Candy of the Day: Omega 2179:
Simple, sober, but how charming and if only it could speak! And another one I could see in Paris some years ago: There are so many nice treasures in the Omega Vintage Universe. Best, Nicolas ...
Radium burn marks. The Omega was abandoned for decades . . .
. . . before it was brought back to life, so the radium lume literally burned a shadow on the dial.
It's a reference 2179, produced in 1945 . . .
. . . or thereabouts, on contract for the American military. The original version of the reference is very rare and almost impossible to find; I've seen only a few examples on the 'net of examples marked solely 2179 , without a slash and succeeding digit....
That would be the most sought-after type, Nicolas . . .
. . . either a /2 or /3 likely granted to a serving member of the military. Succeeding batches were either delivered after cessation of hostilities and sold to American servicemen, or to authorized agents for retail distribution.
In the last year or so, I saw a 2179 with a 'US Army' engraved caseback . . .
. . . in awful condition go for far more than it should have. I've little doubt the buyer harvested the caseback to install it on a later example and reaped the added value. Caveat emptor . . .
The point I was trying to make, Nicolas, is that . . .
. . . the only way to be sure you're getting an actual /2 or /3 is to acquire one from an estate. I wouldn't be able to tell by looking at a 2179 if it had been put together. Perhaps Omega can if they kept records, but I've never seen a 2179 accompanied b...
Ah, in that case, one can rest assured the movement . . .
. . . and caseback were delivered together, assuming both numbers were transmitted to Omega. That doesn't cover the dial, of course, but as Nilo once said, with vintage you're never really sure. Art
