1940s - 1950s New Old Stock Omega Seamaster, Constellation, Dress watch, and Chronograph

Hi everyone and welcome to the Timeless History channel with me Derek aka Sal the Omega Enthusiast. New old stock or NOS usually describes an age, stock, or product that has never sold to a customer but is still new in its original packaging. In the vintage watch hobby, a collector usually considers his timepiece as new old stock if the watch appears unworn. A new old stock timepiece is often not in perfect shape as the material of the dial and hands can naturally age over the year. Also, the watch may have been stored in some cabinet where it was pushed around here and there causing the case to show minor hairline scratches. But overall, a new old stock timepiece does appear in immaculate condition and appears different from, let's say, a watch that is worn but in excellent condition. If I own a new old stock watch and had only put it on a few times to take photos, I would still consider it new old stock. How do you define a new old stock watch? This has always been a controversial topic so please comment below and let me know if you agree with the watches presented in this video as new old stock. Before filming this episode, I created a couple of videos on new old stock vintage Omega watches. I will leave a link to each episode in the description box below so you can watch it afterward. In this episode, I would like to share three other new old stock pieces, a full set constellation, a fancy case gold dress watch, and a chronograph. So without further ado, let's get started. This first timepiece is a vintage Omega constellation watch dating back to 1956. I've had this piece for several years and it remains in its original box. The sad thing about owning a new old stock watch is that if you want to keep it new old stock then you better not wear it. It's sad but it's true. Honestly, I would wear it out if I was not a content creator. Not all new old stock watches come with their original strap and buckle so it's always nice to find a new old stock timepiece with its original strap and buckle. This constellation also comes with its original boxes and a few paper documents. The cushion and rest pad inside the box are commonly missing so I'm quite lucky that they are still there for this watch. I will not discuss further about this constellation watch as I've made a few videos on this reference in the past. You can click the link above to watch an episode about it. This next piece is a national production, a Norman Morris New York creation Omega watch with a unique fancy 14k gold rectangular case. Unfortunately, many of these earlier or pre-1955 Norman Morris collection pieces do not have a case model reference number. Instead, the inside of the case will only provide a serial number and the Omega stamp. This is one of those new old stock pieces that I assume were kept inside a jeweler's cabinet or drawer long before it was rediscovered. I assume that because you can find hairline scratches when you study the case. I always wonder how a watch like this ended up in a drawer for all these years. Could it have been a display piece at one point and nobody wanted to buy it because they prefer to own one brand new untouched by anyone? This is my first encounter with this model in my 20 plus years of studying and collecting vintage Omega watches. I lost count of how many times I thought I had seen all the possible Omega case design and a new piece I never seen pops up. I would not have imagined coming across an Omega looking like this. It has an interesting case design similar to some of the older Patek Philippe watches that you can see on Ronnie's Instagram page. Because of how the case is shaped, finding a replacement crystal would be challenging when it's time to replace one. The case is made of solid 14k gold and you can see there are different segments, some of which are polished and some have a brushed texture. Since it did not come with an original box, it may look something like this. The original crown and crystal are unsigned. The center portion of the case measures 21.8mm across, the shoulder diameter is 23.6mm across and the length from lug to lug is 34mm. The thickness of this curvature case including the crystal is 9.2mm. It has an odd size case lug with measuring 17mm. It is a manual wind timepiece powered by an Omega caliber 302 with 17 jewels. This next new old stock Omega watch is a 1946 chronograph piece sold on November 12, 1950. Because it got sold, does that still make it new old stock? I would say yes if the watch can look this great after nearly 80 years. Since there is a 4 year gap between production and the sold date, I would guess this piece was a display showcase piece before it got sold. If you study the original leather strap, aside from the third hole down that appear worn, the rest of the strap seems untouched. This is where I assume that it was buckled at the third hole and sat there for 4 years in the display before it got sold. Whoever owns this watch probably received it as a gift and did not like wearing it. Thanks to him for doing that, we have this new old stock example today. Vintage chronograph watches were unpopular back then and could take years to sell. This timepiece case model reference is CK2279. It was first introduced in 1943 when Omega still used the old movement caliber system. Until 1948, when the new caliber system took over, the movement caliber for this reference became 321. Since this watch dates to 1946, it still used the old caliber system. So the caliber of this watch is 27CHROC12. I create these videos to share with everyone what these watches used to look like when they were new. The case dimension on this watch is 34.8mm across excluding the crown and 42.2mm from lug to lug. The case thickness including the acrylic crystal is 11.6mm. The case lug width is 18mm. There are several dial and hand variation for this case reference. This is the simpler version of the Marr. I can just imagine how beautiful these watches were when you walked into a watch shop and saw them new 70-80 years ago. The fresh smell of the leather and the watches look shiny and new as you try them on. If only a time machine exists. Let me know your thoughts or if you wish to share anything with us about these Neuwo stock watches. What is considered Neuwo stock to you? If you enjoy watching this video and have learned something new, please share, give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing to the channel. You can always support my work on Patreon. And I will leave a link in the description box below. That's the end of this episode and I look forward to seeing you in the following video.