Vintage Omega Watches

[Viktri]

TCN, I for one appreciate the tips. Considering this was my first vintage watch, I was pondering questions you just answered.

I've left my watch with Time & Gold for examination. I think I will polish it myself though as they charge $100 to polish the chain alone (!) which is out of my price range.

 

[Roger]

Viktri, for polishing, I got a kit from the seller linked below. It contained varying grits of polishing sheets, ranging from 30 microns (very fine) at the coarsest end down to 1 micron at the finest. It also contained a cloth saturated with jewelers' rouge, which is even finer. The drill is that you start on the case (and bracelet, if metal) with the coarser sheets (the coarsest of which is still extremely fine) and work your way down to the finest grits, and then, if you like, give it a final workover with the jewelers' rouge cloth.

TCN's Point 2 is a good one: don't overpolish the case to the point where any of the edges or flats are rounded. It would be hard to do this with any of the sheets in the kit mentioned if used carefully, but could happen if you overdid it. I've found that I've been able to remove all light scratches and the occasional patch of discoloration with this drill.

I'm assuming a stainless steel case above. With solid gold, the same drill would work, but because gold is softer, you'd have to be more careful vis-a-vis the edges and flats. With gold plate, you would have to be extremely careful not to polish through the plating, and the seller of the kits does not recommend their use with gold plate. I've used my kit with a couple of gold-plated watches with good success, but only with the finest grit sheets and the cloth and a ton of caution.

http://stores.ebay.com/watchbandrenew

 

[nigelfox]

Sorry to be bringing the thread back from the dead, but I just bid on this watch on impulse, wasn't expecting to win -- but won.

Now I'm heaving doubts that it's a fake. It claims to be a 1960's automatic.

The listing is here

What do you guys think?

 

[Lucky Strike]

The watch, the seller and his other watches all look legit to me. The dial may have been restored, and there's no photo of the movement, although this may be because the monocoque cases are notoriously difficult to open. I have an Omega with the same case, and a couple of people I've taken it to to have it repaired have declined to work on it, because they didn't have the proper tools/experience. I also think these cases are too expensive to reproduce, relative to how much they are appreciated.

 

[nigelfox]

What threw me off is the lack of 'swiss made' at the bottom, as well as the font of the inscription 'automatic'

I looked at a lot of other Omega postings and couldn't find any that are the same as mine on those two accounts.

BTW, it's this thread that made me buy the watch. I literally fell in love with the 60's and 70's Omegas. Chances are this is only the first one I'm getting

 

[Lucky Strike]

Originally Posted by nigelfox

What threw me off is the lack of 'swiss made' at the bottom, as well as the font of the inscription 'automatic' I looked at a lot of other Omega postings and couldn't find any that are the same as mine on those two accounts.
Yep, that's what I thought may look dodgy about it as well.

 

[Mark from Plano]

Originally Posted by nigelfox

What threw me off is the lack of 'swiss made' at the bottom, as well as the font of the inscription 'automatic'

I looked at a lot of other Omega postings and couldn't find any that are the same as mine on those two accounts.

BTW, it's this thread that made me buy the watch. I literally fell in love with the 60's and 70's Omegas. Chances are this is only the first one I'm getting

The watch itself looks real to me. The issues that you point out would lead me to believe that the dial has been repainted, though as repainting jobs go it doesn't look terrible. The caseback looks right. The applied "Omega" and the applied Omega logo on the dial and the stick hour markers all look right and appropriate to the age of the watch. As someone else mentioned it would be telling to see the movement. Omega movements are fairly distinctive and every fake I've ever seen was fairly obvious by looking at the movement.

The case back actually looks very nice. If the watch has been "rode hard and put away wet" you'd likely see a lot more wear on the case back Seamaster logo.

Enjoy it.

 

[Omegablogger]

Originally Posted by nigelfox

Now I'm heaving doubts that it's a fake. It claims to be a 1960's automatic.

It depends how you define a fake. I think it's largely an Omega, I would say the dial has been refinished at least, the writing looks a little off both in style and in sharpness and if you look at the date wheel you will see it has yellowed in stark contrast to the dial itself. That's not always a bad thing, think of it like a car that has been resprayed, but there are many different standards of quality.

Without going too deeply in to what can be considered real or fake there is a whole clutch of people out there selling this type of watch. I imagine they pick up old watches from here and there and then "restore" them to a saleable condition. Looking at the price you paid I think it's clear there isn't a great deal of money for the "restoration", so I'm sure a few corners get cut.

If you purchased the watch to lay down as a family heirloom to be passed from generation to generation it was a poor buy. If on the other hand you wanted a fantastic looking classic dress watch for an inexpensive price I think you did fine. I'd spend a little and upgrade the strap, makes all the difference.

 

[jessetk313]

Sorry to bring this to life but does nicesold on ebay have authentic watches? I want to purchase a watch from him but am a little weary as to whether he offers authentic watches. If anyone can help me out I would greatly apprciate it. Here is a link to his auctions

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQ...QsassZnicesold