Vintage
Mac_omega marks his 300th post by sharing a truly exceptional Omega Seamaster Ref. 14363 from his collection. This post delves into the rare and distinctive features of this near-NOS vintage piece, highlighting its unique dial, markers, and movement, offering valuable insights for fellow collectors.
As today I will celebrate my 300 th post I thought I should share a special SM out of my collection with you.
You may think 300 posts was no reason to celebrate and it was a very small number compared to the thousands of some fellow members.
But consider that I always ( or let me say nearly always) try to do posts with "some content and contribution to a special subject" and not only say
"Ah" and "Oh", "what a beautiful...", "congrats.." .... 
Enough of introduction, let´s go...
It is a near NOS condition SM Ref. 14363 in SS with a very rare dial. The center of the dial shows a "pyramidal" pattern (guilloche center),
sometimes described as "honey comb", the outer section of the dial is smooth - nothing special so far...
What makes this dial stand out among other SM dials is the fact that it bears the large triangle shaped hour markers which are usually found on
early De Luxe or Grand Luxe Constellations only. I am pretty sure that these indexes are made of white gold and not SS as one of them has fine
scratches - where some not so intelligent person has tried to remove one of the luminous dots with a sharp edged object ( BTW the only visible
damage to the dial I can find) - these scratches indicate that the hour markers are made of a very smooth metal...
I guess 18K white gold like on early SS Connies...
And these luminous dots on top of the huge markers are the second very special feature of this particular dial.
I have rarely seen them before in this combination, only twice (as far as I recall) on early pie pan Connies.
The 3rd special feature of the dial: It is NOT painted black and printed afterwards with silver script - it is galvanized in 2 colors
(2 layers, black and silver) - this explains why the script is rather wide and not so fine and clear as with printed dials.
And it also explains the marvelous preservation of the dial. I am sure it is original and not restored.
It is very hard to take good pictures of this highly lustrous and multiple facetted (lapidated) case due to several reflections -
here is another one from a different angle.
Let us turn it over to see the back...
and after removing it the watch reveals a very clean condition Cal. 501 movement as it should!
No watchmaker marks inside the case back and the movement is in "virgin" condition.
Hope you enjoy these pics!
HAGWE
Erich
What I love a lot is that the lugs are shaped in an original way, which almost make echo with the shape of the indexes. I'd rather see this kind of dial on a Connie, and I didn't know that it also came on Seamasters. That's the great thing with watches: When you think you know, you just realize you know nothing. I didn't see what year it was made, and for what use it was dedicated. Do you know something about this? Best, thanks a lot for the informative share, and congrats on your 300th, Erich.
that is a very nice piece indeed. i have seen a few seamasters with that case/lug style, but very very few with that dial as well. probably none in original condition as this is. is this a new aquisition or have you been hiding it from us? best Graham
hi Erich, first congrats on your 300th post, i think every single post of contribution is significant to this forum, without any post, this forum won't go such lively and meaningful. for your lovely and beautiful SM cal.501, it is stunning, i especially love the very nice lugs! i have few vintage Omega with cal.5xx series from cal.500, cal.502, cal.503, and cal.551, but without cal.501. after seeing yours, it encourages me to hunt cal.501 for my next vintage Omega! thanks for sharing anyway! ste
It was a nice one you show up for us! Good and interesting description of the watch, too. What year is it made? I guess myself around 1956-1959. Regards Anders
Never seen anything like this for sale and don't expect to see one in the near future either. A rare combination of hooded lugs, black textured dial and white gold markers. Erich points out also in the post why the black textured dials of omega survive in better condition than their non-textured black dial cousins. A good combination actually of good condition and a more interesting look when you come to think about it. Mike
Hi Nicolas, thank you for the kind words. According to the info provided by Omega it was not made for a special occasion nor purpose... It was released in 1956 and the movement serial number in the 15 mio matches perfectly this year. kind regards Erich
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