Omega 752 Franken-watch Project

[bobtheterrible]

Hi All,

I have always wanted a vintage automatic Omega but I have never taken the plunge. A few moths ago I picked up a lot of watch movements that, amongst others, contained a slightly rusty Omega 752 movement. It was missing some parts and bits of it looked rusty but I figured I could use it as the base of a franken-watch (not intending to dupe anyone - just for myself). I found a case on ebay and am trying to source some of the missing parts (I can guess now why they were missing in the first place!). Im realising this is likely to cost me more than if I had just bought the watch in the first place but here I am.......

I was wondering if somebody here could help me identify one of these missing parts for me. The omega parts list (https://www.cousinsuk.com/PDF/categories/405_Omega 752 NewLR.pdf) suggests the lower incabloc unit is part number 563-1346. However the parts Im finding on ebay do not look like they would fit my movement. Could anyone tell me what part number I should be looking for here??

This is the lower shock setting:

This is the part I keep seeing on ebay:

This is a pic of the movement in general - it is actually cleaning up nicely.

It did take me three days to loosen up those two rusty bolts however...

 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by bobtheterrible

[JohnR725]

On 11/1/2023 at 4:29 PM, bobtheterrible said:

contained a slightly rusty Omega 752 movement.

It looks like from the images your rusty movement is cleaning up quite nicely. I've inherited a few rusty Omega movements over the years and they are never going to look as nice as yours looks.

On 11/1/2023 at 4:29 PM, bobtheterrible said:

but I figured I could use it as the base of a franken-watch (not intending to dupe anyone - just for myself)

Just a little clarification here? Last person on the group claimed to be restoring a particular Omega watch reality was trying to mix and match whatever and whatever it didn't really work well for us or his discussion with us. In this particular case you appear to be restoring a particular Omega watch and you would like to restore it back to its original condition? That we can work with as you're not going to be mixing and matching things that aren't quite right. It sometimes very hard to help somebody on discussion group if for not sure where they're going in other words let's combine several different Omega watches and make one that is going to be a nightmare versus let's see if we can restore this watch.

On 11/1/2023 at 4:29 PM, bobtheterrible said:

(I can guess now why they were missing in the first place!). Im realising this is likely to cost me more than if I had just bought the watch in the first place but here I am.......

Yes the sad reality of watches getting cannibalized and the parts worth more than the watch itself.

On 11/1/2023 at 4:29 PM, bobtheterrible said:

suggests the lower incabloc unit is part number 563-1346. However the parts Im finding on ebay do not look like they would fit my movement. Could anyone tell me what part number I should be looking for here??

So yes looking at the parts list that does appear to be the correct part number. That is if you would like the Omega part may be the generic part would work just fine as they would be identical except the rose gold spring would be gold plated instead. This is where the website at the link below comes in useful.

So far everything seem nice and straightforward until my brain is tired and yes I know you had pictures provides it didn't quite stinky and right away. So yes we have a problem or you have a problem that let's see what we can do about it.

For instance this is a main plate from an Omega watch supposedly yours but doesn't agree with yours doesn't? That's because Omega has upgraded and it should be reflected in the parts list but the cousins parts list will be out of date and it's not always reflected in the newer parts lists.

So for the particular main plate up above this is what the spring would look like the hold the jewel assembly conveniently missing from yours.

Then just to make it clear for everybody zoomed into your image of what you're finding which agrees with the plate and the spring but unfortunately doesn't work for your watch at all does it?

Then from your plate I don't suppose we do have a slight angle shot I can't see if there are slots or cuts in the outer edge I have a suspicion what it is but I can't quite see it. But no matter what it is not the same jewel assembly as found in the watch above

Then to add to the confusion let's look at the parts list found at the link below and as a heck of a lot of parts which tells us what we already know revisions.

Then from another websites because sometimes they get updated in different orders see if they make any better sense of this mess.

Now another image for Chamblee we can use generic if we can figure out which one it is based on the parts list numbers or possibly we can use an Omega once again a figure out what were looking

Let's zoom in on the part of the image above

Okay so the old uses 172.03 which will not fit on your watch at all. But as a guess 175.03 should fit that's why you need a slight angle view as it looks like there should be a slot for that to go into.

Now we just need to figure out what jewel of those with that spring or if you're like on eBay look for a new hairstyle one? But I'm reasonably sure of Omega doesn't necessarily change the part numbers because in stock that have the newest and not the old parts and on eBay it could be new old and as you find not entirely the right one of

Oh and this is where if you had a friendly material house to talk to you would explain your problem and they would get you the right part. Where online doesn't necessarily explain all of this. Yes there really are physical material houses existing in the world some of them not online

You can try a process of elimination and I'm somewhat guessing it may be perhaps this

http://cgi.julesborel.com/cgi-bin/matcgi2?ref=X\ZDXJUH

Only because it has a different part number.

Then how about some more confusion parts list yours is Yours came from 2013 mine is slightly newer and 2016. Let's look at the parts images

Let's look at yours should be identical but they're not. Notice how you have part 1344 missing from up above. Then you don't even have the older spring is your list is newer than the older one. It's the problem of revisions of the main plate. Cf. yet the right part for the right age of your. Plus of course notice how the part numbers for your lower jewel assembly are identical when they're not very unhelpful

and no I don't know if you can substitute a newer one for the older one I'm guessing not. Plus and thinking from the way the picture shows in the way the parts description is in a newer style it may be an entire assembly that doesn't actually come up and perhaps

I'm not sure if my answer is of any help at all because I'm not actually sure what you should be purchasing other than what you should not be purchasing. If you do take the 400/numbers you can go to the home page of the company at the link below and do a search and they come up but the description sucks and there's no pictures. Then because the physical bestfit book is too old none of these tools are listed either

http://www.julesborel.com/s.nl/it.A/id.24948/.f

Not sure how helpful is going to be a big problem is it's older

 

So with a foldout what it isn't. You should build get an aftermarket setting but we have to figure out what it is and I'm not quite sure how to do that. Then whoever you purchase from on eBay has to have the newer version obviously which of course will have the exact same part numbers the older version.

http://cgi.julesborel.com/cgi-bin/matcgi2?ref=OME_752

 

 

 

[rossjackson01]

John. I know I should say this. But, to clarify.. You are so interesting!!! Both in your factual comments and your research. You really are a help to us mortals. 

Thank you once again.

Edited November 4, 2023 by rossjackson01

[bobtheterrible]

Hi @JohnR725!

Once again many thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail!

On 11/4/2023 at 8:07 AM, JohnR725 said:

Just a little clarification here? Last person on the group claimed to be restoring a particular Omega watch reality was trying to mix and match whatever and whatever it didn't really work well for us or his discussion with us.

Oh dear... that doesn't sound good. Perhaps I was heading down this path too. However I did have a strategy in mind:

• Movement - I started with a mostly intact 752 and wanted to restore this properly. At worst, secondhand parts or removing rust from existing.
• Case - 166.053 I purposely chose one that would have had a 752 to begin with. This is a one-piece case so I don't have to worry about a case back. It came with a crystal which I "choose" to believe is original. Im not sure how these movements are retained in this case tho the movement came with a split stem and one case clamp. For the purpose of this project Im locked into whatever 166.053 would have come with in the wild. 
• Dial - unknown. This is where I think the project might break down. I do not know if I will be able to source the correct dial for this case or if there are substitutes. This is on me and I wouldn't be asking the forum anything other than "do you know possible part numbers for dials for this case".
• Hands - Honestly, I was going to go with whatever fits for the moment....

I certainly don't want to annoy people here. This might be a slow burning project till I can source the parts I need - or, sadly, may have to be abandoned if it proves grossly uneconomical to finish (there is an element of fun in all of this so Im willing to accept reasonable cost overruns). 

On 11/4/2023 at 8:07 AM, JohnR725 said:

I'm not sure if my answer is of any help at all because I'm not actually sure what you should be purchasing other than what you should not be purchasing.

Your answer has been immensely helpful if only to inform me that the problem is a lot more complicated than I first thought.

The information you have provided here is outstanding and has given me a lot of insight into how to search for Omega parts going forward. There is a lot to take in here so let me digest and see what I can find - I will post some better (angled) pictures of the setting when I get chance.

Otherwise the movement has been through the cleaner and actually looks great considering the amount rust it had on it. I would love to get it running.

Thanks again,
Bob

Edited November 5, 2023 by bobtheterrible

[JohnR725]

4 hours ago, bobtheterrible said:

Case - 166.053 I purposely chose one that would have had a 752 to begin with. This is a one-piece case so I don't have to worry about a case back. It came with a crystal which I "choose" to believe is original. Im not sure how these movements are retained in this case tho the movement came with a split stem and one case clamp. For the purpose of this project Im locked into whatever 166.053 would have come with in the wild.

https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watch-omega-de-ville-omega-ba-166-0053

Just a reminder something you are unaware of the case number isn't entirely as it appears to be. That really isn't the decimal point in a number it's really a separator in a number. That sounds confusing doesn't it but if you look at the link above notice how it's really 166.0053 for the case number. It's amazing what happens if you have extra zero if you're trying to find it.

Now if you go to cousins a lot of times they'll have information but I'm not seeing this. Then if you not seeing what you want to find like the last digits are missing sometimes if you do a partial search you might figure out what the problem is But in this particular case I'm not seeing it?

https://www.cousinsuk.com/document/search?SearchString=166

But there's another place to search.

If you go to the search page here

http://cgi.julesborel.com/

In addition to all those wonderful things you can click and places you can go there is a place for you to enter in something Like for instance ome cs#166. Notice the same thing as cousins I did not enter the last digits just to see what would come up and that's quite an impressive list and there is your case.

http://cgi.julesborel.com/cgi-bin/matcgi2?ref=OME_CS^166.0053

Oh and then there's the other amusement with omega you have an exact case number and what does that get you? What becomes interesting with case numbers and omega is it's more of a style number than an actual exact case. Not sure if that's how they actually word it but for some case in the past I looked up I think it came in five different materials. Then the problem with things like that would be that the crystal was not the same number for all the various cases. Oftentimes the crystals will have a ring but that wasn't the difference or his actual physical size difference for one of the cases.

Then notice the case clamp number you can click on that and you get this Link

http://cgi.julesborel.com/cgi-bin/matcgi2?ref=q[[N`K

Tells you all the movements and all the various cases the case clamp is used on.

Normally for one piece case like this this should be a ring inside the case that rotates. So you'd have your casing clamps on the movement the move but the drop into the case providing the ring is in the right place the ring is rotated and locks the movement in place.

4 hours ago, bobtheterrible said:

I certainly don't want to annoy people here. This might be a slow burning project till I can source the parts I need - or, sadly, may have to be abandoned if it proves grossly uneconomical to finish (there is an element of fun in all of this so Im willing to accept reasonable cost overruns).

Don't worry are not annoying anybody here as you're doing it correctly. In other words are telling us what you're trying to do is showing us and giving us numbers and you're allowing us to help you because you gave us enough information that we can help you. Plaster giving us an update and that's fine. Unfortunately we all have projects that may take literally forever. That's not an issue either.

Oh and it be helpful if you did a search for the number 752 you don't need to specify what watch that is and you get a list of things to look at as we've covered this watch before. I just now did a quick search and I see that somebody was having an issue getting their watch out of the case.

But I see we got feedback it looks like maybe the case and you'll have to look at yours doesn't have a locking ring but instead the movement rotates. But in this particular case it didn't rotate when it was in setting position as the stem was out too far.

 

https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/22323-omega-cosmic-752-movement-stuck-in-case-what-would-your-approach-be/#comment-188343

Then one of my annoyances with the search feature is finding things with titles that are not appropriate. Or in other words somebody didn't put their watch model number In the title and not finding something else that you might need eventually.. But we don't worry about that for the other day.

 

 

[bobtheterrible]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:04 PM, JohnR725 said:

Oh and it be helpful if you did a search for the number 752

Im somewhat embarrassed that I didn't think of doing that first - I tend to rely a bit too heavily on Google!

Thanks again @JohnR725 this information goes way beyond anything I found myself. I will post an update if Im able to progress.