# Omega Seamaster Repair



## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

I took a punt on this old Omega, bought it for â‚¬50 (sellers pics).....



















well it arrived and whilst I couldn't complain about the price, it was in pretty poor condition:










So I trawled through the "what do you do for a living" thread & came across Richard (Dick Browne) whom I had had some previous dealings with. Richard offered to work on the watch for a reasonable charge which was agreed subject to examining the watch. On receipt of the watch, Richard sent me regular updates on his progress (much appreciated). He took it apart & started with the dial looking like this (most of the pics with the watch in pieces by Richard):

The dial was far worse than I'd imagined, there is moisture damage and quite a lot of spotting on the dial, the dial texture isn't helping it release. I've used a very weak non-detergent mix to try and lift the dial, and given the indices a spruce. I'm not 100% happy with it, but it is starting to look as if it will flat if I go any further so we may have to admit that I've gone as far as I can with the dial. Not perfect, but better. I'm concerned that if I go further I may well take the texture off the dial, the dirt is lifitng in a patchy way and to my eye it already looks uneven, although that's under a very intense light and magnification. To the naked eye it should look just fine.

Before cleaning:










and after:










We debated replacing the crystal, but Richard took the decision:

I've decided that I'm going to try to save the crystal, a new Omega pattern is Â£30+vat and I'm not sure it will have the Omega logo it, even at that price, but that aside, this may well be the original crystal and I'm sure I can salvage it.

I've spent some time polishing it and it's already looking much better. I will take more time on it tomorrow and should get most of the scratches out. There is one scratch which will probably still be visible and a couple of pits which may show under the right light, but given the condition of the case and dial, it's never going to look like a new watch. Personally I'd rather have the original crystal with a little wabi, and not be afraid to wear it, but please let me know if you want it changed.

Followed a few days (it's not his day job you see, more of a hobby) later with this result:

The crystal polished up really well - you can see that the Omega logo survived intact, but all the scratches came out. There are a few marks in the side from a fitting tool but they are only visible if you look for them.


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

In the meantime, he had also been busy on the innards:

I've removed the caseback seal - it looked a bit like this when I opened the case:










Out with the old seal....










...and a good clean to the case back










Then he got started on the movement:

So, it's all in bits, the first lot is out of the USB and drying, the second lot are soaking now. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be any wear to speak of. There are lots of nicks and tool marks in the plates, and I'm guessing it's had a hard life. The timing test was all over the place, but the clean and lube should sort that nicely. I was mildly concerned about the balance initially, but a soak in hairspring cleaner seems to have sorted it out.



The timing tests went well, it's on a shakedown at the moment, I ran it overnight and retimed it, it held steady at +1s/day, so I have re-cased the movement, popped the winding module on the back and replaced the seal. I've double-sealed the back, which I like to do, but there is no way of putting a seal in the stem aperture so I wouldn't guarantee that it's watertight, and I don't want to put it in the pressure tester because I'm not convinced that it wouldn't fail in quite a serious way. I suspect you don't want this as a diving watch anyway, but if you want me to pressure test it, please let me know and we can talk about contingency.



There is wear on the dial, marks on the datewheel etc, and the cleaning isn't totally consistent, but given where we started, I think it's come out OK - what do you think? The picture was taken under strong light, which makes it far more stark than it really is:


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

Overall, I'm pretty happy at this stage, but ol' Richard isn't:

On inspection it appears ........ there are a number of minute specks of lume on the inside of the crystal. Given the age of the lume, I'm not surprised. The flaking (far too big a word for what's happening, but you get the point) is likely to continue and static will attract it to the crystal. There's not much we can do at this point unless you want the dial replaced or restored. I don't have a replacement dial, but I can find somebody to restore it if you want to go that way.

Eh, there's flaking? okay so (I didn't spot it then & still can't) :lol:. Anyway at this point we decided to have a break:

Bishops Finger? Good man yourself! I'm on the Hobgoblin tonight myself. Combined with painkillers and antibiotics, it's providing an interesting television watching experience tonight. I've resisted the temptation for 10 days, but I just felt that tonight was a good night to find out why a chap shouldn't mix drink and drugs.

I should probably point out at this stage, that the drugs were for purely medical purposes :wink2: .

Price paid (I'm quite sure there was more work than expected in it) as agreed plus new parts as agreed. So this is what I got posted back to me (the manual wind was getting some TLC as well having suffered a fall - I allow my 6 yr old to handle all my watches, and this one dropped. Not her fault & a good learning experience for her):



Unfortunately, on arrival I was setting the date and:

The watches arrived today thanks, I had a problem when 'quick setting' the date: the crown popped off! Is this something you can talk me through over the internet if I supply photos as we go? or is it a "send it back to me" job? I'm willing to have a go if you are.

Panic set in, but the Iceman replied:

Pesky two piece stems  I have a Cosmic and a Dynamic which both suffer from this to some extent. Luckily it's a simple fix which any WIS can do at home

If you look at the hole where the crown normally resides, you'll see a bar in there - you may need a reasonable light and possibly a loupe for a proper examination. The bar is the end of the male end of the stem - the piece screwed into the crown is the female end. It's simply a case of lining up the slot in the female end with the bar at the end of the male end and giving it a firm press. It will click into place and your heart will skip a beat. Don't worry, both are expected 

Home repair and panic over, I took a quick (poor light) photo of the movement:



and put on the new strap I had waiting for it:









So thank you Dick Browne for a good job well done. :great:


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

That's a great job, Dick. :notworthy:


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## med (Feb 14, 2011)

interesting post - thanks for sharing it.


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## Littlelegs (Dec 4, 2011)

That looks great. Nice job...)


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## Neillp (May 7, 2012)

great story ending in a lovely watch!


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## Odhran (May 3, 2012)

Wow! A man who's great at his trade


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## kevkojak (May 14, 2009)

Legendary.

For an 'amateur watchmaker' I think Richard has done a magnificent job on that one Deco.


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## andyclient (Aug 1, 2009)

Nice job very well done


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## brad4t (Mar 7, 2012)

Interesting read, great job done and a lovely looking watch! :thumbup:


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

Damn it.

The crown popped off again today & I managed to break the split pin trying to put it back in.

Does anyone know what part number a replacement is (cal 565) ?

Dec


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## Philster1961 (Mar 19, 2012)

Great watch,well worth the effort.


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

Thanks Philster.

I found this on Cousins:

http://www.cousinsuk...4/166/2010.aspx

two types - is there any way of knowing which one I need (I can't even see the difference tbh)

Edit: case number is 166.065


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

on further investigation...

the crowm/stem assembly comes apart in not two pieces:










but three:










so I'm either looking for the stem only, or the crown+plus stem :yes:. It seems to me that this part. http://www.cousinsuk.com/catalog/4/166/2010.aspx, cut down to size, would do the trick?


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

Well I finally got back on to this & ordered 2 stems as I wasn't sure which was the correct diameter:



















but I need to get them cut down to the correct length...










the cut end needs to be filed clean - just the job for the fine metal file on my Leatherman:










'Popping' the stem back in place (it a two piece stem) is a finicky job that needs a steady hand. I'm more used to a hammer and bolster :hammer: :hammer: . Eventually I got it on and put the watch back together:










Gave my self a bit of a fright when I found this left over....










but even I knew that couldn't have come from the inside of the watch. Turns out it's from a broken spring bar :lol: .

So the watch is operational again, not exactly a professional job, but it does the trick :yahoo:

Apologies for the poor pictures, I was more concerned with the repair than the photos.


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## silverflyer (Feb 9, 2009)

A job well done Sir!


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## jnash (Dec 6, 2010)

Great post, these are definitely the best type of post


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## loucos66 (May 21, 2012)

nice job, well done.


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## Phillionaire (Jan 23, 2010)

Great end result. Well done to both of you, it's come up a treat. You gonna keep your eyes peeled for a NOS dial, or is it project finished?


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

Finally got a few snaps of the final result taken today. The damage to the hands is not apparent in everyday use:



















and some evidence of a hard life before restoration:










It ended up costing probably more than the watch is worth, but I am very happy with the way it turned out.


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## webwatchmaker (Oct 28, 2012)

Deco said:


> Damn it.
> 
> The crown popped off again today & I managed to break the split pin trying to put it back in.
> 
> ...


You don't need a male/female stem for this model. Just an Omega 565 part 401. normal stem.

Male/female stems are for when you can't reach the push piece which removes the stem. ie Front opening cases.


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

webwatchmaker said:


> You don't need a male/female stem for this model. Just an Omega 565 part 401. normal stem.
> 
> Male/female stems are for when you can't reach the push piece which removes the stem. ie Front opening cases.


Well, that's what is in it!

I take your point though, it may well be that some earlier 'repairer' put in the stem he had to hand, rather than ordering a normal stem


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## IGGULDEN (Sep 12, 2012)

i really enjoyed reading this, its great when you have a blow by blow account together with pics of how the watch was restored.


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## johneboy (Apr 15, 2013)

Hello, this one is for Deco or anyone else that can help.

I know this post is getting on for a year old now, but I have the gold version of this watch which I've done a bit of work on to bring it back to health. However, my watch does have a problem I hope you can help with.

On my watch, the movement is held into a retaining ring by two clamps and that sits in the watch case. However, the movement and ring are free to move around in my watch as whatever rubber part that held them in place has perished and fallen to pieces. The problem I have is that I do no know what the part is that sits around the outside of the retaining ring looks like or is known as.

Do you have any pictures or any guidance you can give me on how to sort this out?

Thanks in advance.


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

johneboy said:


> Hello, this one is for Deco or anyone else that can help.
> 
> I know this post is getting on for a year old now, but I have the gold version of this watch which I've done a bit of work on to bring it back to health. However, my watch does have a problem I hope you can help with.
> 
> ...


Hi and welcome to TWF. :yes:

From memory, I had a similar problem when I got it back.

When I opened it up there were a few flat plastic 'rugby ball' shaped spacers which appeared to be keeping the movement in place, but I couldn't vouch that these are original parts - in fact, I'd be fairly certain that they were not original.

The watch is with the repair man at the moment as the crown came off again and I couldn't get it back on myself, otherwise I'd post a few photos with the back off.

Why not post up a few pictures of your watch - I'd be interested to see your crown/stem arrangement/

Dec


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## johneboy (Apr 15, 2013)

Deco said:


> johneboy said:
> 
> 
> > Hello, this one is for Deco or anyone else that can help.
> ...


Hi Dec,

Thanks for the advice. I've been able to confirm with other forums that it looks like I need these 4 rubber parts and a caseback spring. Do you by any chance know the part number for one of those?

Also, as requested here are a few pics of my watch. I don't have any with the stem out at the mo, but as soon as I order the new parts and come to fit them I'd be happy to post one. The crown on mine was replaced by one of my local watch men. No doubt you'll be able to tell me it was the wrong one! 

Here's one of it from the front (with my other vintage Seamaster)










Here it is with the back off. As you can see, the movement is way off centre.


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