The very bold and and very gold style of this chronograph kinda screams 1970s, but regardless of what you think of the exterior, inside sits one of the all time great movements - the Valjoux 236. This uses a column wheel for smooth operation, and has a high 21,600 bph beat rate for accuracy. Interestingly, unlike many other chronographs, the hammer in this movement only makes momentary contact with the register cams when the reset pusher is pressed. A separate brake is used to fix the central chronograph second hand. This was likely done to enable engineering of a flyback variation, the Valjoux 235.

This handsome Omega must have led a pretty tough life, as the back side of the case had suffered a considerable amount of erosion, the plating was in poor shape, and the original crown was missing. I couldn’t do anything about the erosion of the case material, but with a service, new crown, case polish, crystal polish, and overplate in 18K gold, you still have a good running Omega that looks great on the wrist.

This lovely Genève really captures the understated elegance Omega perfected in the early 1970s, with a champagne silver sunburst dial framed by sharply faceted gold-plated markers that catch the light with every turn of the wrist. Beneath that beautiful dial beats Omega’s revered caliber 565, a 24-jewel automatic workhorse celebrated for its smooth winding action and quick-set date mechanism — one of the finest movements the company ever produced.

This early 1970s Elgin is highlighted by an unusual and striking “basket weave” dial. It is powered by a Swiss-made FHF manual wind movement with surprisingly nice finishing, cosplaying as an “Elgin 394.”