Reply With QuoteIncredible job!
What a difference- night and day.
Well done,Paul.
Thanks for the correction :)Originally Posted by walkerwek1958
Incredible job!
What a difference- night and day.
Well done,Paul.
Wow !
An amazing transformation ! I'm overwhelmed at such a beautiful example of craftsmanship.
I'm currently waiting for my own late father's watch to come back from the workshop where it, too, is being restored.
I can only hope it is as successful as this one.
(Sigh) Some folk are so clever....
Superb work. Restored to its original glory - as it should be.
That looks amazing, fantastic work from Paul!
Fantastic workmanship from Paul. It is a shame that Omega will not supply parts for these old watches anymore.
Sterling job, sir!
I love this forum!
Nice one for the thread and to Mr walker for the write up.
Beautiful watch!
Great work as we have come to expect.
Great job Paul, it looks fabulous.
Looks fantastic, and the correct decision to the replace the parts replaced in my opinion.
Very impressed with that. Saw the before pic and scrolled down wondering what to expect but was blown away!
The watch looks superb Paul - well done. I am curious though about the dial. Could you tell us more about how you refinished it? The text looks immaculately executed and I see that you've opted to add lume, where the original was unlumed. I have no idea how dial refinishing of this sort of quality is achieved and would be very interested to learn more.
Thanks
Martin
I don`t refinish 'em, I send them to these guys http://www.davidbill.co.uk/
I don`t understand the process myself, I just post the dial off, send a letter explaining what I want (usually it's obvious what to do) and get the dial back after a couple of weeks. Prices have gone up a little but (including postage) it usually works out around £90. The dial, hands and a new glass absolutely transform an old watch. The hard work is in getting the case right, around 10-12 hrs work went into this one doing it my way. The old cases usually have a fairly uniform covering of moderate-deep scratches and they have to be polished out.
Paul
Excellent job.
I think in the Before picture I can see dabs of very dull lume at the outside ends of the indices? (But not on the inside of the numerals)
Last edited by Der Amf; 30th January 2016 at 19:41.
I don't refinish dials myself....these guys do it http://www.davidbill.co.uk/
I don`t fully understand the process, but I know they strip the old finish off and reprint everything. That's why the script is sometimes very slightly different. If there's any doubt about what to do I talk to them or send a letter with the dial. On this one, they've added lume at 3,6,9 and 12 which may have been present originally but dropped off ages ago. Ideally, the lume should look slightly aged and the hands should be aged slightly to give a slightly better effect.
A refinished dial, new hands and a new glass make a huge difference to an old watch. Hands can be a real problem, I`ve had hands replated but it's very hit and miss. If new hands are available it's best to buy them and wince at the cost (£40 in this case inc postage from the States). Generic hands in the right style are the next best thing but they always need broaching to fit. Having said that, the genuine Omega ones needed broaching slightly and the minute hand needed curving slightly at the end. Unlike a modern watch, it's never straightforward fitting new hands to an oldie like this, it needs care and patience. Even buying the correct length is harder than it sounds and it's surprising how 'wrong' a watch looks if the hands aren`t correct.
Case refinishing is the hard bit!
Paul
This has ignited a previously unrealised desire for a '50's watch. It's a beauty.
Fantastic and looks better on the leather
I can't believe it's the same watch. Well done!
Stunning watch, very nice project. Thanks for sharing.
Looks superb. At the risk of lowering the tone, what's a ballpark figure for getting something like this done?
How do the guys who refinish the dial do the text?
Amazing work, like night and day. It looks an excellent piece
That does look stunning.Congrats.
I don't think Dial restorers can replicate a sunburst finish? The Doxa quartz resto pics on their webpage are pretty terrible. I had a women's Omega dynamic completely serviced and dial restored and the end result was nothing like the original. On the one hand I wasnt bothered because it was an £80 ebay find and the dial was scratched to shit but it was a dissapointing result as a watch collector but hey you can't give a women a beaten up mess for christmas can you.
Simply put..............Stunning.
I am sure that your Father would be over the moon with the end result.
^ that
Aha, thanks. I've got an old Seamaster myself with a knackered dial and so may give these chaps a try.I don`t refinish 'em, I send them to these guys http://www.davidbill.co.uk/.
Martin
That's some transformtion !
That's a keeper not a flipper. I work at a Uni and remember a student walking in with old,mint Air-King that had belonged to his grandfather. That Omega captures a time, a person and lots of memories. Lovely restoration.
Last edited by mrushton; 30th January 2016 at 22:27.
I think all the compliments that are due to this restoration have been made above...but I'd like to add my own. The watch now has a whole new life and the OP can enjoy it for years to come. A good decision and wonderful work by Paul.
Can I ask, please, are there any movement and/or case back photos? If not, did anyone make note of the case reference number and which calibre is it?
Congratulations to the OP and Paul on how this has turned out.
Case ref is 2767-SC. Movement is cal 354.
Paul
Stunning work, stunning watch. Love it.
Really stunning work, thanks for sharing that with us.
I bit Paul is about to get swamped!
Amazing transformation!?!
Great Job!
Wow that is mesmerising what a fantastic result it's one of those dials you could just sit and gawp at for hours you must be thrilled.
My dear old dad was never in to watches but when he passed away 18 months ago I inherited an awesome Frank Sinatra collection, mostly on 8 track and vinyl
A phenomenal transformation. Fantastic job and lovely result.
That looks beautiful can't believe the difference great work.
A great job. Very impressed.
Sorry, have to go against the grain on this one.
IMVHO it's been OVER restored and lost all it's character.
Sympathetically restored would have been better.
What could have been done to that stained dial? (genuine question)
Just a light cleaning perhaps and NO more.
The crystal is no doubt making the dial look worse than it is.
It was in that state because your father wore it since 1953 and it aged accordingly, it has been 'ruined' INVHO, beyond all recognition.
Your father would not recognise it as his beloved Omega worn all those years, a record of his life.
All the character of the watch has gone and it now looks like anything stuck in Austin Kays window at an inflated price.
Last edited by Dave in Wales; 31st January 2016 at 11:38.
Well, not my father as I'm not the OP ;)
I suppose the basic question is: should a watch stand as a memorial to time past, or may it be reborn and have the chance to go round the block a second time?
Its certainly been "ruined" if you think that an watch ought to be a memorial; an alternative tuppenceworth might be that the dial surface was already ruined, and was dragging down the rest of a watch, a case and a movement that were nowhere near the end of their lives.
My own (irrelevant) opinion is that for this watch, which was intended by its creators to be both functional and beautiful, restoring the beauty while the functionality is still healthy is fair.
I would like to see an example of what a light clean would have done to a dial surface in that condition, though, if anyone's got a link?
Each to their own.
He can always throw it in a swamp if he wants it to look worn out and battered again.
Watches is such a fun hobby. No one would ever say the above if it was a suit, an lp player, vintage car, summer house, old boat or whatever. Only watches.
I think it's a fantastic job, I would be overjoyed if it was mine.
Lovely job Paul. For my part, I'd rather have something that looks like it came out of Austin Kaye's window than something tatty, scratched and stained.
I`ll answer that one:
The lacquer had discoloured extensively. Sometimes it's possible to clean the lacquer using an aqueous cleaner; an organic solvent is likely to soften the lacquer and remove it so it's best avoided. Sometimes the whole dial can be carefully cleaned this way and an acceptable end result achieved. That's what I tried on this, but in the darkly marked areas the lacquer had broken down completely and was lifting away from the silvered surface of the dial. It was obvious that cleaning wasn`t feasible, and frankly the dial looked a complete mess as it was. The owner and myself had already agreed that the dial should be refinished if cleaning didn`t work; I wasn`t surprised it couldn`t be cleaned when I saw the heavy tarnished areas, I`ve tried before and had no success when they're that bad.
A vintage watch restored to look new will always polarise views, more so thesedays than in the past. In an ideal world, a watch like this would have very light even ageing to the dial, very light tarnish on the hands, a case that's not too heavily scratched, and it would wear it's years nicely. This one wasn`t in that category; cosmetically it was in a sorry state and looked worse in the flesh than the photos suggest.
The term 'original' means all things to all men; to some folks it is the concept of not replacing anything and keeping the existing finish simply because it is original in the sense that nothing's been disturbed, cleaned or refinished. It may be deemed to be original by this definition, but it certainly doesn`t look as it originally did when manufactured and sold; it has morphed into something bearing little resemblance to its condition when new. A better description for such an item is 'heavily aged' in my opinion. Whilst some watches cars or whatever have a certain appeal when aged (patina) we should all remind ourselves, whilst getting misty-eyed, that they do NOT look like they did when new; we are experiencing a different sense of appeal than the original owner did when purchasing the item. In the case of a family heirloom this can be very emotive; some people like to retain the wear and tear because it's how THEY perceive the item, they've never experienced it in it's new condition and they are emotionally locked into how it looked when their relative last owned it. That's fine, I fully respect and appreciate that, and before staring to restore any watch I go to great lengths to ensure the owner is aware of how different the watch will look.
Like most collectors, I strive to own watches that have the lightest of ageing and retain the original appeal/appearance that they had when new. These are rare finds, I`m lucky to own a few. However, I`m not a fan of the scratched up, tarnished and scruffy and I don`t look to own such examples, I prefer a restored watch that's faithful to it's condition when new, with the correct hands, crown and dial finish. A few of mine meet that criteria and I enjoy them equally. Unlike a collector the owner of an heirloom watch doesn`t have the luxury of choosing which example to own but he does have the choice of what to do with it and I think that should always be respected when passing judgement on the merits of the item. There are no absolutes, only opinions.
Paul
As the OP here I want to bring in the owner's opinion... my late dad.
This is him, working as an aircraft engineer. He help to build VC10,BAC1-11,Trident.TSR-2, and Concorde.
As an engineer he worked in microns and wasn't just meticulous about aircraft parts but everything he worked on like his cars or my bike.
You will have to take my word for this but he would have been thrilled by Paul's work and full of admiration for bringing his beloved watch
back to near its original 1953 condition.
The recent deterioration would have appalled him and he would have been on here looking for someone like Paul to bring it back to life.
With that in mind I will wear it with pride and his undoubted approval.
[IMG][/IMG]
Wow!
Absolutely beautiful watch.
Posting Permissions
