This Star of the Month is one of an ad hoc series on vintage Omega Constellations that, for reasons of originality, condition, or rarity, deserve a special mention in despatches. They can be considered the cream of the crop and ideal reference watches against which others can be matched.
What makes this Star of the month particularly special is the dial and its overall condition. Click here for a photo-essay of this outstanding calibre 354 Constellation.
Gorgeous dial... Rarely see the Connies with a guilloché center and smooth outer rim. I nabbed a cal. 501 Seamaster last month with such a dial (only in black), but that 2782 is truly pristine, very worthy of its star appraisal. Seeing a crisp gold chamfered bezel that hasn't been polished smooth is very eye pleasing as well.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I see no Star of the month watch.
ReplyDeleteThe dial is obviously refinished,
only one lug is marked correctly instead of two marked lugs as with every gold Connie of that time
and inside the caseback the writing says Patend applied instead of Patent applied.
I am unhappy to see a Frankenwatch as -Star of the month- .
Hubert
Nice try Hubert, but you will have to learn more about the variations of Omega vintage Constellations before making such declarative statements as "obviously".
ReplyDeleteLet me answer the points you raised. Firstly, it is a common variation in case 2782, in cases made the Swiss German case maker Antoine Gerlach SA for the word to be spelled 'patend'. Yes, in many other cases it is patent but Gerlach 2782s have the word patend, as do some others.
The dial is obviously pristine, rather than obviously refinished. Having examined high res pics of this dial, it is clear from the quality of manufacture; the slight embossing of the lettering; the tell-tale MOY test (in this case matching up with the standard: cross hair slightly to the right of the centre O); the absense of print bleeding; the placement and printing of the chapter ring; the quality dots at each marker, I am of the strong opinion that this dial is genuine.
Now, let us talk about the external marks. Swiss ordinances dealing with gold cases require cases to be marked in two places on the external case, not on the lugs. While the vast majority of Omega cases are marked on either diagonal or vertical lugs, some have the second stamp on the case between the lugs, as does this example.
While you did some very good appraising for tell-tale flags of unoriginality Hubert, it is important to not stop there, but evaluate a watch against known variations, and the 2782 is one of the cases with all of the above.
Cheers
Desmond
Beautiful..I have a 354 steel case myself - my pride and joy. Only problem is the missing Observatory medallion on the case..and I made the mistake of sending the watch back to Omega for an overhaul, only to find on its return that they had replaced the original arrow, centre ridged hands with flat modern copies. Sacrilege! How can we stop the makers of this fine brand destroying their own vintages??
ReplyDeleteHi Phillip
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. As you say a sacrilege some of the things that Bienne does to vintage watches.
Did they return the old hands? If so, a local and expert watchmaker could return them to their rightful place :)
One option to get a case back with a medallion is to buy an old banger as a parts watch of the same case number. I have several for the purpose of keeping my bumpers running as parts are very hard to find these days.
Yes, it's a tragedy that Bienne takes a refurbishment position with vintage watches rather than a functional restoration perspective. This is the history of Swiss watchmaking entities - they seem to believe that restoring a watch to as near as new is the way to go.
My solution is to project manage my own work and stand over the watchmaker to ensure that only necessary parts replacement happens.
Cheers
Desmond
That's a VERY nice example of this exact model i once owned, and in a similiar prestine original condition!
ReplyDeleteI loved the arrowhead markers and Dolphin hands, and the one i owned had been stored away most of its life. I live in the USA, but the Omega came out of Turkey about 6 years ago, for a then quite princely sum of $1,800 on a leather strap. (18KY)
The main problem for me was that i love to actually wear my watches! I would have DIED if i had ever put the 1st stain or discoloration of any kind on that dial.
Because i have other nice 18K Constellations, i decided to sell it about a year after i bought it, to a collector friend that talked me out of it for $2,500.00 USD about 2007. Worth every penny then, and i wish i had a chance to buy it back! The collector isn't interested in EVER selling that beauty!
Seeing your example has started the pain all over again! :)
cheers,
Joseph Tousignant
joejeweler
Hi Joseph,
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing worse than sellers' remorse - is there?
When I think of some of the models I've past on, I feel the same regret :)
Cheers
Desmond
Absolutely stunning watch, as the owner of several Omega’s, I would be very happy to have this in my collection, I love all types of Omega, but deep down inside, I suppose I am a “mechanical” fan preferring these to Quartz models
ReplyDeleteOmega (in my opinion) are the best manufacturers of watches in the World, I also own several Rolex and find them not to be as accurate as the Omega, and, as you pay equal amount for them,Omega comes out top,I am thinking about purchasing a gold 32 Mhz (yes I know it’s a quartz), will have to see how the old finances are.
Thanks again for such a great site, it must be an absolute pleasure for you to see all these beautiful Omega watches
Regards
Chris
Hi Chris
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comments.
You're right of course, I gain great pleasure from collecting and rabbiting on about Omegas.
These earlier quartz mechanical are fascinating - I have long engtertained the idea of acquiring a D-Shape :)
Cheers and good luck in your collecting endeavours.
Desmond
Hi guys, I am missing the observatory medallion for my constellation too...does anyone no where to find one? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteif your watch is gold capped, might be an idea to trawl ebay and other sites looking for a complete case back. I have seen medallions come up but the die is taken from an original medallion and theyre not up to scratch
Delete