As with a lot of us, my dad bought this watch when he got his first real job. He's an electrical engineer, so the notion of an electric watch appealed to him. He wore it for some time but afterward he stopped wearing it in favor for casio watches, and after the cellphones started appearing around (he could check the time on the cellphone), he stopped wearing watches.
This Omega sat on his safe (along with two gold mechanical watches from my cuban grandfather, on of them an Universal Geneve, but more on that in another thread) for more than 20 years unused.... and it was probably never serviced... so I was not sure if it would run again. I tried various watchmaker but none wouldn't even take a look at the watch. So, the watch sat on my watch box for close to a year.
Two months ago I went to a jeweler close to my office to get something for my wife and saw that he had an old Seamaster in his workbench, movement completely disassembled. I ask about it and he told me that a lot of young attorneys and brokers (I work at PR's financial district, but apparently CPA don't like cool watches
) were buying old Omegas, Longines, etc and he would repair and clean the watches for them. I told him about the f300Hz and he said that he would take a look, but that often times it was expensive to fix them because the parts were no longer available. Lucky for me, this guy is the real deal as he ended up having to fabricate a couple of parts from scratch, but two months later (and for only $165), the watch was running like a champ! The way the seconds hand move is mesmerizing and the hum of the tuning fork is very cool. Here is a (bad) youtube video of the seconds hand moving:
And super cool slowmo video of the movement in action:
That index wheel at the end has 300 teeth and its supposed to spin more than 38 million times a year!
Real time:
Here is a great explanation of the movement made by a WUS member:
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f45/inside ... 98152.html
These movements were made by Bulova Accutron, but licensed to several other watch brands. Super cool technology that was displaced by the quartz.
I honestly don't dig the silver dial a lot, as I can't find a leather strap that I really like for it. I'm wearing it today in an awesome dark brown Heuerville strap (with an Omega buckle, thanks to Dave!) and I think it works... but I have a bracelet incoming for him. Anyways, here are some pictures of the watch in different straps. Let me know what you think!
Photo of the movement before service:
I saw this picture the other day and the case on some of these chronographs (middle and to the right) is kind of similar to the one on the Omega.... been thinking of trying a bund strap for it... just not sure if black or brown.
Thanks for reading!
