Omega Seamaster

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v8s4me

Original Poster:

7,243 posts

220 months

Friday 4th September 2015
quotequote all
I'm thinking of buying a gold vintage Omega Seamaster to mark a "significant" birthday.

The one's I've looked at so far will all require work. A full restoration by the Omega specialist in London, including a refurbished dial, is looking like around £800. So what would be the optimum price to pay for the watch in the first place before it would make more sense to buy one which has already been refurbished? Assume 9ct gold and an automatic movement of say calibre 565 or similar.

Anyone got one to sell?

Thanks in advance.

v8s4me

Original Poster:

7,243 posts

220 months

Friday 4th September 2015
quotequote all
mikeveal said:
...Feel free to PM if you'd like an evaluation of whatever (one or two watches only) you find. Happy to help if I can.
Thanks Mike. YHM

v8s4me

Original Poster:

7,243 posts

220 months

Tuesday 8th September 2015
quotequote all
Many thanks to Mike for his help on this. I took the plunge and have bought this....





It was advertised as "original" and "un-restored" which appealed to me. Not quite the same vintage as me but near enough.











It is 9ct gold, including the back, and dates from 1962/63 with a calibre 552 movement.

Not the best photos I'm afraid but for some reason my SLR and card reader aren't on speaking terms with the laptop today. I'm going to take the advice I've been given and leave the dial original and just have it professionally cleaned and serviced so now I'm asking for recommendations for a good watchmaker who will treat it sympathetically and get it working as efficiently as it should whilst retaining it's "character" eg I'd like to keep the existing winder because it seems to be much smaller than the ones I've seen on refurbished watches and is in scale with the case. I hope that makes sense. Any suggestions? I have contacted one recommendation via PM and email but there has been no response as yet but it's always good to get a selection of recommendations from knowledgeable enthusiasts.

All thoughts, comments, opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

This is my first foray into the world of vintage watches so I could have been a lamb to the slaughter so thanks again to Mike.


v8s4me

Original Poster:

7,243 posts

220 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
quotequote all
I'm in Chesham. I had a look at some of the stock in the Watchdoctor so I know where they are. All the pieces I looked at were completely restored so I was wondering if they would want to replace everything, and as with all the other refurbished watches I looked at they had an out of scale crown. Only way to find out is to go and talk to them, so thanks for the recommendation. Were you able to speak to the man who did the work or did you have to deal with the "desk"?

v8s4me

Original Poster:

7,243 posts

220 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
quotequote all
Many thanks for the comments and recommendations. How much should I expect to pay for a strip, clean & service?

It does seem to be keeping very good time so hopefully that is all it will nead.

Thanks again.

v8s4me

Original Poster:

7,243 posts

220 months

Sunday 13th September 2015
quotequote all
Hi. Yes it was. PH mail not very reliable at the moment.