Vintage Omega help

[eccles]

I took a punt on a nice vintage Omega Constellation ( 1962, Cal 561, case ref 168.004 ) recently, when it turned up it was rather grotty, and very well used. It was also apparent once it took it apart to clean it up a little, that the crystal at some point in the past had been glued in and that the bezel was missing.

Does anyone know of anyone that specialises in restoring vintage Omegas? Hopefully they might have an old case or just the bezel kicking round. I've tried Cousins, Ofrei and watchco, and none of these list the correct bezel.

Here's a few pictures,

The watch as received,







And after a quick clean up,











Many thanks.

[Roger645]

I have these doing an Omega for me at the moment:

http://www.michlmayr.com/

I got a refurbed oyster strap from them for my Rolex and it was excellent. Be prepared for a wait though.

[bry1975]

Anyone good should be able to machine turn you a new bezel



Good luck


Bry

[HarryW]

A quick look at the omega vintage site shows this to be a hidden crown type so there's a fair bit of bezel to go on it with a recess for the winder. Out of interest have you had the back off to check the numbers as the same site doesn't list a stainless steel version of that model number , however it does list a white gold version.

[whiteonyx]

contact Mike Woods at www.theoldwatchshop.com he may be able to help you.

[eccles]

HarryW said:

A quick look at the omega vintage site shows this to be a hidden crown type so there's a fair bit of bezel to go on it with a recess for the winder. Out of interest have you had the back off to check the numbers as the same site doesn't list a stainless steel version of that model number , however it does list a white gold version.

My watch looks all original inside,and I've found a few others after googling on various forums etc that are the same. There's a similar one on ebay at the moment, but dating from 1964. It's a bit tartified though so I don't know for certain how original it is.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...



Here's the inside of the case back, and the movement in mine.








Thanks for the other contacts, I'd not come accross those before

[HarryW]

movement looks rightish, but there's something not right with the dial, it's had the script re written at some point; under Omega the text normally goes Automatic/Chronometer/Officially Certified, not Automatic/Officially Certified/Chronometer. The font is all wrong as well.
The surround for the date is normally more multifaceted too.

Probably a bitsa watch, with the bezel bitsa missing tbh

Edited by HarryW on Thursday 11th November 23:58

[eccles]

HarryW said:

A Out of interest have you had the back off to check the numbers as the same site doesn't list a stainless steel version of that model number , however it does list a white gold version.

Here's a link to a genuine Omega catalogue with a listing for a steel cased 168.004.

http://www.old-omegas.com/pics/catuk64/p21.jpg

[eccles]

[quote=HarryW
The surround for the date is normally more multifaceted too.

[/quote]


Up close the surround is multi-faceted.

[GALLARDOGUY]

i've used a guy before who i wouldnt hesitate to recommend. you can contact him through ebay where he sell watches he reconditions. his screen name is, seamaster147. he's an ex omega employee & now does stuff on ebay. hope that helps

[mel]

I've got a (now) lovely 1964 Seamaster but my experience in getting it there was by the sounds of it similar to yours. My first port of call was Swiss Time Services who with out a doubt have the reputation as being the countries leaders in vintage Omega restoration with the majority of the spares on the shelf, alas when they inspected mine they found it was a exceptionally rare calibre (I think it's a 791 or something) that was made for less than a year and is virtually impossible to source spares for. I must admit I didn't find them particulary helpful as all they really said was "sorry nothing we can do or suggest, bye" Anyway a few months later I mentioned it to a guy local to me who was doing a service on my daily beater West Repairs who said to me "nothing is impossible to source let me have a look" he made no promises but said he'd get there but would need time..............2 years later he'd done it, apparently there are numerous spares houses globally that just get random parts turn up, he'd put the word out what he wanted and sat back and waited till it turned up.

So in summary I'd say off the shelf straight forward fix Swiss Time Services (but often pricey), something special with time not being a problem West Repairs.

[eccles]

Many thanks for all the replies, I've got a few more avenues to explore now.

[HarryW]

See if they can correct the script when its refurb too.