Kent has sent this nice looking Omega in for a service, but not everything is as nice as it seems.
First impression and the movement looks to be in decent shape.The performance is very bad and something is not as it should be.The dial screws are a mess. After some effort I manage to tickle out both improvised dial screws.Looking at the movement from the side, the balance is wobbling like mad and when I take it out of the movement I notice that the balance staff has been glued into place.Under the microscope you can see that the balance hole for the staff is oval from an unsuccessful attempt of replacing it. There is no way we can rivet a new staff in place.I’m lucky and find donor balance for the watch. It’s missing the hairspring, but I have the hairspring from the old balance.I see that the new balance fits before taking the movement apart and cleaning it.The Omega non-shock protected balance cock taken apart for cleaning. I like the disk that secures the cap jewel and regulator in placeTaking the watch apart you can see that someone has used a lot of oil as the movement is basically swimming in it.The collet did not fit the new balance so I suspect the hairspring might have come from another watch. But as I have no other hairspring I opt for tightening the collet to make it fit the new balance. When I now test the watch, it is loosing 1000+seconds a day. I replace 4 balance screws with smaller ones that are about half the size of the old screws and I get close to around 0 seconds a day. The balance is now completely out of poise and the movement looses and gains a lot of time depending on positional variation.Here you can see the balance on a poising tool. I see where the heaviest point is on the balance.

You can see that the watch is out of poise when the balance stops at the same spot over and over. You can tell where the heaviest point on the balance is as it will be facing downwards.

To fix this, one must remove the balance screw and remove tiny amounts of material before putting the screw back in place. When the balance starts to stop at random points you know your balance is poised. To poise the balance you have to remove the hairspring, but leave the roller in place.Here you can see the movement back together and ticking.There final test is to see how the watch is doing in different positions. Dial DownDial UpCrown downCrown upCrown rightCrown left. As you can see there is still some variation, but I think this is acceptable. I have mixed feelings about posing as it is very fun to make a balance more accurate, but there is always the risk of one of the tiny balance screws breaking and rendering the balance wheel useless.This is a shot from a Junghans calibre 59 where generations of people have been tinkering on the balance screws and even filing into the balance wheel itself.Here is another shot of an IWC calibre 82 balance wheel, where a screw has been broken off and someone added solder to compensate. Back over to the Omega. The setting mechanism is back in place and the movement is ready for the dial and hands.I have fitted the correct Omega dial screws.Dial and hands back on the watch looking good.I now put the movement back in the case.Now that is a nice looking vintage Omega.