Omega Constellation 751

[noirrac1j]

My favorite watch---a stainless steel omega with a missing bezel. I finally got the courage to give it an overhaul even though it runs perfectly. It is original in everything except the darn bezel is gone---its hard to find one these days but I almost don't mind becasue it looks very clean.

 

I beganby  very carefully uncasing:  I immediately noticed the movement was cradled in an additional metal ring with screws

The dial itself has a curious ridge around it that I figured out is to help stabilze it when mounted on that ring. The dial is also held in place with screws of course.

The day (in spanish) and date wheels, and a complicated quick set mechanism that took me a while to rebuild:

The movement is very nice and finished to a high level--something very different compared to my pin pallets watches I like so much 

The bridge was intimidating with its separate level of gears and jewels

 

And continuing with the tear down: It was nice having a separate bridge for the drive gears

 

  

 

Rebuilding was straighforward:

I opted out of taking apart the bridge and just cleaned it as best I could and carfully checked it afterward 

Lets face it: The incablock sping system makes it very easy to clean the jewel and cap. Much better than novodiac spring I am used to: 

 

For the dial side I have to admit I got a little careless and overlooked some key details about the where the quick set mechanism should be positioned. Because of this I had to redo it twice--meaning I had to remove the dial and hands AFTERI had put the whole watch together when I discovered I could not set the date properly.

The day is in Spanish which is fine because I am proficient and I like the abbreviations.

 

The dial looks great

...YES I DID GET THAT LITTLE BIT OF RODICO OFF!

 

The watch is recased and is ready to be worn. Its keeping the same great time as before I took it apart which is good!

 

Hope you guys enjoyed the walk-through.

Edited November 30, 2014 by noirrac1j

[Geo]

Very well done Joe, I'm glad to see you've moved into the big league. That is an excellently executed bit of watch maintenance and illustration. :-)

[autowind]

That's a mighty fine watch Joe and you are a braver man than me, but the only way to learn is by doing.  Just a couple of things I noticed are that the 1st. thing I would remove would be the auto work and then the balance wheel and cock, then the hands and then the dial.  The sooner the balance wheel is in a safe place the better,  a new balance from Omega would cost $4,000,000 at least.  Your end result looks like new and if it's missing a bezel it's not really noticeable.   :thumbsu:

[bobm12]

I love those Chinese movements!! Just kidding!! :D

 

That was masterful JC. Nice work and don't worry if it took you some time to figure out that little bit, the important thing is that you learned from that experience and nothing was amiss. The watch looks better than before and is working fine so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED with HIGH HONORS! Congratulations! I'm happy for you and that you finally jumped into the real stuff!

 

As Roger (autowind) says, it is a good thing to initially remove the autoworks, balance wheel and hands/date/dial parts - in that order, considering the cost and availability of such parts (I do all the time). Powerful reasons for them to be taken special care of. In any case, if it works for you or not maybe it is worth giving it a try.

 

In any case, keep up the good work and post a lot of your work, it is very interesting!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[noirrac1j]

That's a mighty fine watch Joe and you are a braver man than me, but the only way to learn is by doing.  Just a couple of things I noticed are that the 1st. thing I would remove would be the auto work and then the balance wheel and cock, then the hands and then the dial.  The sooner the balance wheel is in a safe place the better,  a new balance from Omega would cost $4,000,000 at least.  Your end result looks like new and if it's missing a bezel it's not really noticeable.   :thumbsu:

Hey WRT,

yeah you're right about removing the balance wheel. I usually remove the rotor and the automatic winding mechanism first, but since I had never done the day/date on an Omega, I figured I should do that first before I get eye fatigue. I have good eyes and want to keep them that way! You are also right about getting parts if something were to go wrong. with Omega, getting "donor" movements is not an economic possibility for me because I've seen what is asking price even for a non-working constellation. One without a case might be obtainable but the 751 is getting hard to find--thankfully the movement is running very well. I've tried getting a bezel (it is 14k white gold) and could not find anything even remotely economical. It doesn't bother me because the watch is a great timekeeper--and yes Iwill be getting a timegrapher soon to get some amplitude numbers. I read all the posts about timegraphers and want to be able to talk about it too! Thanks for the suggestions.

Regards,

JC

Edited December 1, 2014 by noirrac1j

[noirrac1j]

I love those Chinese movements!! Just kidding!! :D

 

That was masterful JC. Nice work and don't worry if it took you some time to figure out that little bit, the important thing is that you learned from that experience and nothing was amiss. The watch looks better than before and is working fine so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED with HIGH HONORS! Congratulations! I'm happy for you and that you finally jumped into the real stuff!

 

As Roger (autowind) says, it is a good thing to initially remove the autoworks, balance wheel and hands/date/dial parts - in that order, considering the cost and availability of such parts (I do all the time). Powerful reasons for them to be taken special care of. In any case, if it works for you or not maybe it is worth giving it a try.

 

In any case, keep up the good work and post a lot of your work, it is very interesting!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

Thanks Bob. You're always giving great encouragement and I really appreciate it.

 

Regards,

JC

[Mark]

Awesome job and great pictures. I did a couple of these last week, they are great watches.

[altaka]

Way to Go!!

 

Great Job

Al

[noirrac1j]

Thanks guys.

 

JC

[clockboy]

Nice watch & nice job done