1972 Omega Automatic cal 1020 Part 1 - Stripdown

Happy New Year to all! Today we will be working on a beautiful gold capped Omega Automatic from 1972 with a movement from the controversial 1xxx series. We'll discuss why this movement series is controversial and get into an unexpectedly sticky situation. And no, you won't escape some old-man stories and unhinged rambling.
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[@onselfdestruct]

I’ve seen a couple other videos saying to avoid the 1000 series. But as you point out it is still omega. I just had a 166.0210 cal.1020 serviced and it keeps time wonderfully. It was relatively inexpensive and serves wonderfully as my daily beater as I like having a day/date function.

[@randyallen2771]

Been waiting for another video. Of all the watchmaker videos I follow, I find yours the most interesting. Not only is the filming great, but the additional information provided by the narrative is both candid and informative, and your clever turn of phrase is charming to say the least. For those of us who's knowledge doesn't go further back then ETA's, there are few sources of information on these vintage movements. If you have a second, I'm considering purchasing a vintage watch and I'd like your opinion of some choices. Principally, I'm looking for something durable (usable in a real life), and maintainable (parts available) and the IWC Cal 89 is at the top of the list even though they seem to be a bit spendy. I'd appreciate any thoughts you may have on the 89 or alternatives. Waiting eagerly waiting for the next video, keep up the good work!

[@VintageWatchServices]

Hi Randy, thanks so much for your comment, that is truly great to hear! There seems to be a lot of these types of channels now, so the interest is certainly high. Vintage watches have a special attraction, especially to those of us who are reaching vintage age ourselves :) The good thing about buying a good brand vintage watch like IWC, Omega, Rolex, Longines etc is that there will be spare parts available for the foreseeable future. These parts can though be quite costly also. There is however another good thing about these watches, and that is that they're made to last and most of the time do not require changing many or any parts, also considering that one isn't really looking for quartz-type performance of them. I wrote a blog post about that here: www.vintagewatchservices.eu/single-post/the-problem-or-not-of-servicing-vintage-watches The cal 89 is absolutely a good choice for a vintage watch, but it is as you say quite pricey. The best value for money in vintage might very well be Longines. They made watches at the same quality level as Omega back in the day but typically cost much less. So if you're not married to the cal 89, you should certainly check out some Longines watches.

[@VintageWatchServices]

At around 0:30 I say we change the "date" by turning the hands backwards, but this should of course be changing the weekday!

[@leestrada1]

I like your videos very much! And your knowledge on the calibers you work on is wonderful, so much to learn here! I believe it is the best channel in this subject. Thank you!

[@VintageWatchServices]

Hello Lee, thanks for watching and welcome to the channel! That's very kind of you and I'll try to live up to it 😁

[@steveblackbird]

This video sent shivers down my spine when I saw the state of the gasket. Reminded me of an old Russian Slava 3056A movement I worked on a couple of months ago. The gasket literally turned to this black gooey mess that had spread to quite a lot of the movement and was the reason the watch didn't work. An old electro-mechanical watch that I'd never seen before let alone worked on. All the black goo had to be cleaned by hand using solvent and cue tips. Totally gross. Once cleaned and assembled it ran perfectly...

[@VintageWatchServices]

Yeah, those gaskets can be quite gross sometimes! 😂

[@boydsargeant7496]

Lovely looking dial and hands Stian, looking forward the finished item with a new gasket:-)

[@VintageWatchServices]

Thanks, Boyd! It's a very nice watch indeed, quite underrated for an Omega.

[@LCMNUNES1962]

ÓTIMO TRABALHO PROFISSIONAL, VERY GOOD from Brasil ok

[@VintageWatchServices]

Thanks!

[@michaelxwhite]

Another excellent video!

[@VintageWatchServices]

Thanks for that, very nice to hear you enjoy them! We'll have part 2 published shortly to see what we can achieve with this baby.

[@larryscott3982]

The question is: is the cal 1012 the lowest omega in collector’s market? Tiny parts, plastic parts, and 28,800 I think unnecessarily too fast. Just forces maintenance more often. IMO. I have 2 Cosmic 2000 in the shop. Little did I know.

[@VintageWatchServices]

The 100x is lower value for sure, with a more problematic automatic module and the whole self lubricating approach. That said, it's still a good movement and the 101x/102x rectified most of the issues

[@franka9760]

Aha, finally got a look at the ultrasonic cleaning machine!

[@VintageWatchServices]

😀

[@thomaswhite8974]

Pure Awesomeness!! Totally Sick Nasty!!

[@VintageWatchServices]

Thanks so much! Stay tuned, part 2 will come shortly :)

[@toboldygo5823]

Yes receiving a watch when you retire is a great point of pride. Now they throw you out before you can accumulate too much time.🤷🏻‍♂️ I feel for these kids of today

[@VintageWatchServices]

Well, they can always give you a Daniel Wellington when you leave... as punishment 😉

[@michaelnash9644]

Me too. We had it good (Gen X and Baby Boomers)

[@theo5413]

Nice viedio!!!

[@VintageWatchServices]

Thanks for that and thanks for watching! We'll have part 2 ready shortly, so keep an eye out 😉

[@2mikelim]

Hello. You should have a work mat made of soft cloth or velvet so that the watch sides, glass or base won't get scratched when u lay it down. I see you're using a piece of hard paper as a work mat, and if a tiny speck of invisible metal or sand on either surface gets rubbed along you'll have hair line scratches or nicks. The tiny hairs in velvet or cotton will cushion any tiny protruding foreign objects from the watch.

[@VintageWatchServices]

Hello Michael, thanks for your comment! I think you're a little bit paranoid here, we're not dealing with items made of flower petals or rice paper 😂 As long as you keep your desk clean and use new watch tissue paper regularly you will be absolutely fine with basically no risk of making scratches. And btw, very soft materials such as velvet have a much higher chance of embedding small pieces of metal etc in them than watch tissue paper 😉

[@franka9760]

Why any plastic parts at all? It's hard to imagine that a couple of plastic parts would save much in materials or manufacturing cost.

[@VintageWatchServices]

Well, it all adds up when you mass produce them. It's cheaper to make molds, the material is cheaper, there is no need for finishing, it will not wear the same way, it weighs less etc. There is probably a business case for it when looking purely at manufacturing costs, but all in all I don't think it's a plus.

[@franka9760]

@@VintageWatchServices A decision made by the bean counters and not by the manufacturing engineers.

[@michaelnash9644]

Well it was also the beginnings of the Quartz Crisis and manufacturers were trying to maximise margins to stay afloat. Certainly not these days of massively inflated prices for generic movement. @@franka9760

[@kswaminathan5439]

Hello sir, very interesting video. But, you rotated the crown three times to change the date. Normally, in which ever position the hands are, two full rotations will change the date if the hands are past midnight, and one rotation if the hands are past 12 noon. In the second rotation you slowed down the hands at about 0.00 hours thinking the date will change. But it did not. So you did one more rotation (3times) to change the date. Why did this happen. Would love to hear from you.

[@VintageWatchServices]

You have sharp eyes, sir! Most likely this happened because I was turning the hands backwards just after midnight and the wheels were still just a tiny bit engaged, meaning that 30 would be the first change. But it sure is interesting to see when you study it in detail!

[@kswaminathan5439]

Yes, your explanation is correct. But I didn't understand when you said 30 would be the first change. Please clarify. I know I am asking too many questions, but only a high quality technician like you can explain to a poor soul like me who is just learning the intricacies of high quality watch.

[@VintageWatchServices]

Hi, I honestly am not sure why this was, the only explanation I can imagine is that there was one tooth left on the date disc to switch to the next date and that registered 30 as the change for the first turn. There is always a logical reason to why things happen in a watch and I cannot think of anything else...

[@larrykassebaum1926]

Stian; Can you post part 2 of the video sometime :)

[@VintageWatchServices]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIDUeqd9hLGfbaM :)

[@humbertoyamberla1793]

Que hermoso reloj

[@VintageWatchServices]

Gracias por mirar, y realmente lo es :) 😍

[@waiyipsin2377]

Plastic 😮OMG!?

[@1959Berre]

Obviously, the devil wears quartz. (He wants to know exactly when he should be present to steal your soul.)

[@VintageWatchServices]

😂

[@leopdion5976]

It doesn’t look as a high quality watch like other Omega watches

[@gmshadowtraders]

Looks like my very first vintage Omega! Mine was golden champagne dial and date only

[@VintageWatchServices]

Thanks for watching and welcome to the channel! We'll be working on more Omegas soon enough :)