Hello Jinzhe Li,
Thank you for sending this Omega pocket watch to mearto.com for appraisal. I will be happy to be of assistance.
TITLE:
Gent’s Art Deco, chromed silver(or steel), mechanical manually wound, open face pocket watch with 24 hour dial, made for the Asian market, made by Omega, Geneva, Switzerland, circa early 1930s. . .
DESCRIPTION:
Case – 48mm diameter, three leaf, chromed silver (or steel), open face pocket watch with fluted winding crown and oval bow at the twelve. There are Japanese figures on the cover which I cannot read. . .
Dial –White silvered dial with Breguet Arabic hours (1-12), segmented closed minute sectors with second Arabic hour chapter (13-24) in between the segments of the minute ring, subsidiary seconds @6, gilt Breguet style hands and the upper dial marked, Omega with horseshoe logo. . .
Movement –The Omega caliber 37.5T1( until 1949), then renamed Omega caliber 140, an open face caliber, a stem wound and set, split plate, 15 jewel gilt slit plate movement, Breguet hairspring, Swiss style index regulator, vibrating at 18000 beats/hour with a power reserve of 42 hours on one winding. S/N 7794863 = early 1930s. . .
Condition – In excellent condition with very little signs of wear. Dial is excellent, movement is clean and likely functional and case is also very good, but not a precious metal. . .
Historical –
Omega Watch Company
Founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1848 by 23 year old Louis Brandt who assembled key wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen. He traveled throughout Europe selling his watches, with England as his main market. Brandt died in 1879 the business was taken over by his two sons who created a factory for total in house manufacturing and total production control. They moved to Bienne in 1880. They produced watches of different grades. Both brothers died in 1903, leaving a company that produced a quarter million watches a year and employed 800 people in the hands of four young people, the oldest was 24 years of age. He was Paul Emile Brandt, considered to be the great architect and builder of Omega. In 1930 they merged with Tissot within the group Societe Sussie pour L'Industrie Horologe or SSIH. By the 1970's the SSIH was number one Swiss producer of finished watches and number three in the world. They again merged in 1983 with the owner of Longines, Rado and Swatch watches to form ASUAG-SSIH. In 1985 it was purchased by a group led by Nicolas Hayek and renamed SMH. They achieved rapid and great success to become today's top watch producer in the world. In 1998 it was named the Swatch Group it now includes the brands Breguet and Blancpain. Omega used numerous metal codes. For instance there would be a code for 14k yellow gold, which was 'BD'. They also used a 7 digit reference number on their watches. The first number indicated the type of watch (e.g. #5=ladies watch). The second digit indicated the type of winding (e.g. #9=electronic). The third digit related to water resistance. The last four digits refer to the various case, dial and bracelet types. The most important number, inside the watch, is the serial number found on the movement.
Comparing your example to other similar examples at auction recently, the fair market value is in the $175-$225 range. Retail prices are higher.
Thank you for sending in this watch for appraisal. You did well at the Japanese auction house. That is a very good buy!
My best,
David