# A Good Find On The Bay Of Thieves



## aroma (Dec 11, 2009)

I acquired this piece from the â€˜Bay of Thievesâ€™ recently for a BIN price that would hardly cover the gold scrap value.





































Itâ€™s a Dennison cased, solid gold Seamaster â€" hallmarked for Birmingham and â€˜Pâ€™ (1964) with a cal 552 movement. I just love these 60s Seamasters â€" I had one very similar to this some years ago and sold it when I bought my gold Constellation. However, I always regretted selling it and have been looking for a replacement. Apart from now being a considerably higher price than they were when I had mine, they are also becoming increasingly rare.

What I look for when buying is an immaculate original dial â€" the rest of the watch can be sorted fairly simply â€" cases can be sympathetically polished, new original design crowns and crystals can be fitted and the movements can usually be repaired if faulty. But the dial is another matter entirely and thereâ€™s not much you can do to a blemished dial other than leave it alone (I donâ€™t like re-painting dials).

The dial on this is in fabulous condition for its age â€" hardly a blemish (most of the marks are on the crystal). It has solid gold hour markers with onyx inserts and matching gold/onyx dauphine hands (just like my gold Connie). In fact the Constellation and Seamaster dials are virtually identical (apart from the Connieâ€™s date window).



















The only issue with this watch is that the movement is stopping â€" but the movement gleams like new so it canâ€™t be anything too bad â€" can it? Anyway, itâ€™s been sent away to my trusty watch repairer for service/repair (and a good clean). Cal 552s are usually bullet-proof anyway and the spares situation is still good.

Interestingly, for Dennison anoraks â€" the Dennison case ref is 165.5003. Dennisonâ€™s often used a 5 in the middle of the code - if you remove it and look up that number on the Omega vintage database, you get the equivalent Omega watch â€" well it works again in this case â€" try it.

Iâ€™ll stop now before I bore the pants off you all.

Cheers


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## andyclient (Aug 1, 2009)

Very nice find indeed beautiful watch , I have a 61 seamaster with a 552cal movement in stainless

Cheers Andy


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## dickstar1977 (Feb 4, 2008)

I think I saw that!

There has been some really interesting Omega related stuff coming out of the bay recently, I think a lot of people are digging through the sock drawers in this time of economic downturn!

I personally am much happier seeing them saved from the 'we buy any gold' melting pots! I recently bought an Omega Megaquartz F2.4Mhz movement and dial from the bay, the 18K case and bracelet (1 of less than 250 hand made in fontana) had been smelted the day before, I was gutted! The 18K MQ2.4 is really the only missing grail for me! sigh

Great catch and a lovely piece! Job well done :clap:


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## meagain (Jan 9, 2011)

had one very similar recently nice watch


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## Watch-nut (Oct 31, 2009)

A good find indeed, a lot of class for not a great deal of cash by todays RRP standards of any decent watch brand, look hard enough and some really good buys pop up on the bay


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