Help with classic omega

positivenote

Hi all, I inherited my grandfathers watch about five years ago, it's an Onega Electronic F300Hz Geneve Chronomtere. When I got it off him he told me that the strap was not original and now I'm hoping to source one but am not sure what it was or what it looked like. I've attached an image of the watch below and was hoping someone would be able to help me out.
I'd also be very interested in the uniqueness of the watch and if I should insure it for any value. I wear my Tag Heur aquaracer everyday but wear this omega on a Sunday
Any help would be appreciated

Wibbs

They originally came on either a steel bracelet, which will be hard enough to find and expensive, but more usually in that model a black leather strap, so any decent strap would do. You could always buy the right sized Omega buckle to complete it.

The f300 series were a Swiss made tuning fork movement, an improvement to the US Bulova tuning fork movements. They were fitted to a few company's offerings. Omega produced the most and the most varied. Value? It can depend. Omega has a cache as a brand. As a general thing I'd reckon between 400 to 600 euro depending on the day. That would be a mix of online auction and dealer pricing.

I would suggest you get it serviced. These are a strong movement and can take some punishment, but they do have weak points. The date change being one. After a while the teeth on the date wheel can wear down and this will mean they won't automatically change over at midnight(usually around the 31/1/2 of a month). This is caused by the ageing plastic of the dial and people changing the dates between 8 PM and 2 AM. This can be fixed with a new date ring. Some are made these days from steel so that solves that.

The second weak part is in the mechanical end of things where the setting mechanism can become over tight. With an unserviced one of these never set the time by going "backwards" anticlockwise. This might strip the microscopic indexing wheel(I've read differing opinions), which leads to more expense.

I would recommend this chap Electric Watches UK. He knows his stuff and is reasonable. He also has more info on your watch and movement.

Hope this helps.

positivenote

Thanks a million for the info, I had it serviced about a year ago and a few pieces were replaced etc... including the glass that was badly scratched. It has that 'humming' noise from the running girl alright. I'm eager to locate an original strap as the one I have on it is nice but not original....

Deep Thought

thats lovely, always fancied one of them

CarltonBrowne

That's a lovely watch (I also own a couple of Omega f.300s). I wouldn't get fixated on an original Omega strap as leather straps are a consumable and OEM stuff is normally outrageously overpriced (though I would go to the trouble of sourcing a proper Omega buckle). There is a UK wholesaler called Cousins who make what they call an Omega-style calf strap and, having had one of these in my hand at the same time as an Omega-branded equivalent, you would struggle to tell the difference. They are £4.95 plus VAT and I have quite a few of them.

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/padded-omega-stlye-std-xl-2


The disadvantage with Cousins is that you have to "pretend" to be a trade customer (this enables them to get out of distance-selling regs) so you can't return an incorrect order. Cousins also sell original Omega buckles (I would not suggest buying an Omega buckle from Ebay unless you really know what you are doing). You just need to make sure you order the right size strap and buckle (I'm guessing either 20/18, 19/16 or 18/16).

If you still want to go for a full-branded Omega and if you fly through Heathrow at all I'd recommend an Omega boutique at the airport - sometimes they are even cheaper than Cousins - but I haven't done it for a while (i.e. I've used the one that was in Terminal 1 and that's history).

Bateman

What terminal are they in?

CarltonBrowne

Bateman wrote: »

What terminal are they in?

There's an Omega boutique in T3 and T4 according to the Omega website.

https://www.omegawatches.com/stores/country/united-kingdom/city/london-heathrow/

I don't do much London>Dublin stuff these days so I've no idea if that's of any use.

Bateman

I recently flew through T1 and T5, would probably have had a browse for a summer alternative to the bracelet for the Seamaster if I'd come across the shop

CarltonBrowne

Bateman wrote: »

I recently flew through T1 and T5, would probably have had a browse for a summer alternative to the bracelet for the Seamaster if I'd come across the shop

Forget about browsing for spare vintage bits - you need to contact them in advance and give them as much info as possible so they can find out if there is stuff available in the supply chain.

Bateman

No it’s a new 3000 diver I have, apologies for hi-jacking thread, was just curious as to where the shop was