Back in April, a nice oversized Omega “De Bord” Chronometer pocket watch showed up for sale on eBay. It probably lasted only a few minutes before it went off the radar screen, thus, for the most, it remained unnoticed. The description didn’t help much either. The watch was little covered in the past weekend Market Report article, but since then, my mind remained devoted […]
Market report – May 2017
May 26, 2017
Here we are, a year after the last market report entry. Although it looks like you’ve seen it before, the market did change in some unexpected ways. After an intensive appreciation with requests and sales results breaking record after record – some still are -, we now face not a dramatic drop but for sure a deceleration, and possible a even greater separation […]
The Wordsmith, The Brave Men, and the Patek vs. Pateck
April 1, 2017
Although it has been quite some time since my last entry, I left behind a horrible cold season and an exhausting half an year. Beneath all appearances, life still throbs in the suburbs of Europe. Finding time to put together some thoughts is a different story.Today, instead of a joke, I chose a cylinder pocket […]
Omega Pocket Watch Regulators in the French line era
August 30, 2016
1 French line (also referred as Paris line) = 2.2558 mm Before 1920’s, Omega movement sizes were expressed exclusively in French lignes, which gave the name of the caliber. It is not unusual, since the French and Swiss watch manufacturers, always preferred the Paris line to the metric system, when referring to movement sizes. Although this was the first […]
For the last 10 years, the import codes matter has been widely discussed, but never satisfactorily explained. The 3 letter US import codes were most of the times, attributed to the manufacturer. There is no excuse here, as I had the same perception for many years too. It was only after I dealt with two different […]
The paths never taken by Omega
July 14, 2016
Trying to explain “what really is Omega”, its no easy task. But it could unveil in the form of many things… definitely more then James Bond and Man on the Moon. With little exception, wherever you look at, trying to document yourself about Omega’s history, every piece of article will start with a reverence for what dictionary will return for “Omega”, […]
How to date your Omega pocket watch
June 24, 2016
What makes Omega pocket watches so special, intriguing and hard to determine is the “jungle of calibers” matched up by the beauty of the dials and the variety of the cases they were fitted in. Either if you chose to hoard them by dial and case variation, or simply by caliber, even only between 1894 and 1922 (La Belle Époque of the Omega […]
Counting Jewels with Omega – Part II
June 3, 2016
Since the emblem of the Omega manufacture and the beginning of the journey can be identified on good reasons with then newly tailored 19″ lig. caliber, developed by François Chevillat, it is worth offering a small tribute to it’s creation by adapting this small grading study on the evolution of the 19″ caliber, being the most versatile of […]
Market report – May 2016
May 18, 2016
The current interest in vintage watches has made price indexes get to the highest level, with the collectors pool rapidly increasing, while the mass of the real important timepieces shrinking, being vaulted by the day. But even a decade ago, it was clear that vintage was no longer (widely accepted as) cheap. Which basically means […]
Counting Jewels with Omega – Part I
May 9, 2016
As most watch enthusiasts know, jewels have been in the watchmaking landscape since the early 1700’s. The necessity and the role of the jewels was to reduce friction and wear on the moving parts, improve accuracy and prolong the watch utility. With the help of the mechanized production, and interchangeable parts, at the end of the 19th and the […]