Omega Flightmaster

[solar star]

I have had this vintage Flightmaster since the 1970s and am wondering if, considering the cost, it is worth restoring. The crystal is scratched. Watch is not running. Any comments would be appreciated.

[MCV]

Yes, worth restoring. Best bet (and most expensive, but superb) would be to send to Bienne for a complete overhaul. The watch would come back as-new.

Cheers,

-Marc

[solar star]

Marc, I did take the watch to a local dealer who said I might be looking at $1.5k to have Omega do the work. They said the watch was worth about $600 as it is and would probably not fetch more than $2k after Bienne. If they are correct, the economics don't seem to favor moving forward. I am primarily interested in turning the watch over for a datejust for my every day wear. Perhaps they were overstating the cost. Thanks for your advice. Just curious, but what is the vehicle in your image?

[MCV]

Flightmasters are worth more than $2K fully restored. It would be a $3K to $3.5K piece easy afterwards. Watch is also worth way more than $600 as is. I had a Flightmaster Cal. 910 (admittedly a bit rarer than yours) but in worse shape and no bracelet that I sold about five years ago for $1500 (and had at least three solid offers after the sale, too).

I would send it off to Bienne and get the estimate, I think $1.5K is on the high side, but in any instance, you can be assured that all original parts will be used and the watch will look and function like new.

My Avatar is the new Fiat 500...great car!

Cheers,

-Marc

[solar star]

That certainly puts a new perspective on it. I think I will look into sending it off to Bienne.

The Fiat is a neat looking car and 40 MPG is remarkable. Six months ago I acquired a Volt. It came with 3/4 of a tank of gas. It has about 5k miles on it and still has 1/4 tank of the original fuel. It only gets about 35 MPG on fuel but on batteries the cost to run it is about 1/3 the cost it would be on gasoline.

Thanks for the advice.
Paul

[GTS Dean]

If you know the movement number, here's a link to service prices:

http://www.sguscustomerservice.com/

[bayerische]

Definitely worth restoring. I'll happily buy it off you at 600 bucks!

But It's worth more. So I won't buy it from you for 600!

A nice flighty is in my neck of the woods about 2000-2500 euro.

So I'm sure you won't make a whole lot of money on it, if that's what you want to do, but restoring it, I'm sure it will give you joy.

[Zambo]

You should keep it - a genuinely iconic watch from an era that produced far more individualistic timepieces then the current generation of watches IMHO.

From the link to Swatch USA service costs, yours is a Category 4A - for the 911 calibre and will cost just under a thousand bucks. Now assuming you don't need a whole lot of parts - the non running may simply be very old lubricant turned into gunk and clogging the works - it may come back looking like this one ...

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=240769

Now the value and other components accompanying this sale post aside, I think you would have an amazing looking timepiece which will be very accurate (I know mine is and it hasn't been serviced in at least 10 years) and no one else at any dinner party or business meeting you attend will have one on in the room

Let us know what you decide.

P.S. Here's mine - also would benefit from a spa treatment one day!

[dsio]

Please don't send it to Bienne, it'll come back with service parts and ruin the originality of the watch not to mention cost a fortune. Get a quality independent watchmaker to overhaul the watch, give the case a very light re-brush, and a new crystal, price will be under $650 for all that, and you'll have correctly preserved the watch.

Send me a PM if you like and I can put you on to a good bloke in NJ that does a lot of vintage Omega work.

[Zambo]

Hi Ashley

Are you in Brisbane in Australia, which is where I live?

Nice collection there as well.

Regards

Richard

[dsio]

Originally Posted by Zambo

Hi Ashley

Are you in Brisbane in Australia, which is where I live?

Nice collection there as well.

Regards

Richard

Yes indeed sir! Send me a PM some time, you an Omega or Rolex collector mainly?

There's a lot of Omega/Rolex guys in Brisbane and the Gold Coast

[Zambo]

Originally Posted by dsio

Yes indeed sir! Send me a PM some time, you an Omega or Rolex collector mainly?

There's a lot of Omega/Rolex guys in Brisbane and the Gold Coast

I will drop you a more in-depth note via PM so as not to hijack solar star's thread - but short answer to your question, mostly Omega and IWC from the early 60's to mid 70's to be honest.

The first Rolex in the family my wife will receive from under the tree in a day or so - a two tone 1980 Lady's Date that I had overhauled here in Brisbane over the last 2 weeks by an independent. A really lovely little thing and we will see if she likes it. My son tried on a two tone Daytona at AD Langfords 2 weeks ago (after a lot of research on the model) and is saving up to buy it!

Have a nice Christmas and I will be in touch - and I hope we all convinced the OP to keep the Flightmaster

[laphroaig007]

This watch HAS to be restored by Omega Bienne !
it is worth the cost you'll pay.
My 2 cent opinion

[MCV]

Originally Posted by laphroaig007

This watch HAS to be restored by Omega Bienne !
it is worth the cost you'll pay.
My 2 cent opinion

Agreed! They have all the hard to find parts that will/may be needed.

[solar star]

Thanks all for the advice. I am really not a collector, although after following this forum for a few days the notion is nipping at my heels. For reasons of domestic tranquility, I should probably guard against this. As I said in an earlier post, my original plan was to turn it over and buy a DateJust for every day wear. Restoration may be a more attractive prospect for someone a bit more qualified. I guess that since it has been sitting in my drawer for 40 years taking a little more time to weigh the options won't hurt.

[dsio]

Originally Posted by laphroaig007

This watch HAS to be restored by Omega Bienne !
it is worth the cost you'll pay.
My 2 cent opinion

Seriously, the first rule of vintage Omegas is you don't send anything valuable that needs to retain its originality to Bienne, and you don't replace parts unless you have to. Its not like Rolex, the movement parts for these are readily available.

[MCV]

Originally Posted by dsio

Seriously, the first rule of vintage Omegas is you don't send anything valuable that needs to retain its originality to Bienne, and you don't replace parts unless you have to. Its not like Rolex, the movement parts for these are readily available.

I respectfully disagree. Who said there's a first rule of vintage Omegas? And that a Flightmaster has to retain its originality if serviced? If serviced at Bienne, it's 100% Omega parts, so there's still a large component of originality and many times the parts would probably be NOS, so to me, it's still all original. Genuine parts installed by the manufacturer during a restoration speaks of originality to me. They are not reproductions from overseas.

Not every watch can retain its 100% original parts during a service and many people, paying a lot for a service/restoration would expect the watch to look like new, not have faded hands and patina afterwards. If you want the original worn stuff retained, fine, have a local guy do the work.

I would much rather have a restoration done at Bienne by the company that made the watch in the first place and has all the parts at their disposal instead of having someone else do the work. And the watch would still command a top price afterwards. Besides, they return the replaced parts to you, so you still have them if needed.

I respect Omega for operating a vintage restoration facility to keep their old pieces running, much like Mercedes does with their Classic Center.

-Marc

[dsio]

Originally Posted by MCV

I respectfully disagree. Who said there's a first rule of vintage Omegas? And that a Flightmaster has to retain its originality if serviced? If serviced at Bienne, it's 100% Omega parts, so there's still a large component of originality and many times the parts would probably be NOS, so to me, it's still all original. Genuine parts installed by the manufacturer during a restoration speaks of originality to me. They are not reproductions from overseas.

Look, I realise that's your view, but the parts are not the same. A modern dial will be Luminova, not tritium, will not have the characteristic patina of a vintage dial, and will not look the same. A good many of the new dials are actually different from the old ones (ie. the Seamaster 145.016 Soccer Timer new dials don't even have the word "Seamaster" on them, it was deleted when they started makin the new dials). When people buy vintage Omegas, they buy for originality, that's the entire point of collecting vintage watches. Originality means exactly as it came from the factory, the later dials and hands are modern reproductions.

Not every watch can retain its 100% original parts during a service and many people, paying a lot for a service/restopration would expect the watch to look like new, not have faded hands and patina afterwards. If you want the original worn stuff retained, fine, have a local guy do the work.

Vintage collectors expect that, there's nothing wrong with them being faded especially in this instance as Flightmasters are well known to have faded hands and dails, but in this case the fading is very nice and even, with no water damage to speak of, making it a very nice dial and hand set.

I would much rather have a restoration done at Bienne by the company that made the watch in the first place and has all the parts at their disposal instead of having someone else do the work. And the watch would still command a top price afterwards. Besides, they return the replaced parts to you, so you still have them if needed.

I respect Omega for operating a vintage restoration facility to keep their old pieces running, much like Mercedes does with their Classic Center.

-Marc

It would command a put-together luminova dial Flightmaster price, not an all original price. Its no different from if you took a 5513 Rolex Submariner that had a little patina and had RSC throw a luminova dial and hands on, the guys on the vintage forum, and VRF would think you'd lost your mind, its not really any different with a vintage Omega. Similarly you'll notice Cal 321 Speedmasters with luminova hands drop anywhere from $500-800 off the price of an original dial with patina.

[Brisman]

I'm with "dsio" on this subject.

[oceandweller]

Originally Posted by Brisman

I'm with "dsio" on this subject.

Brisman

I am with you and dsio, regarding any iconic vintage Omega watch restoration. It will all depend on how serious an enthusiast is, regarding the restoration of his or her watch.

As for me, if I were to learn that part of any vintage-watch has been touched-up, however slightly it may be, I shall stay away from it. If the tritium has been replaced with luminova, that watch becomes a so-called vintage-watch and no more, a vintage-watch. I will not even want to wear it, much less buy it.

Movement parts can be replaced but only with original ones, since the beauty of a vintage-watch lies in its aged dial (including hands) and patina, as well as, its unpolished case with all sharp edges and contours, intact.

[Brisman]

Some people like the Bienne restoration, and they do come back looking like new although at a hefty price.

Something original is special, collectors like this and can be done at a lower cost of a Bienne restoration.

I believe an original is worth more than a Bienne restoration.

I agree movement parts, crystal are okay to replace but I like the rest untouched.

Here's my flightmaster.

[oceandweller]

Originally Posted by Brisman

Some people like the Bienne restoration, and they do come back looking like new although at a hefty price.

Something original is special, collectors like this and can be done at a lower cost of a Bienne restoration.

I believe an original is worth more than a Bienne restoration.

I agree movement parts, crystal are okay to replace but I like the rest untouched.

Here's my flightmaster.

Brisman

It is a classic and you know what you have, all the parts are Swiss made and Swiss assembled. Virtually 100% Swiss.

Rolex and Omega do not subscribe to and recognize our nutty feeling that a vintage-watch should remain unaltered, save for movement parts and like what you said, the plexi-crystal too.