The Craze for Shaped Watches, The 1974 Omega reference 511.0474 Oversized Tank De Ville
Today’s watch collector is very different than yesterday’s collector. More and more, collectors and enthusiasts are going beyond the traditional watch. Round, three hand watches are desirable, but collections now go way beyond this type of watch. Exploring watches of different shapes and sizes has now become the staple for many collectors.
One brand that dominated the last 100 years of watchmaking is Omega. Omega is a brand steeped in history, and also produced such a diverse range of watches. This really came to life in the 1970’s when quartz watches became a major part of what consumers were purchasing. This time period forced so many watch brands to innovate, and with that came incredible designs. This Omega De Ville is a perfect example.
The De Ville line of watches was officially launched in 1967 as a stand alone line. In the early 1960’s, De Ville watches were seen as part of the Seamaster collection and gained in popularity. Omega Speedmaster’s, Seamaster’s, and Railmaster’s are often found as being more collectible, but the diversity of the De Ville Range cannot be understated.
Now, onto the De Ville 511.0474. This reference was launched in 1974 and was originally a ladies reference. However, the large size of the piece (24x45mm) places this watch squarely in the unisex camp today. Finding this reference appears to be quite rare. There is public information about this reference coming in a stainless steel case, and a yellow gold filled case.
This version of the reference was manufactured in the launch year of the reference. The watch has a gold plated, tank style case in good condition with some signs of wear. The watches case is long, with no lugs and sits large for a tank style watch. As seen, the dial aperture is smaller, but the ‘bezel’ of the case takes up a large portion of the top of the case. The caseback is stainless steel, typical of De Ville’s.
The watch has a white dial with roman numeral hour markers that is in overall good condition. The dial is extraordinarily attractive, especially in the dress watch category. Really interestingly, the watch has a cabachon crown, very similar to what can be seen on Cartier watches.
The characteristics of this watch truly remind one of the Cartier and Piaget watches that have become incredibly popular by collectors. The classic styling, with a bit of edge that the 70’s design bring to this watch should be noticeable. Yes, this style typically is seen by enthusiasts as something to be worn to dressier events, but more and more one can find these types of watches worn with jeans and t-shirts.
The watch runs on the caliber 625 manual wind movement. This caliber was launched in 1973 and produced through until 1979. About 2.4 million units of the caliber was manufactured and these movements, being smaller in size (7.75 lignes), were used heavily in Omega’s women’s watches. The watch has 42 hours of power reserve and oscillates at a frequency of 21,600 vph. Being produced in 1974, this watches movement was made earlier on during the production years.
The craze for watches like this is completely understandable. These watches are interesting in design, beautiful to wear, and so much fun to collect.
Enjoy!
