1963 Seamaster De Ville Project - first post!!

[bbowman]

Hello everyone,
I just received my first Omega watch - a 1963 Seamaster De Ville I purchased off of ebay. The watch was sold in a non-running state. This is only my second repair so I am still learning a lot.

I think the watch is overall in not bad shape considering its age and the price I paid for it. It was exactly what i was looking for. But I do have a few questions for some of you with more experience than I. First, here is a picture of the watch without the crystal (which is broken).

As you can see, the dial is a bit rough. The "Seamster De Ville" that should be below the hands I think is completely worn away, and the "automatic" underneath the "OMEGA" is almost completely gone as well. Would this be a candidate for a redial? The thing I love about the dial is the beautiful patina it has from its age. Do some places do a redial but without completely restoring the dial to a as-new condition? Like repaint what has worn away but not get rid of the wonderful patina? If not, then I will probably just stick with this dial until i find a replacement I can afford. The one thing that does bother me a lot is the missing 2 o'clock marker. Do any of you know a place to find replacement markers? Or is my only hope to find a donor dial?

Here is a picture of the movement (sorry for the terrible cell phone pics).

The elusive omega 560 movement. Or at least I believe it is elusive? I read it somewhere on the internet that it was...

I have one last question. The case back has the number KL 6292. On otto frei he does all his parts by the case number. I can find parts by 6292 but not specifically by KL6292. I am guessing that the 6292 parts are the ones I want, but I figured I would ask you guys first before I spend a bunch of money and find out its for the wrong watch... I will be ordering a new crystal (old one is cracked), stem (old one broken) and crown (old one missing), and perhaps a mainspring if it turns out that is what the problem is.

I dont have my tools currently with me so i have not actually looked into why the watch is not running (its killing me!!). When i tap the balance wheel the movement does run but clearly the mainspring is either not being wound by the rotor, or the mainspring is broken. the mainspring barrel feels rather stiff so I am thinking its broken in there and jammed up. If not I may be asking more questions later!

Thanks for reading and giving any advice/suggestions/answers/comments to help me out on my first Omega project! I hope to make this a beautiful watch when its all said and done.

-bbowman

[seoulseeker]

Nice piece.... can't give you much advice for restoring it, but the caliber 560 was indeed limited to 3,000 pieces. Even better is to find one that has been adjusted to 2 positions.

Maybe you will have to buy another vintage omega, and use it to salvage parts - at least for the 2 o'clock marker on the dial.

Nice find, interesting dial. Hope you can get it in good condition!

Here's mine - also caliber 560:

[joeuk]

very unusual dial, never seen one like that before. Your best bet is to phone a redial place and ask them about the work. Keep us posted how you go on with the work. It will probably need a good service.

[bbowman]

Nice piece.... can't give you much advice for restoring it, but the caliber 560 was indeed limited to 3,000 pieces. Even better is to find one that has been adjusted to 2 positions.

Maybe you will have to buy another vintage omega, and use it to salvage parts - at least for the 2 o'clock marker on the dial.

Nice find, interesting dial. Hope you can get it in good condition!

Here's mine - also caliber 560:

That is a beautiful watch. I can only hope one day mine will look even half as good as that! I just checked the movement and it is indeed a 560 that is adjusted to 2 positions. So there are even less of those I am guessing? I love the original dial but it is in need of some help between the worn off paint and missing marker. It seems like there are less "Seamaster De Ville" dials around. There are plenty of either Seamaster, or De Ville, but not many of the seamster de ville.

Thanks for the replies guys. I will keep you informed. hope to get home to my tools this weekend and start servicing the movement.

-bbowman

[CDavis7M]

Interesting dial. I'm glad you're going to fix her up!