Omega Constellation Gold-Capped Ref. 14900, ca. 1960

Identity

Omega Constellation in gold cap, Ref. 14900, ca. 1960. Automatic movement, chronometer-certified calibre 551, no date. Gold-capped case with steel back, 35 mm diameter, observatory medallion on the back, monogrammed crown. Champagne dial on two levels, a flat central plate and a sloping flange carrying the applied gold baton markers, gold dauphine hands and centre seconds. Plexiglas crystal. Black leather strap, monogrammed gold-plated pin buckle.

Horological context

Omega has its origins in 1848 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the workshop founded by Louis Brandt. His sons industrialised production and moved the manufacture to Bienne. In 1894 the Omega calibre — a precision movement wound and set by the crown — met with such success that the maison took it as its name. From then on Omega built its reputation on chronometry and carefully executed series production. The Constellation appeared in 1952: the series watch the maison held to its own chronometer standard. Its name comes from the eight stars on the caseback medallion, counting eight precision records set at the Kew-Teddington and Geneva observatories, beneath the Geneva cupola. The pie-pan dial — a flat central plate, a twelve-sided sloping flange carrying the applied indexes — was its signature for fifteen years. At the end of the 1950s came the 500 series, automatics with twenty-four jewels and chronometer certification: the 551 without date, the 561 with. The line then changed its face without changing its principle: angular cases at the turn of the 1970s, then in 1982 the Manhattan and its four claws gripping the crystal — the design it carries still.

Character

The dial takes the light on two planes: the central plate flat, and the sloping flange where the markers sit at an angle. The original champagne carries old moisture marks, now stabilised. Opened, the watch reveals a back struck 168.005, a reference that appeared later than the Ref. 14900: the back has been replaced, a substitution well known and common between these references, whose case middles are all but identical. The case is stainless steel raised with a gold cap, a true layer of solid gold, not to be confused with electroplating.

Serviced. Patina and marks of age. Delivered with the Contre-Temps box and the Contre-Temps 24-month warranty certificate.