Omega Seamaster Cocktail Watch | 10K Gold Top | 1950s

Omega Seamaster Cocktail Watch | 10K Gold Top | 1950s

Description

A 1950s Omega Seamaster in the small cocktail size, 10K gold top over a stainless steel screw back, with the Seamaster seahorse still crisply struck on the caseback. At 22mm it is a ladies watch, and a properly petite one.

The dial is the whole story here, so it is worth being blunt. What was a silvered dial has aged into a mottled cream and oatmeal surface, speckled across its entire face and heaviest through the lower half. That is genuine, untouched age rather than damage, and the Omega logo, the Seamaster script and SWISS MADE are all perfectly legible, but it is pronounced and it is the first thing you will see. If you want a clean dial, this is not the watch. If you want an honest, unrestored 1950s Omega with a face that shows every one of its seventy years, it is.

Underneath is the manual wind Omega Caliber 252, and it is worn on a new burgundy croc-embossed leather strap.

Key Features

• 10K gold top case over a stainless steel screw back
• Omega Seamaster seahorse medallion struck on the caseback
• Petite 22mm case, a genuine ladies size
• Applied gold baton indices with applied Arabic 12, 3, 6 and 9
• Manual wind Omega Caliber 252, 17 jewels, centre sweep seconds
• New burgundy croc-embossed leather strap with gold tone buckle
• Made in Switzerland

Specifications

• Brand: Omega
• Model: Seamaster, cocktail size
• Case Diameter: 22 mm (approximately 0.9 inches), excluding crown
• Case Material: 10K gold top over a stainless steel back
• Caseback: Stainless steel screw back with the Seamaster seahorse medallion
• Dial: Silvered, now heavily patinated, with applied gold baton indices and applied Arabic 12, 3, 6 and 9
• Hands: Gold hour and minute hands with a slim centre sweep seconds hand
• Crown: Plain fluted steel crown, unsigned
• Crystal: Domed acrylic
• Caliber: Omega cal. 252, 21600 A/h, 48 h power reserve, antimagnetic with Incabloc
• Jewels: 17
• Winding: Manual
• Functions: Hours, minutes, centre sweep seconds
• Strap: New burgundy croc-embossed leather, gold tone buckle
• Origin: Made in Switzerland

Condition Report

• Dial: Original and unrestored, and heavily patinated. The silvered surface has aged to a mottled cream and oatmeal, speckled across the whole dial and heaviest through the lower half, with a few darker spots including one beside the 3. Pronounced rather than subtle, and stated plainly: this is exactly the dial you see in the photographs.
• Printing: Omega logo, Seamaster script and SWISS MADE all fully legible, with no flaking.
• Indices and Numerals: All present. Applied gold batons and applied Arabic 12, 3, 6 and 9, with tarnish darkening at their edges.
• Hands: Original and matching, intact, with plating wear and darker patches visible under macro.
• Case: 10K gold top bright and even across the bezel and top surfaces. Wear and thinning along the lug flanks and edges, consistent with age.
• Caseback: Stainless steel, carrying fine scratches and swirl marks across the whole surface and a small pink mark near the top edge. The seahorse remains crisply defined.
• Crown: Plain fluted steel crown, unsigned, and not gold like the case.
• Crystal: Domed acrylic, clear, with light surface marks around the edge.
• Strap: New burgundy croc-embossed leather with a gold tone buckle.
• Photography: The dial is shot close and lit hard so the patina reads at full strength. Judge it from those images.

Historical Significance

Omega launched the Seamaster in 1948, for the company's hundredth anniversary, built on the water resistant case work it had developed for British military orders during the war. Through the 1950s the name covered far more than divers: it ran across the whole catalogue, including small dress pieces like this one, which carried the same in-house manual calibres and the same seahorse on the back as their larger siblings. A 22mm cocktail Seamaster is the quiet end of that range, and one of the few ways to own a period Seamaster in a genuinely small case.

Offered by ReWrist. Each piece is inspected and photographed in-house. Vintage Luxury, Redefined.