zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

First off, hello all. I've been reading the site for about a week now, and have learnt a lot, so thanks for that.

I've had an Omega that I rescued from my Granddad's outdoor storage after he passed away for about 6-7 years now. I knew nothing about watches at that point (didn't even know about Omega), but looking through the junk I found the watch in quite a bad way (crown/winder missing, dial has some serious discolouration and the whole thing was filthy).

I kept it purely because as soon as I picked it up, the second hand smoothly started to glide around.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it's only now that I have been seriously researching the watch and I believe that it is a Constellation Automatic from 1969, with the reference ST 166.058 - 168.044 and an unusual rectangular crystal (4 screw case - too scared to open it yet!). A spanish site are selling one very similiar (except mine has a springy mesh bracelet): http://shop.joseph-watches.com/joseph/en/FMPro?-db=gaj.fp5&-format=detail_xxl.html&-lay=web&-recid=12592669&-token=XX&-find

It definitely needs maintenance and a new crown, but it's the dial I'm wondering about. It's gone a sort of mellow yellowy colour, and has some flecks of green and sepia (probably mildew?) on it.

My question is this: should I keep the dial in it's present state, or will it decay further unless I get it cleaned up? Another sad factor is cost, as I've found I now love vintage Omegas, but unfortunately have a very modest wage (and now a mortgage)...

Thanking you in advance for your thoughts and sorry about the long first post!