# Another Franken-Omega



## aroma (Dec 11, 2009)

Hi All,

Seeing the other franken Omega reminded me of this beauty:-










It must have started life in 1959 as a Dennison cased Omega Seamaster with a cal 501 movement. I would think that the 501 suffered the fate of many of those movements in that the rotor bearing eventually failed and there were no spares. So it languished in someone's drawer for many a year during the quartz 'revolution' and was eventually discarded.










However the case is 18kt and so worth something - so it was refurbished by a watchmaker sometime in the 1990s who, instead of fitting a cheaper and later movement, fitted one that he had kicking about in a grotty case. That movement was a beautiful cal 352Rg bumper (of the sort fitted to Constellations in 1952 and very special Seamaster Chronometers prior to that). It still has its original blued steel seconds hand.



















The watch was then sold on as a going concern. I came across it on the dreaded bay and immediately saw the movement and questioned the seller - he had had the watch for over 20 years and wasn't aware of its franken nature. So the long and short of it is that I bought it for not much more than the scrap gold value. For me it is a lovely watch with a beautiful high quality bumper movement and more desirable to me than one with a suspect cal 501.

It just goes to show that not all frankens are rubbish.

Cheers


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## Tomcat1960 (Apr 13, 2013)

Nice watch, and nice story, too :thumbup:

Regards,

Tomcat


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

When a watch looks that gorgeous I don't think it matters much what's on the inside. I'm not usually a fan of the oldies, they are too small for my taste, but that is a beauty. Pure class, and the fact that it still has an Omega movement is probably a bonus. Nice one mate :notworthy:


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## pmhpmh (Nov 1, 2013)

That is a nice watch.... Likeeee


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2014)

Lovely watch, the watch is honest about its history so IMO there is nothing wrong with it.


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

A lovely watch and a great combination, not far off the originals ! Great movements those too and seeing that reminded me of a photo I kept of Bill Sohne's collection of Seamasters with that movement, not just because they were lovely watches but I also restore Pond Yachts of the same period so was taken with the photo....  How about these ones as a comparison courtesy of Bill.. :thumbup:


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## martinus_scriblerus (Sep 29, 2008)

Love solid gold watches (even if they currently are out of style with the younger crowd)


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## JD6150 (May 23, 2013)

Lovely looking watch 'franken' or not, I would be more than happy to own it.


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## aroma (Dec 11, 2009)

Yes, Bill Sohne has some beauties for sure. As for gold watches being out of fashion, well I like them not just for their looks but because they were generally the top of the range and therefore the best to be had. Omega produced some lovely examples - some with hour markers that were jewels in their own right (solid gold with onyx inlay and matching hands).

Thanks for the good comments guys

Cheers


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## Littlelegs (Dec 4, 2011)

That looks lovely, Frankenstein or not....) enjoy


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