Rare French First Issue Omega Centenary

Any first issue 30.10 JUB Centenary model 2500 is uncommon because only 4000 pieces were produced. Factor in natural attrition through loss, wear, scrapping for gold value and the occasional ingestion by animals and you have a supply and demand equation that has seen the value of JUB Centenary watches increase substantially over the last decade.

For those who are not familiar with the “JUB” Centenary as opposed to Centenary calibre 333 models, the key difference is the jubilee calibre 30.10 RA PC JUB, an exposed spring bumper movement also known as calibre 331. The JUB calibre was the original offering to celebrate Omega’s centenary in 1948. The watch proved so popular that Omega continued producing the Centenary powered by the RG regulator version of the movement until the release of the first Constellations in 1952. (For a full review of the Centenary click here)

A fully French-cased 30.10 Centenary JUB, however, merits a description beyond that of “uncommon” and demands we venture into “R” word territory. The word “rare” as it applies to watches is flung around with such intemperance that even Donald Trump’s verbal ejaculations appear as models of semantic rectitude in comparison. This is why seasoned collectors, or even lightly seasoned collectors, immediately become sceptical when the word “rare” leaps from someone’s lips or keyboard. But “rare’ is the only description possible when applied to this French cased version.

Many thousands of the calibre 333 Centenary were produced, but, as mentioned, only four thousand of the Jubilee version left the Omega factory in 1948.  More than a third were exported to the USA, whereas in war-torn Europe - where economies had been devastated by the Nazi onslaught and subsequent allied invasion - money for luxury goods was not plentiful. Formerly large watch markets such as Italy, Britain, Germany and France had shrunk significanty. These markets didn’t collapse altogether, because of the willingness of occupation forces to spread around their discretionary income as well as much of their genetic material.

The case was manufactured in France owing to post-war gold restrictions, and, given the state of the French economy in 1948, I doubt whether more than 100 pieces of this model were produced. This is only the third example I have seen in thirty years of collecting.  Omega, France delivered this model to Hermes in Paris who may well have been the sole distributor for the model in France.  The stamp of the luxury goods house appears on the external case back.    

                                          Pictures courtesy of Andrew H and Triad Vintage Watch Company