zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Here's what I know-
: The dial reads Omega, Constellation, quartz. It is set with 33
: diamonds. It has day-date. The back reads *10 K. Gold Filled.
: I think the band is called a bracelet style.
: The watchsmith found these numbers for me-
: Case #
: 8642
: 1960076.1
: Movement
: Calibre 1346
: Serial #
: 40
: 377629
: This is exactly what he wrote, with the line breaks

Omega's and collector's terminology is somewhat fluid, and changed over time.

I searched and the calibre 1346 returns only one watch, which is a US-cased Constellation, and is not your model. The Omega Vintage Database is extensive, but far from complete. It appears your watch is likely not (yet) included.

Calibre 1346 was:

Movement
Type: Quartz electronic analogic
Caliber number: 1346
Created in 1978
With 7 or 13 jewels
Central sweep-second hand

Functions
Day-date, Chronometer

[pasted in from the Omega Vintage Database]

I put in only the calibre number 1346. Calibre numbers were always calibre numbers.

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Serial numbers in those days were placed in a gold circle, with the first two digits larger and above the others, thus the watchmakers accurate rendition of the serial number as he wrote it. Hence your serial number is 40.337.629 and if you found on the serial number chart as 1977 it is that age or younger (most probably) since the chart merely gives the first instance of a use of serial number from a range of a million.

While we call the numbers serial numbers, they were not assigned serially. A range of numbers was assigned to the production of a calibre and the serial number only indicates the order in which your watch was produced within the range assigned. Nonetheless, it is a good tool for determining an approximate date of production for the watch. Realize the movement may not have been used for some time; then after being placed in a watch may not have been sold for some time, so your watch's sale date may be years later and still be entirely legitimate.

The Omega Vintage Database does not search using serial numbers.

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In approximately 1977, Omega was using model numbers that were in the form ###.#### or ###.###. Yours appears to be 196.0076-1
These are the six or seven digit numbers the Omega Vintage Database referred to . . .

The Omega Vintage Database calls this number the reference number. It does not appear to contain your watch.

At a later time, this number was in essence replaced by a PIC (product identification code) in the form ####.##.##.
The Omega Vintage Database would want you to put in the first four digits of this number . . . .

At that later time, the 196.0076 is sometimes called the case reference number, and is today used to order case parts.

See this webpage, which can be accessed by the ChronoMaddox portion of this website, for an overview of these codes.

http://chronomaddox.com/casereferenceguide.html

1 -- leather strap (note that equipping a leather strapped watch with a non-integrated bracelet was a simple accessory sale)
9 -- quartz
6 -- date

0076 -- indication of model

-1 -- formerly indicated the year of manufacture, more recently appears to indicate the case manufacturer

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Omega watches often also had a case reference number which was 4 digits and sometimes preceded by a letter(s). These are most often seen is watches sold in the US. Due to import duties, watches were sometimes shipped to the US without a case and then placed in the case in the US, and were thus "US Collection" watches.

For instance, the example in the Omega Vintage Database (above) with calibre 1346 is RB 6171, a US cased watch.

Your case reference number appears to be 8642. Sometimes this number was merely an identifier for the case manufacturer and had nothing to do with Omega's numbering systems. This is often seen in vintage jewelry watches, as yours is. Import duties on jeweled cases were high, so they were also cased in the US.

It is slightly odd that a diamond studded watch would be gold filled, but in the late 1970s, Omega was doing many strange things as they faltered into effective bankruptcy a few years later.

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In summary, you most likely have a US Collection jewelry model,
with US case 8642
of model reference number 196.0076-1
with a dial with diamond markers
serial number 40.337.629

Sam