An Omega Constellation Dial Discourse

 

 

This modest little corner of the internet has existed for more than twenty years, and still attracts thousands of page-views a month.  Along with the traffic, comes a steady stream of emails from aspiring and established collectors seeking advice about, and input into, potential or already-made acquisitions. 

 In twenty years of fielding inquiries by visitors to this blog, by far the most common question posed is, “Is the dial genuine?”  And it’s a good question, because anything other than ‘genuine’ can affect the value of a watch by anywhere up to forty percent.

 A word on refinished dials: they are not all equal.  Some refinishers are serious about their work and take pride in producing a polished result that is as close to a factory original as is possible, but even then, a keen eye with circuitry attached to a sceptical brain can discern small variations that signal a redial. 

 A well-executed refinishing job is clearly better than a bad one, and will sell for more than its poor relation, but I never cease to be surprised at the good money some people continue to pay for appalling refinishing jobs that have, unless corrected, pretty well reduced the value of a watch to the salvage worth of its parts. From flourishes of creativity or incompetence that render dials about as congruous to the brand as a nun in a police line-up – to crude fakes that are passed off as original, these blights on the horological landscape can be a real trap to innocent and not so innocent newcomers. 

 With the value of Constellations, especially pie pans, having increased significantly over this decade, the question, ‘Is the dial genuine’ takes on more gravitas, because the monetary gap between original and refinished examples has widened.  You stand to lose considerable value on a purchase if the answer is in the negative and no disclosure of its refinished status has been made, and, hence, the incentive to know what you’re buying should be correspondingly more pressing.

 Below are several essays that will go a long way in equipping you with the technical knowledge to be able to tell the difference between genuine dials and non-disclosed refinished dials:

 A comprehensive survey in two parts of Constellation dials is here

 For good measure, an essay on fake Constellation dials and cases

 

 

 

My Top Three Omega Picks for Hipsters

 

Nearly all of the bearded virtuosi along my local café strip who grind, percolate, froth, and faff behind their Gaggias and De Longhis wear vintage watches, some of which I’ve noticed are Omegas.    

Barista-ing, or if we choose to translate the Italian into English, bartending, seems to attract quite a few of those who fall under the loose heading of Hipster.  Perhaps that’s why ‘barista’ has been borrowed from the Italian argot, because it’s far cooler albeit a tad more pretentious to self-describe as a barista than as a coffee-maker or barman, and let’s face it, the quest for cool has been observed as a major Hipster aspiration.  

I don’t care how ‘woke’ hipsters are made out to be; I don’t care if the political sensitivities of some hipster baristas have stretched to the point of calling long black coffees ‘African Americanos’;  I don’t care if they wear their trousers just below the knee; I don’t even care that their ever-lengthening beard styles now resemble rat’s nests offering emergency accommodation to homeless rhodents; and I certainly don’t care that they have been called ‘cultural appropriationists’ by third-rate academics who have nothing better to do than make dense and often fatuous statements about cultural fads.  Nope, give me a hipster any day over a distracted boof-head with mobile phone permanently welded to his ear and digital watch grafted to his wrist.  As long as they’re wearing mechanical or vintage watches, hipsters are okay by me.

Hipsters seem to draw a lot of their inspiration from the later nineteen-sixties, hence the accusations of wholesale ‘theft’ of the fashion and culture of the time, but the fact that they are keen to recycle quite a bit of the manufactured output of the era earns my enduring respect, more so because of their fondness for wearing timepieces of the period.

I think it’s appropriate to aid and abet any segment of the population that has the good taste to choose vintage watches from the golden era of watchmaking over their big and brash contemporaries, and what better marques to choose than those from the stable of the premier production brand of the era, Omega? 

I have selected three of the best-suited Omegas from the beloved nineteen-sixties, all of which can be worn confidently with, or without, facial hair.   

 

Omega Chronostop Driver: Reference 145.010. 

 

This watch screams ‘alternative’ and ‘contrarian’ having been designed to wear under the wrist rather than on the wrist.  You’ll notice that twelve o’clock appears at three o’clock, which makes it a dodder to tell the time when both hands are placed on a car’s steering wheel or even the handle bars of an electric scooter.  Smack in the middle of the hipster time zone too, having been released through Omega outlets around the world in 1966.  Non-date calibre 865 versions of the Chronostop look cleaner and elevate the three-dimensional appearance of the dial.  

 

Omega Dynamic: Reference 166.0039

The ‘bullseye’ Dynamic is one of the most collectible of all first-generation models. Featuring a calibre 565 movement with quickset date feature, this model was released in 1969.  The elliptical case was especially designed to fit snugly on the wrist, and the case back contains a ring that allows owners to change rapidly from metal bracelet to leather strap and vice versa.  For a comprehensive survey of Dynamic models see this essay.

 

Omega Constellation: Reference 368.0845

Chunky, funky, and groovy is Omega’s first patented integrated bracelet model released in 1969, but patented in 1964.  Offering day and date and featuring the automatic calibre 751, one of a family of movements considered by many authorities to be amongst the best ever made, this Constellation is an officially certified chronometer. 

And so we have three iconic Omega models ready made to tickle a hispter's styloidus ulna; three watches that define one of the most creative periods in the history of watchmaking. Hipster or not, these models look great on the wrist and are the quintessence of 'cool'.