Omega's Cold War Offensive

It's hard to imagine in 2010 the dark shadow of paranoia that enveloped the western world in the late nineteen-forties and fifties. Fear of enslavement by the communist hordes reached levels of hysteria unknown since those jolly old horde-fearing days of Genghis Khan. 

We all know now that despite having the appearance of great might and resolve the Soviet system was diseased to its core. But, back then, nations like the US, Australia and parts of Europe were so fearful of finding "reds under the bed" that they turned on their own citizens in witch-hunts of appalling ferocity.

Today, of course, we have other races, creeds and countries to demonise, but anyone interested in how fragile our democracies can become when hysteria overtakes the rational exchange of ideas about ideology should study the McCarthyist years in detail.  

What has this got to do with Omega vintage watches, do I hear you say? Well, back in the late forties  the yanks were giving the Swiss a hard time over their non-partisanship. The logic went that the communist threat was so great that it was basically a crime to sit on the fence. The Swiss, with their record of studied neutrality during two world wars, were on the defensive against the "Either you're with us or against us" rhetoric of the time.......Now where have we heard that recently?

Omega and other major Swiss exporters were worried that accusations against the Swiss for the crime of neutrality would damage a lucrative market. And so, the company went on the offensive during its centenary and the years immediately after with a series of beautifully crafted propaganda appeals direct to the American public. Click on the image above to read the text.  

Thoughts About Buying an Heirloom Vintage Omega Constellation

I receive frequent communications from people who wish to purchase a vintage Omega Constellation with the intention of passing it down to a favoured son (or daughter). This is a thoughtful and admirable act that can encourage an interest by future generations in family history and add to the cache of family treasures.

Providing that a benefactor has delivered the first recipient a rich or happy childhood uncontaminated by major trauma or tyranny, an heirloom watch can act as a powerful anchor that propels the wearer back in time to savour shared and cherished moments.

In more egoistic terms, an heirloom watch is a way to be remembered. Let’s face it, most of us would like to be remembered fondly after we have shuffled off this mortal coil, and very few of us would like NOT to be remembered at all. As Mother Teresa said, “One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anyone”.

If you are thinking of buying a vintage Omega Constellation for the purpose of it becoming a family heirloom, below are some ideas about how to make it a truly cherished object:

• Go for a precious metal case if at all possible. Apart from being non-corrosive, gold or platinum adds extra allure to the treasure aspect of an heirloom.

• Choose the best calibre series. I recommend purchasing a watch powered by the mid-500 series of calibres: either a calibre 551, 561, 564, or 751.

• Aim for the most sought-after model. For example, a pie-pan dialled case number 168.005, a dress model 168.004 with factory welded rheinor gold bracelet, a 168.002 Grand Luxe, or a 168.017 C-Shape with milanese bracelet.

• Source a watch with original box and papers if at all possible. If not possible, research and acquire an authentic box from the period and seek an extract from Omega’s vintage archives.

• Consider having your name and that of your wife expertly engraved on the case back, along with the date you acquired the watch. While it may discount the value of the watch by about five percent, it increases its heirloom value and forever establishes a connection with the original benefactors.

• Consider documenting by hand on a piece of parchment the reasons for your choice of heirloom and add a portrait of the benefactors.

• Buy one or two parts movements in good condition over time so future watchmakers will have a source of parts if repairs are needed. Make sure they are housed in special containers and are packed in cotton or a material that will not corrode the plating on the movements.

• Consider having a wooden box especially fashioned to contain papers, watch box, watch, parts movements and any other memorabilia.

• Keep the piece in good condition with regular servicing (Around every five years)

Finally, Wear the watch as a special occasion or dress watch and encourage the intended recipient, with gentle reminders like “One day this will be yours”, to covet the piece. Hopefully, if you've done your parenting well the intended recipient will not consider bumping you off for the value of a watch!

Yuletide Felicitations!

One good thing about the festive season is that it provides an opportunity to say thankyou. And I would like to thank the many hundreds of visitors who took the time in 2009 to contact me with ideas, pictures, leads and questions or simply to give their thanks for this blog.

The intent behind this site has remained the same since its inception, and that was, and is, to help those attracted to vintage Omega watches have a pleasant experience when acquiring one or more examples of this venerable brand. The key to a pleasant experience is knowledge that will allow collectors to make astute acquisitions. Knowledge is indeed power, and the more we know about the vintages we collect the more we are able to avoid the traps and pitfalls inherent in a globalised vintage watch market.

Since 2006, I have built up this Omega Constellation resource to the point where I often think I may have exhausted the subject! But then, someone comes along with a question that is not answered and it provides the impetus to research and document yet another facet of this magnificent family of watches.

So, I depend on you for ideas and indeed input. Thankyou for coming through so many times!

In 2010 I intend to extend coverage of the brand to the neo-vintage Manhattan models and other post-crisis models including reviewing the calibres that powered them. I also propose to complete an essay on Constellation boxes of the vintage period, a longer piece on Omega Grand Luxe Constellations, an essay on the largely undocumented calibre 711 and 712 Constellations and a post on Non-Certified Constellations of the 1970s. So if you have examples, advertisements or other information to share on any of the above, please do be forthcoming.

I wish you an appropriately excessive Yuletide and may 2010 be a memorable collecting year for you - for all the right reasons!

Omega Constellation Basilisk of the Month!

Thanks to a nomination by Dennis, an intrepid franken detective and part-time exorcist, the award for the most audacious, fiendish and man eating Franken of December goes to eBay seller meaeep.

Click here to view this spawn of Satan!!

I have, over some years, observed a number of very interesting daemons emerge from the House of Meaeep. Some horological Beelzebub hiding behind the meaeep façade knows very well what he is doing and, in some instances, puts a lot of work into making these abominations look ‘real’ before they rise out of the depths of Hades and appear on eBay.

So how did this monster come to be? Well, His Meaeepness, while trotting around on his cloven hooves, came across a late 1960s Omega Constellation C-Shape case, probably with a damaged or clapped out calibre 561/4 movement and dial. Rather than sell the case for scrap, he saw great potential for the torment of some gormless eBay browser and went in search of another, any, movement that could be fitted into the empty case.

Somewhere within his sulphurous cavern, meaeep’s yellowed eyes seized upon a calibre 551 movement made in 1959. “Excellent!”, he connived with an unholy grimace, “all that’s needed is an old dial to be sent off to one of my devil’s little helpers to be re-finished and I will have created the perfect temptation by which to con some numbnuts out of his hard-earned cash!!” (Here, imagine the sound of diabolical laughter with more than a hint of satanic cruelty)

As we approach Yuletide, one would think that Yah•weh would be considering meaeep as the ideal candidate for a bit of good Old Testament smiting, particularly as hell would freeze over before eBay would take up the retributive sword on His behalf. But it would seem that He is quite distracted at the moment, and the only way to smite maeeep and his frankentrash off the face of eBay is to report in great numbers this fake and pray for a bloody great pox to descend on the House of Meaeep.

POSTSCRIPT

I am delighted to report that the listing is no no longer active and has been closed by the seller

The Omega Speedmaster "Moon Watch"

Aside from the Omega Constellation, Omega produced some of the world's most iconic collections during the nineteen-fifties and sixties.

For tool watch aficionados, a model that stands above all others is the mighty speedmaster. The Speedmaster was originally conceived as a racing and rally watch and initially marketed as such. In around 1962 NASA purchased some Speedmasters to compare with other similar watches on the market for their suitability for the space program.....the rest is history and the Speedmaster became for all time the "Moon Watch"

The Speedmaster was worn on many of the pre-Apollo NASA manned space missions, and Edward H. White the first American to walk in space wore a Speedmaster during his Gemini 4 spacewalk. On July 21st, 1969 the Omega Speedmaster became the first watch to be worn on the moon when the Apollo 11 team made their historic landing.

Author and photographer, John Golberger, has compiled a video history of the collection itself.....enjoy!

Omega Chronostop - Stopwatch for the Wrist

While the reason for this site is to pay homage to Omega Constellations of the 1950s and 60s, which I believe to be some of the best production watches ever made, I receive a constant stream of correspondence from visitors asking questions about other iconic Omega models of the time.

If questions go beyond that of a trickle and there are no other sites dedicated to a particular collection, I customarily knock up an essay to fill the void. Such was the case with the Omega Chronostop, a particularly charming fusion of design and function from the 1960s.

As I was gathering pictures of different examples of this model, I happened upon Steve Waddington’s excellent Omega vintage resource and discovered that he had already done the job!

Under the title, ‘Omega Chronstop Wrist Watches’, Steve’s essay reviews comprehensively, in both words and pictures, the breadth of this elegantly designed stopwatch for the wrist. Click here to view it.

The value of Omega Chronostops has risen quite markedly over the past two to three years, particularly for examples that feature the ‘Drivers Dial’ and retain their original finish. The 'drivers' models were designed to be worn on the underside of the wrist, and they most certainly deserve a place in any collection of 1960s Omega tool watches.

A Story About an Original Black Dial Constellation

Calibre 504 Omega 18k gold Constellations aren't all that common, only 25000 pieces having been produced across a range of metals and dials. Black dialled calibre 504 models are in a different league altogether, with less than a thousand believed to have been manufactured.

Generally in the 1950s, black dialled models were a ‘special order’ watch and so, today, with the resurgence of interest in, and popularity of, black dialled Constellations from the nineteen-fifties and sixties, serious collectors hanker to have an example in their collections.

I received an email from John Hardy who appears to have won the trifecta!!! John reports:

"Although I was very inexperienced with buying watches, I had always wanted a gold “Constellation” and having had since I was 17 a Speedmaster Professional (1970), when I saw this watch with its “black face” I had to try for it and I was lucky enough to succeed.!"

John continues, "" I spent some time on your excellent web site and became satisfied it was real. Sometime after receiving it, the seller sent me the watch’s original watch box, Certificate of Chronometre and original purchase documents, being receipt and guarantee showing a purchase date of 2/9/1959. It still has the original sheets of carbon paper showing the type writer imprints between the pages! The seller says the old gentleman who was the previous and original owner brought them in after the sale and “thought I might like them” and they then sent them on to me as a gift!""

What a superb eBay story. I hope you have a bottle of quality whiskey on the way to the original owner, John, because his generosity has probably added between 700 to 1000 dollars to the value of your purchase. Original box and papers provide watches with provenance and provenance is very important, particularly with very uncommon watches. You now have a magnificent piece, together with original box and papers. It would be charming if you could communicate with the owner and obtain some background to his purchase. It would add a wonderful touch to a piece that I hope will become an heirloom in your family.

Above are some pictures of John’s find. Click on the pictures for an enlarged view.

Beware the Rush of Pre-Christmas Omega Vintage Fakes

Every year in the lead up to Christmas, an army of bottom feeders, parasites and other opportunistic vermin invade on-line vintage watch markets to feed off the naivete and yuletide sentiment of people wishing to acquire nice vintage watches for those who are significant in their lives.

Judging by the number of fake new watches and bogus or franken vintage pieces appearing in a range of brands, this year is hotting up to be a biggie. Yes, it’s going to be a bumper Christmas for the crims and shonks who parade their fake wares on eBay, other on-line establishments and some bricks and mortar dealerships.

Sadly, January is my biggest month for emails from either purchasers or recipients of these counterfeit monstrosities. The collective disappointment and heartache revealed in such correspondence does much to dampen my experience of this the season to be jolly and to express goodwill to all men.

And so, in self-defence, I post another warning.

The pictures of the two watches above are those of the latest fake Omega Constellations coming on to the market. The first listed on eBay by German yuletide kill-joy watchauktion24 (click here) is from a new batch of fake pink gold Constellation models coming out of Asia. Lesser Omega calibres (usually tired old bangers from Seamasters, Geneve’s and early de Villes) are married with the fake cases and dials and sold as the real thing. No Chrismas pudding for watchauktion24 this year as this seller knows exactly what he is selling – shame on you!

Here’s hoping that Santa’s reindeers collectively crap as they pass over bgm 197's house in Zachodniopomorskie, Poland for listing this fake that pretends to be a yellow gold Omega Constellation. Again, with such a history in selling watches, this merciless Pole almost certainly knows he’s going to break a heart with this piece of junk.

Please, do your research before you buy a vintage Constellation for your someone special! Read this essay I wrote on authenticating solid gold Constellations. Bone up on the movement series that powered specific Constellations and read some of the posts on cases and dials. Buy your special vintage watch with knowledge and aforethought and they’ll love you forever!!

POSTSCRIPT

I'm delighted to say that eBay finally pulled the Polish listing and Watchauktion24 voluntarily stopped his auction, for which we offer thanks.

Cleaning and Oiling Your Vintage Watches

The issue of cleaning and oiling watches is a perennial one on most watch fora, the most frequently asked question being about service intervals. The general recommendation is that a vintage watch should be dis-assembled, cleaned and oiled every three to five years, depending on use.

The reason for keeping a vintage movement well-serviced is simple. Regularly serviced watches, particularly with quality movements such as Omega vintage calibres, rarely ever wear out. For example, I have several family Omegas now more than 50 years old and they still retain all of their original movement parts. Crowns and crystals come and go, but a good service regime will protect your watch movement well into the next generation.

Some collectors dis-assemble, clean and oil their own watches, after a long mentorship by a friendly watchmaker or a crash course through one of the on-line watch schools. I service the less valuable pieces in my collection, after having spent tens of hours practising on various Omega automatic calibre parts movements, but I wouldn't think of touching some of my more important pieces. For those I defer to the experts.

If you own a vintage watch...or two...I recommend you get to know your way around the movement, not necessarily to service or repair them, but to understand their engineering, learn some of the diagnostic basics and know when to consult a watchmaker.

A good place to start to learn how a watch is serviced is this site maintained by the Carignan Watch Company of New Hampshire where there are comprehensive resources on cleaning and oiling watches.

If you want to know the ins and outs of oiling a watch, click here for an excellent paper produced by the British Horological Institute.

If you would like to virtually dis-assemble and assemble one of the famous ETA (Swatch Group) 2892 movements, click here

Enjoy the journey!

Omega Geneve Dynamic I - Best-Seller of the 70s

More than forty years have elapsed since the release of the Omega Geneve Dynamic first generation collection. With its 'space-age' lines and novel dial designs, the Dynamic I is fast becoming a collectible for those Omegas fans who don't wish to break the bank in pursuit of their hobbies.

The Dynamic established a number of firsts when it was released as well as pushing the boundaries of functionality and design. It was also powered by a family of Omega movements that to this day are regarded as some of the best production movements ever made.

Over time I have received countless emails from collectors either seeking information on these models or wishing to authenticate a Dynamic that had caught their eye. In following through on their requests, I encountered a couple of scams along the way as well as some hitherto unpublished information.

Click here for an essay on the origins of these icons of the later nineteen-sixties, the various designs and the authenticity checks to make prior to acquisition. Also included is a table of all known models.

The Mother of All Constellation FrankenFakes

Hi I'm a fake-aholic and it's been several months since my last outbreak!

I've been trying to wean myself off reporting fakes, so as to concentrate on the important stuff - like writing essays on REAL Connies! But this one caused me to fall off the wagon and slip back into my addiction.

These Chinese fakes have been circulating for about four or five years, but this is the first ersatz coin-edge bezelled Grand Luxe with a black dial that I have seen. Yes, bring out the party hats, this eBay seller 'mickship 66' has gone to some lengths to make this frankenfake as alluring as possible - he purchased a fake black dial from this eBay listing to add extra allure to support his false claims of rarity.

Click here for the listing by mickship66 - another rag and bone man who would sell his mother for a pittance, a dunderhead who can't even cover his tracks, or a right wanker who failed to verify the authenticity of this classic piece of Chinese dissimulation before he decided to describe it as "This is a rare and beautiful black faced Omega constellation pie-pan watch"?????

Well, mickship, I got news for you. You're sprung!!

My advice to all is report this piece of crud before the auction ends....and give this rag and bone man who claims that this watch is a "vintage omega constellation 18 kt gold,pie-pan face Ultra rare, stunning, sun-burst bezel" the big rasberry that he deserves.

Click here for an essay I wrote on these fakes

POSTSCRIPT: Very pleased to say that eBay took this listing down.  I wonder where the watch will pop up next?  Thanks to all who reported it as a fake.

Omega Constellation de Luxe - Second Tier Luxury

One Omega Constellation collection of watches that has weathered the recent financial storm well is the de Luxe collection. Values overall have held up incredibly well, increasing around 15% over the past eighteen months.

Released initially in 1952 and continuing in various forms until the advent of the third design phase, the Constellation de Luxe featured strikingly finished solid gold dials in a range of 18k cases.

Click here for an essay on these penultimate Omega Connies!

The Omega Constellation Gene Pool

This post has been a long time coming and traces the origins of the original Omega Constellation concept back to its roots in 1943.

The larger focus is on the Omega Centenary produced to celebrate Omega's 100 years of manufacturing history.

This is a 'living' essay, and while I have been at pains to provide as accurate a review as possible of these early models, there is always the potential for error when delving into the detail of Omega history and horology. So, please feel free to offer any insights that will add to its substance or greater accuracy.

Also if you would like to have your Centenary featured in the essay, please let me know.

Click here for the pdf file - beware its a modem burner!

Omega Constellation Pink Gold 14393

This month's SOM is a pink gold Omega Constellation 'transition' model manufactured in 1961.

Its rare to see these models in pink gold and ever rarer to chance upon an example in museum quality. Click here for a photo-essay on this superb piece.

Vintage Versus New Watch Markets

While the world recession hasn’t bitten everyone on the posterior, it’s certainly taken a chunk out of the luxury watch market. The export of Swiss watches has shown a marked downturn in the first half of the calendar year. The month of June saw the biggest drop with a dive of almost 32%, while the six monthly cumulative decline was over 26%. The U.S., Hong Kong, China, Japan and UAR, important markets for Swiss watches, registered falls in imports from 42% in the U.S. to around 30% for Japan.

The question on many Swiss manufacturer’s lips is, has the Wall Street fiasco and the resulting collapse of markets around the world been big enough to trigger a fundamental shift in the behaviour of those wealthy enough to consume higher–end Swiss product? It has certainly wiped out many innocent bystanders as well as an army of high-end brand flaunting parasites aligned with high risk banking, insurance, finance and investment. These latter brand name junkies have been having quite a fire sale of cars, watches, jewellery and anything else that helped them parade their self-inflated status.……but a fundamental shift in attitudes towards luxury items?  

While early commentary may have predicted the end of conspicuous consumption as we know it, it appears reports of its death may have been premature. Because, while down, exports of Swiss watches are still just under 2006 levels and there are signs, particularly in some of the tiger economies in Asia, that the trend has bottomed. So, while there is a certain sobriety in the U.S. and to a lesser extent Europe, demand for Swiss luxury watches may begin to show some growth in some Asian markets in the second half of the year. 

Those who thought the vintage watch market would follow suit and take a parallel dive are beginning to have to re-evaluate their theories, because it appears that vintage watch markets for quality and collectible marques have held up incredibly well.  

In the example of Omega Constellations, prices for 18k Gold models in good condition with original, low patina dials have increased by between five and ten percent on on-line auction sites over the past twelve months. Quality stainless steel and gold top pie pans with good, original dials and powered by calibres 551 and 561/564 have shown no retreat. Earlier Constellations, particularly those powered by calibre 352 RG have, again, commanded around a ten percent increase over last year in on-line auctions.
  
In contrast, Omega Constellations in the medium to low quality range have attracted less buyer interest and prices have dropped accordingly in all metals. Higher quality Constellation C-Shapes and the integrated bracelet lines represent good buying. 

So while new is losing its allure, those collectors who, rather than having gone for quantity, have opted for quality and collectibility have certainly been vindicated in this current climate. Their collecting ethos is well worth adopting as the value of their investment has not only been maintained but in many instances increased 

Last Omega Constellation PiePan Left Standing

When the subject of rarity and Omega Constellations arises, the intuitive course is to point to the earlier 1950s models in the Constellation family, such as black guilloche dials, Globemasters and early calibre 352 RG powered examples.

However, one of the rarer Omega Constellations on the planet is a 'homage' Pie Pan produced twenty years later for a short period in the 1970s. It was earmarked for the Japanese market only.

In more than twenty years of collecting watches, I have only encountered four examples of this elusive Pie Pan and one example of the flat dialled version: all of them since the maturation of the internet.

To read about the Last Omega Constellation Pie Pan ever produced, click here

Unearthed! More Omega Calibre 560 Rarities

Quite some time ago, I was researching the reason behind why so many 17 jewel movements powered US Collection Omega watches in the 1950s and 60s, when I chanced upon a movement series about which little was written and less was said. And yet, this series, because of the minimal number of pieces produced, meets the criteria for rarity in Omega watches.

I published an essay on these rare models in 2008, and subsequently a small cadre of collectors embarked on a treasure hunt to locate and acquire examples. Treasure hunts by fellow collectors tend on occasions to yield unexpected booty that helps add to the knowledge base, and that has certainly been the case with calibre 560 models……but I get ahead of myself.

Originally, four specific models were identified – three Seamaster DeVilles and an Omegic generic brand – and examples of each of them were featured in the original essay. However, as a result of UK calibre 560 collector Graham Smith’s detective work, another Seamaster powered by the calibre was unearthed! That discovery led to the materialisation of a cache of calibre 560 models not listed on the Omega Vintage Database!

The upshot of this find is that a total of nine models were powered by calibre 560 movements. Only 3000 movements were made and this means that each of the models were effectively ‘Limited Editions’ in everything but name.

Click here for the updated essay.

For an essay on the very rarest of all of the calibre 560 pipeces click here

The Omega Constellation - Gerald Genta Connection??

It has long been held that Gerald Genta designed an Omega Constellation. And yet, in searching the web and accessing references to Genta's earlier design career I could find no substantiated evidence that Genta did in fact design one of these iconic vintage models.

I chanced upon numerous repetitions of one sourced opinion and many questions from forum subscribers asking for confirmation or querying which Constellation was attributable to Gerard Genta, but never did I hit the motherlode!

Well, I stuck at this like a dog with a bone and my efforts have paid off. Did Genta design a Constellation? You'll be very surprised at the answer. Click here to find out. 

ETA's 2824 and 2892 Take On All Comers

Who said watch timing competitions are a thing of the past. While there has been little activity for 30 years, interest in horological competitions has been stirred again by an event staged by the Chateau des Monts horological museum in Le Locle.

The Swatch Group's ETA 2824 and 2892 have been entered by Tissot and Doxa respectively, and wouldn't it be a big embarrassment if they were to wipe some of the hauteur off the the faces of the doyens of Haute Horlogerie.

Alan Downing reviews this David and Goliath contest (you choose who's who) between the 'Tracteurs' and the Tourbillons in this article for the Revolution Press,

Stars of the Month

Star quality is a precious commodity, and this series of Stars of the Month is necessarily ad-hoc, because true stars in the Constellation line surface irregularly.

I'm pleased to report that two stars fell from the heavens this month, courtesy of collectors EvanM and MikeN.

Click here for a photo-essay of two early model Constellations, both special in their own ways and both something to set your collecting sights on.