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Desmond

: There is something to be said for the fact that a blind squirrel
: finds a nut every once in a while.

: Background
: So here I am a few weeks ago looking and bottom fishing at the bay
: with a few hundred bucks that I had managed to scrape together
: by “cutting back” on other so called necessities (like
: food). Believe me, a little money in your pocket and ebay are
: two items that should not be mixed. As it turns out I felt the
: need to mix the two. Now I had been eyeing a nice dress watch
: and was in particular looking for a ss pie pan connie. Had even
: warmed my wife up to the idea but after a few auctions on some
: nice pieces getting over $700 and exchanging a few emails with
: Desmond (aka Mondodec) I decided to shelve the idea of a pie pan
: for now and turned my attention to the Deville line and got
: interested in the c.560 powered watches. My interest was fueled
: by Desmond’s essay on the c560 located here(Many thanks to him
: for doing this great research):

: http://www.snapdrive.net/files/476678/Unearthed
: %20Omega%20Calibre%20560%20Rarities.pdf

: I came across a nice example for sale but passed on it because it
: was solid gold and the seller's reserve price was way out of my
: budget. I like gold watches but felt that a GF or ss/mix piece
: would be more in my budget. I actually believe that this piece
: is still for sale on ebay.

: After passing on the first one, I kept casually looking even
: bidding on a non 560 powered ss deville that was in my price
: budget. Fortunately I didn't win that one. So, while surfing one
: day I came across an unusual listing with this information:

: Description from the seller:
: A vintage 1966 Omega Seamaster de Ville automatic 560
: movement wristwatch with date function and a non original
: Speidel bracelet. The dial and glass crystal are in excellent
: condition and the case has just a few very light use marks. It
: is in working order and keeps good time though I have not tested
: it over a long period. The crown pulls out of the movement
: unfortunately. It is serial number 23078096.

: Some of the pics from the auction:

:

:

:

:

: As it turns out the seller also had a second caliber 560 for
: sale. Here is a pic from the second auction.

:

: Armed with the information from Desmond’s essay, I couldn’t
: comprehend the possibility of one seller having two legitimate
: examples of these for sale at the same time, so I was very
: apprehensive. I sent an email to the seller regarding caseback
: ref#s and he replied that he had gotten a watchmaker to take
: pics of the movement but that he did not get the caseback
: numbers. Yeah right, typical story. My common sense told me to
: run but the seller told me he was aware that these could be
: recased (I saw where another potential bidder asked the similar
: question and probably had replied to the request as to why this
: was necessary by stating that its not uncommon for these to be
: recased. Just a suspicion, but in hindsight probably was
: accurate). Lucky for me any correspondence between the seller
: and another bidder did not reveal that these watches may be
: special. Much to my dismay, the seller confirmed to me through
: email that he would refund my money if the watch was recased.
: Heck, at over 6,800 positive feedback with not one single
: negative I figured he would keep his word. Buy the seller,
: right?

: At this point I had two decisions to make, first to trust the
: seller, and second to choose which one to bid on as both
: auctions ended at the same time. I decided to go for it and
: stake my loot on the one that seemed to be in better condition
: (even though it was missing the original crown). I figured if I
: was going to get either of the two I would prefer the nicer
: looking one so I wouldn’t feel as bad if it was not legit.
: After looking at the watch many, many times it seemed to be gold
: toned. I figured probably gold filled or gold capped, but the
: seller didn’t indicate anything in his write up about any
: possible gold content and I didn’t ask any questions to the
: seller for fear of him snooping around the watch and potentially
: substantially increasing his vested interest in it. I also did
: not see where any other seller had asked either. To me I felt I
: had just lucked out and found a junk buying seller that had a
: limited knowledge of Omega watches. I was moderately informed
: and he wasn’t.

: One thing that did bug me however was that the dial style did not
: meet the criteria of the original styles written about by
: Desmond on the original draft of his c.560 writeup, ie it did
: not have distinctive baton markers at the 12,6,9. However, as
: luck would have it Desmond’s blog included an addendum with a
: 560 variant with the exact same dial configuration confirmed to
: be original in case ref# 166.020 by Omega. This really added
: fuel to the fire for me for this particular auction and
: seemingly why there was little interest in it. I decided to go
: for it. I put a bid for everything that I had on me, $395 and
: thought surely that this wouldn’t hold up. Went to bed and
: checked my mail the following morning to discover I had won the
: auction for $388, much to my dismay. By the way, the second
: one that was ss went for about $250. Lots of things went
: swirling through my mind but I had the backing of the seller, so
: I felt nothing ventured nothing gained.

: So, a few tense days after the auction, the watch arrived on Oct
: 8th. I was just blown away by the watch. It was in near mint
: condition and when I got the bracelet off, I was shocked to see
: the markings 14K GOLD between the lugs. How did the
: seller miss this? The watch is 14k! Nowhere did the seller
: mention this in his write up. Now I was more interested and
: anxious to get it to a watchmaker. I figured that it was
: probably a 166.020 with the dial configuration or a KL6610 and
: felt that I had a 66% shot that the case was a legit c.560 case.

: Off it went to the watchmaker a few days later where it sat until
: it was opened yesterday Oct 22. Hence my original post about the
: wait killing me. I knew what I may have but couldn’t
: authenticate it without the skills necessary to do so. As it
: turns out, my watchmaker had been ill and had the watch for
: almost a week before the reveal. In his own words, here is the
: result.

: “Hi Mike so I got to work today, and took the watch apart.
: The movement looks beautiful and unmolested, not a scratch. As
: for the case with bezel it weighs 12.6 grams …The numbers
: inside the case are KL6610, and 4439003… and the Ross insignia
: is definitely there….The dial is original, and serviced back
: in December of 1993. The crystal is definitely an Omega
: original.”

: Wow, a confirmed original rare example of a KL6610 c.560 cased
: watch, per Desmond and Omega, one of only 3,000 c.560s ever
: produced, and likely a further limited run of 300-400 pieces
: with this particular case ref#. Needless to say I was elated. I
: felt like I hit the watch lottery. No, its not a rare speedy or
: a rare seamaster but it is a rare original vintage Omega in
: superb condition. A gem for me for sure.

: That’s the information to date. Thanks for hanging in there with
: me and sorry for the information overload but I had to tell the
: story on this one. Now comes the hard part(s), scraping together
: the money for the service, and telling my wife. Oh, and watch
: strap suggestions would be helpful at this point. I’m thinking
: a nice croc dark brown maybe might just be the icing on the
: cake. Ill post my pics of the watch once it get it back
: from the watchmaker. Could be a few weeks down the road.