On the workbench part three: the only time getting an Omega for free makes me feel indifferent

I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth here. This is another goodie from the box I scored from my beloved watchmaker. This is an Omega cocktail watch, the only sort of Omega (apart from donor movements) that struggle to sell for more than a hundred USD.

Why? No one cares for them or wears them. Most watchmakers don’t have the eyesight or patience to fix them. It’s sad, really, because they are just as good as any men’s Omega of the day in terms of build quality and materials used. This one has the calibre 244, which beats at 21 600 A/h, a high frequency for its day and size. It also has Incabloc shock protection. It really is as good as a men’s size Omega.

The dial paint has yellowed, although most of that came off with Rodico. It has a nice speckled look and thankfully the dial text has remained. The case is stainless steel, again, showing the quality of this watch as plated brass would have been the norm for cocktail watches. The movement is plated with something to aid antimagnetism, giving it a nice rose-gold look.

The movement came together quite easily. Assembly was made difficult only by size as all parts were machined well and have stood the test of time. Some spit and polish on the crystal has it looking almost new. It just needs a strap now, which will likely have to be made from scratch, as a rope with a clasp would have been used from the factory.

There’s little more to this post. It’s a small Omega that I don’t know what to do with. I am fine with giving it away to someone who will appreciate it, but who would that be? I know a good friend who wears a smallish watch, but would she even bother putting up with winding and maintaining an old relic just to tell the time less accurately than her current watch? My mom wouldn’t wear it because she likes her Fitbit, plus I gave her another, larger watch already. My grandmother wouldn’t wear it because even my young eyes struggle to tell the time and I can’t imagine that winding this watch without being super dextrous would be like. I won’t wear it outside the house because I have better things to wear and the world isn’t ready for my post-irony micro watch phase.

That leaves me with one option. Sell it. It’ll likely sit for ages and ages until I bring my price down to barely enough to buy a loaf of bread. It’ll be one more loaf of bread than I had yesterday.