# Vintage Omega De Ville



## BarkerWOE (Dec 30, 2012)

Hello all,

I have been bitten buy the watch bug!!

I am a student in my 3rd year of Aeronautical engineering and have found watch movements fascinating! Reading up on it has proved great procrastination to my revision for my upcoming exams and also much more interestng than that of pages of coding!!!

I am turning 21 soon and am looking at getting a watch. I dont want something new, I want something with character and a past (history) to it. But not too much history that it will cost an arm and a leg to keep working.

I am really into the clean classic look! Especially an Omega: Seamaster, Constellation and De Ville. I have been to the vintage watch shops in London, but they sell for 500+ and being a student frankly thats at the top end of my price range.

To my questions

1. Where would be the best place to look at getting one?

2. What are the things I will be looking for? I.e the key features for a good vintage watch?

3. Are there any other makers designs that anyone could recommend?

Also could you look at the one in the pictures and say what you think of it and how much its worth? I really like it its 18kt gold and 1478 Caliber.

Thanks to everyone and I can't wait to get into some more research about them!!

Happy New Year

William


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## BarkerWOE (Dec 30, 2012)

http://s1277.beta.photobucket.com/user/BarkerWOE/media/ScreenShot2013-01-11at220649_zpsec97ab9d.png.html?sort=3&o=1

http://s1277.beta.photobucket.com/user/BarkerWOE/media/ScreenShot2013-01-11at220722_zps11ea463b.png.html?sort=3&o=0


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## lewjamben (Dec 4, 2007)

eBay would be your best bet. There's a manual wind on there for Â£350 BIN and loads of quartz for half that.

Good luck.


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## pkryder (Dec 25, 2012)

Hi and welcome. I too recently developed an interest in vintage watches and likewise looked at dealers first. The dealers will charge you a premium probably especially so in London where overheads will be higher. Now that I am I would hope a bit wiser I wouldn't even consider a dealer unless there was something extra in it for me such as they'd given it a service or provided a warranty. From what I have seen many dealers prices are Â£200+ over what you could pick the same watch up for elsewhere, elsewhere typically being eBay, if you hang around and bide your time you will learn lots here and eventually get access to the trade forums where users buy and sell.

I would suggest taking a look at both current and completed listings on eBay, you'll learn loads about prices, what's available, what the different movements/calibers look like etc. The good listings will provide both case and movement numbers, or at least pictures from which you can gather the information, with which you can then date and check the authenticity of the watch. If you are definitely on the hunt for an Omega (my personal favourite) then the Omega vintage database is a pretty good resource where you can enter a case number and check the movement details etc only caveat is it is not complete so you may not find every watch you search for: http://www.omegawatches.com/spirit/history/vintage-omegas/vintage-watches-database

I also found (what I thought was) some interesting reading on Omega movements here:

http://users.tpg.com.au/mondodec/Movement1.pdf

http://users.tpg.com.au/mondodec/movement2.pdf

http://timefraud.com/563-OMEGA.pdf

http://users.tpg.com.au/mondodec//Movement4.pdf

The 1478 you mention is not a mechanical watch it is a quartz based movement so you aren't going to find much in the way of interesting engineering inside IMHO. Again do some research read through the forum, look on ebay learn all you can before you splash the cash. For around Â£500 you should be able to pick up a nice Constellation from eBay. People shouldn't be giving valuations on the forum the stock answer is its worth what someone is willing to pay. Someone may happily pay a few hundred for it personally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole unless it had a mechanical movement and was an in house Omega design.

In short don't rush it, do your research to find a few models you really like, find out how much they are going for on eBay and then bid accordingly.


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## BarkerWOE (Dec 30, 2012)

Hello,

Thanks for the replies!

Having looked about online i think I will be keeping away from the dealers too! I have been looking on ebay and there are some really nice ones on there, will se how much they go for!

Also regards to the omega vintage database, I have been looking at that and checking the numbers, its really good and helps. But as you say not all of them are listed.

Thanks for the links on the movements, I will have a proper read of them when my exams are done! Also looked into that movement and saw it was quartz based and don't want to go near that, so thats out of the question! I think I will be searching through listings for a while before I make the purchase!! but will keep you updated!!

Have you bought your first yet Pkryder?

Thanks again!


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## gaz64 (May 5, 2009)

Don't use out high end quartz even olex have used quartz movements (well one) and omega IMHO did some of te fiest quartz watches of the 1970's.

That said auto and hand would watches wil if serviced outlive you whilst I'm not so sure the older quartz had the available parts to make that boast.


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## scottswatches (Sep 22, 2009)

Remember dealers have to make profit, and for that figure you (should) be getting a serviced watch with peace of mind that it is genuine - but that depends on the shop.

Any watch coming from outside the EU can come with a tax demand for income duty - bear this in mind if looking on eBay

But Omega are a good choice. Just research lots before commiting and you'll get on fine


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## BarkerWOE (Dec 30, 2012)

Of course you pay for what you get, and where I was looking you got 2 years warranty and some with all the paperwork. So they offer a good deal in a way!

It is all very interesting and I can't wait to make my first purchase! Going to a big car boot sale tomorrow, to see if there are any bargain treasures out there.... bit of a long shot, but who knows!!


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## pkryder (Dec 25, 2012)

Hi Barker

Yes I got my first watch an 1977 Omega Geneve with 1030 movement. I believe one of if not their last in house movement before Quartz came along. I got it off eBay with box and papers for Â£275, the dial is mint and case has virtually no wear, I've had it just over a week and it is so far keeping almost perfect time. Overall I'm happy with it but in all honesty I wish I had waited for something nicer to come along perhaps an automatic but I plan on collecting and I don't think I did bad.

Next watch will be Stainless Steel or Solid Gold depending on how much I save and what deals come along, this one is gold plated and I'm paranoid about wearing it every day as the plating wears off eventually. I'd probably advise against gold plated unless its a really good deal and watch out for wear if you do go for one I've seen quite a few on ebay where patches of gold have completely worn off and they look awful.

One other bit of advice when you order your watch get a tube of polywatch too it does wonders for scratched crystals


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## BarkerWOE (Dec 30, 2012)

Well I must say that looks very nice indeed! Very clean and simple look!

There will always be regrets with things, but glad to see you haven't done too badly for your first one!! Hopefully I will be the same. I really like the gold on brown strap look, and really want to get a solid one! That does mean more Â£Â£ but sure its worth it. I've got my eye on one in an auction house in London that looks very nice indeed! We shall see, might have one by the end of the month. But ill probably just see how much it goes for first. Thanks for that, will have that on order soon then.

But well done on the first buy! Im liking having someone else at a similar stage to me, all be it your a little ahead with your first buy!! Ill catch up soon!!


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## pkryder (Dec 25, 2012)

Yes I like brown straps mine came with a pretty cheap looking black one which I'm thinking of changing, I quite like having a few straps which I can switch between to mix up the look. I'm debating getting a spring bar tool so I can change my own straps only I don't have the most delicate of touches and I am a bit worried about scratching the case, maybe I'll buy a cheapo watch for a fiver to practice on 

If you end up bidding on the one in the auction just make sure you set yourself a sensible limit and stick to it, it's easy to get carried away on eBay so I imagine it's even easier to get caught up in the excitement of a real auction house.


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