Omega Mark II Restoration

In 1969 Humanity set foot on the Moon, of cause with the Omega Speedmaster, we all know the story. After that, Omega celebrated with the Mark II; a funky case shape resembles the 70s' era with the same movement as the Moon watch ( Cal.861). This particular watch dated back to 1969 the first generation Mark II, and the dial has developed whats the collector called "Tropical Dial"; the dial turned brown from black because of the extensive exposure to the sun and humid.

As we all know, vintage watches are very hot today, but finding a good one is not that easy, I've seen many Mark II on the market. Still, mostly the case is OVER POLISHED, or the dial is not as in good condition or even damage. This particular Mark II got an amazing dial without any scratch or damage at all, that's making me want to do a case Restoration work to compensate the beautiful dial.

The movement has been taking off the case and dismantling for cleaning. It's hard to know when a 51-year-old watch got service in the past, so I mostly service every vintage watch comes in my hand so I can be sure that It will keep time and usable for everyday used, The Cal.861 has been to the Moon it has been extensively tested with NASA over and over again, so it's a sturdy and robust movement.

It's a manual-wind watch (a quick fun fact, automatic watch can't wind itself with no gravity in space ! ), and even without servicing, it still runs good and keeps time. Again, I never trust any movement without an accurate service history.

To make the case get back to the factory finishing, Lapping Machine must be used. I got this machine almost a year ago, mostly do Rolex case restoration, Omega case are very challenging for me, the sunburst satin finish must be spot on with the right grid to retain the overall shape of the case, but the bevels angle on the edge is not that hard once the case profile is true.

The case back also got back to the original shape and high polished.

It's a fun watch to work with and not a very common Omega indeed; Vintage watches always give you a pleasure to own, whatever the unique character or the history link to it.