality of that Omega - given when it was made - is far superior to anything they are making today,coaxials included.
They, once serviced, respond to regulation very very well, I had one of these that I regulated over a couple of weeks and once set up it was running to within 10 seconds per month with regular wear.

The dial is typical of a lot of vintage Omegas that just didnt seem to have the longevity of a lot of the equal brands from the same timeline, the "experts" reckon the lacquer they used wasn't up to snuff hence the pitting (the Geneve line, which is basically the bargain basement in the Omega stable, is the worst offender for this....never ever buy a vintage Geneve).....on the plus there are lots of dials available on eBay, both NOS and redials, keep the old one for posterity and pop on a new(ish) one and it will be perfect.

Value on these is anything from $300 - $1000, Something with a dial like yours would be in the middle if it is totally original (the crosshair dial is that little bit more rare), perfect condition original dial with well polished markers would top out at around $1000 - something with a sub-seconds dial would push $1500 in perfect condition.

A good watchmaker should be able to vastly improve the dial on yours as part of a normal service, a sympathetic cleaning should reduce the blemish at 1 o'clock to a shadow, brighten up the dial considerably to the point where the text will appear more sharp and less faded and with the markers polished back to their former glory and maybe a relacquer but NOT a repaint it would be a really nice watch for regular wear.

The hands look like they have lost their lume - which means that it, now in the form of dust n lumps, is floating around infront of and behind the dial- probably in the works, dont get it relumed, it ALWAYS looks crap when someone gets their hands on these watches and puts in that awful cheapo green lume pasted onto the hands and globs dropped behind the markers - it never looks right, its never evenly applied and it looks totally wrong, there is not a single watch from that time that would have lume that works today, so you would not be missing out on anything if it was still there anyways. If there was lume on the hands and it has fallen out DO NOT wear it or wind it until it has been serviced, the lume will grind away at the innards and cause problems, the bumpers are especially hard on the auto wind mechanism and do not need any more stress than normal to wear them out, when you do get it serviced make sure they don't replace the hands, you can get the old ones cleaned, polished or even replated, don't let the watchmaker talk you into replacing them with generic lookalikes that will make his work easier, like the reluming they never look right.

Its a nice watch, enjoy it and its history.......presuming your aunt did give it to you?

Wow Marcus that's a great response, delighted now I know a little more. Did my Aunt give it to me? Yes is the answer but I suppose you're just a temporary keeper for something like this before passing it on, ie I wouldn't sell it! Do you think I should replace the Dial? I'm in two minds. Also what do you think I should do about the bracelet? Should I put a leather strap on it? I was half thinking about a SS mesh bracelet?

Mitch Buchannon

If your looking at getting it sympathetically restored, you could do a lot worse than these guys. http://www.swisstimeservices.com/restoration.html

A lot of people on other watch forums send them stuff to get taken care of. I don't know the cost but from the pictures I have seen of their work, you won't be disappointed.

marcus1971

Changing the dial out on a wach like this is a personal choice, it would affect the value a little although its not in the crazy tens of thousands of Euro vintage price range and probably never will be, but if you are the sort of person who couldn't live with it as is and would not wear it because of the patina then changing the dial or getting a good profesional redial done would be a viable option for you, a replacement dial means that you will always have the old one there to replace if you feel the need, a redial and its changed forever and you can be guranteed that a redial will fade out over time too, probably wouldn't last as long as whats in it now.

A normal coa service (clean oil adjust) will involve the whole watch being totally dismantled, everything cleaned ultrasonically, all parts inspected for wear/damage and replaced as necessary, the dial and hands will also be cleaned as part of this service, maybe it would be worth just trying this out before making a decision about the dial.

Your next question is going to be (it always is).....
Who should I get to service it and do you recommend anybody good?

And the answer is simple, the best place to send your watch for service and that is:

http://www.omegawatches.com/customer-service/watch-repair/watch-restoration

They will tell you to contact their nearest service centre, which is probably in Brown Thomas, but if you email them and insist that you want to send the watch to their service dept in Bienne and nowhere else they will then send you the details on how to go about this and if it is possible based on your particular movement/model #.
It involves a few customs documents to allow the watch to enter Switzerland and return to Ireland without attracting customs attention.
(A lot of Omega collectors have good things to say about STS in the UK, they are an official Omega service dept., and in some cases actually have more out of production spares than Omega themselves)


Your next question is going to be:
How much is all of this going to cost me:


http://www.omegawatches.com/customer-service/watch-repair/repair-prices

http://www.omegawatches.com/fileadmin/customer_service/cs_price_list_2010.pdf

1 Swiss Franc = Approx 0.87 Euro, so 775ish Euro would be your total.

For that you get the watch returned to you in 100% perfect condition (excluding the dial which will be cleaned to the best of their ability....unless a brand new replacement is available and that would probably be an extra 150-200 Euro)
They will put on a new leather strap as part of the service (usually about 200ish for an Omega strap - which is a total ripoff in itself)
All parts replaced will be returned....crystal, crown, tube and all parts replaced in the movement.
You will get it back in a red Omega carry case with its original paperwork from the archives...were it was sold/when etc.
Warranty will be as it is for a new Omega watch ....2 Years from service date.

And it will all take from between 6 months and a year.


If you want to get it serviced by a competent watchmaker the cost would be a fraction of what Omega will charge you, the choice is yours, the Omega service will be better - no doubt about it but in all honesty a decent watchmaker will get it to within 90% of that for probably less than 200Euro. (and you will be suprised at how much that dial will clean up)

It may be hard to find somebody to work on what is not a standard run of the mill eta based watch, the best option would be to look for recommendations for a watchmaker on the WUS Omega forum, which seems to have the most active Omega forum, you will probably end up sending it to the UK, I hate to say it but there seems to be a better standard of repair work coming out of the UK than in Ireland, based on whatever repairs I have ever had done anyways.

For a strap on that watch I would go for something in either lizard or alligator, it would look 1000 times better than mesh, but having said that its the type of watch that will suit many different strap options, why not pick up a few different straps and watch out for an Omega signed buckle, just dont put it on a deployant.
(I buy mine for $18, but they are knock offs and I would suffer the wrath If I posted the link)
but first buy a good quality springbar tool or you'll scratch the crap out of the lugs changing them with cheapo springbar tools.


Edit:
Just spotted some generic 18mm Beads of Rice bracelets on Bay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEADS-OF-RICE-BAND-SEAMASTER-CONSTELLATION-18mm-/370537798019?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5645c61983

Dunno what the lugs measure up to on yours, but those beads of rice bracelets look perfect on old Seamasters, they are to Omega what a Jubilee is to Rolex and are 1000% better looking than those fused mesh style bracelets with straight ends, straight end metal bracelets just look wrong on almost any watch that does not have hidden lugs....all thats missing is the Omega logo on the clasp and $29 is a steal.

Bluemagic

Thanks Marcus and Mitch, good advice indeed. I'm definitely going to get moving on this so I'll let you know the progress.

Bullseye1

Marcus it's a pleasure reading your posts.

marcus1971

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Marcus it's a pleasure reading your posts.

Cheers.

Wibbs

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Marcus it's a pleasure reading your posts.

QFT. It really is M. A mine of knowledge with an even better sensibility.