OMEGA 19" ligne - rare antique Omega watch made for the Ottoman Empire perfect working and cosmetic condition, collectors watch

OMEGA 19" ligne - rare antique Omega watch made for the Ottoman Empire perfect working and cosmetic condition, collectors watch

RARE collectors watch!!!

Perfect porcelain hand painted dial, engraved silver case.

- hand engraved mechanical movement
- key winding
- porcelain hand painted dial
- full hunter case

-diameter of the case - 50mm
-diameter of the face - 43mm
-thickness - 17mm

Condition: checked and serviced, Pre-owned, Collectors watch - perfect working condition

about the caliber: http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&0&2uswk&Omega_19

HISTORY
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Omega, prior to 1894, was Louis Brandt & Frère – a watch company based in Bienne, which produced watches, prior to the adoption of the Omega name, under a variety of different brand names, including Jura, Patria, and Helvetia. In 1894, however, the company began production of a movement that was to change watchmaking history, and whose name was to become established as one of the most important in the history of Swiss watchmaking. This movement was the Omega caliber – a 19‴ (19 ligne; for more info on the ligne as a unit of measurement, check out our story from last year) with several important characteristics. It was one of the very first Swiss watch movements that was designed to be produced on an industrial scale, on a recognizably modern production line, with, most significantly, completely interchangeable components.

This meant that anyone with access to parts, anywhere in the world, would be able to quickly service or repair any Omega 19‴ caliber. The movements were also constructed to a view with providing great durability and accuracy and were produced in various iterations – one of the highest grade versions of the 19‴ caliber was fitted with, in addition to a bimetallic balance and blued steel overcoil balance spring, a snail-cam fine regulator, and 19‴ movements would go on to become leading performers in their category in the Observatory time trials.

The movements were also fitted with a patented mechanism allowing both hand-winding and hand-setting of the time from the crown. This was in 1894 still something of a novelty – though the first patent for keyless works allowing both functions through a single crown had been granted in 1845, by Adrien Philippe (who would with Antoine Norbert de Patek, go on to found Patek Philippe) the field was still very much open to experimentation, with a patent granted for the system used in the 19‴ caliber in 1894. The caliber was referred to as the Omega caliber – the Greek letter Omega is the last of the Greek alphabet, and was chosen as a fitting name for the 19‴ family of movements as they were intended to be the last word in accuracy and reliability, in watchmaking. The 19‴ family was so successful that the Omega caliber of 1894 would eventually give its name to the company as a whole, and the Omega Watch Co. was established in 1903.

The movement was produced in very large numbers during its heyday but obviously, it's been out of production for many decades (the last 19‴ Omega caliber was produced in 1923). However, for the 125th anniversary of the first use of the name "Omega," the company is bringing the Omega caliber back, albeit in very limited numbers – 19 movements, to be placed in 19 watches, will be assembled from parts that have been in storage in Omega's museum in Bienne, ever since production concluded. Assembly of the movements and watches will take place at Omega's Atelier Tourbillon.

According to Omega, the original components will include bridges, mainplates, escapements, and as well, bimetallic temperature-compensating balances with their matching blued steel overcoil balance springs. These vintage era components will be joined by some modern components as well, in the interests of better reliability and precision performance, including a modern mainspring barrel and mainspring, some of the screws, and as well, the ruby chatons and pallet stones.

The system for hand-setting and hand-winding will be updated as well (and will therefore be an update to the system used in the original 19‴ caliber) and movement decoration will be a type of damaskeening that's characteristic of high-grade 19th century pocket watches from both Europe and the United States (American pocket watches made extensive use of this style of decoration as well, which is produced by special engraving machines capable of producing a wide range of patterns; the technique seems to have been originally introduced to the American watch industry from Switzerland in the mid-19th century). This version of the Omega 19‴ caliber constitutes, in Omega's naming conventions for the various grades of the 19‴ movements, a new grade – the Master grade. The movements will be placed in half-hunter pocket watches, with the crown at 3 o'clock.

This is not the first time in recent months that Omega has reintroduced a vintage movement, constructed largely from parts manufactured many decades ago, in a modern watch – in July of 2018, the company released a re-edition of its first wristwatch chronograph, using parts made in 1913 for an 18‴caliber, in a very limited edition of 18 pieces. And, of course, Omega has more recently announced that it will resume production of the famous caliber 321 chronograph movement (not in a limited series), which was the movement originally used in the Speedmaster Professional (and subsequently replaced by the calibers 861 and 1861). The caliber 321 reintroduction, unlike the 18‴ chronograph and 19‴ Omega caliber movements, will be a full on production restart, while the latter two are very limited series watches made from components that were manufactured many decades ago, but all three represent a very interesting strategy.

Bringing back best-of-class, historically important movements is not something that is widespread in the industry by any means, but if you're of the mind that the most important milestones in watchmaking are perhaps less to do with cosmetics, and more to do with the mechanism that make a watch a watch, and not a piece of inert jewelry, this is a pretty fascinating way to go about reminding your audience just how deep your expertise is, in actual watchmaking.

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