I can start by saying I’m a big Omega fan and not just because the Speedmaster was my first luxury watch or because Bond was my childhood dream life. Throughout the years Omega has somehow managed to find it’s way into Ethiopia, my homeland. From Ethiopian pocket watches, that I’ve previously reviewed here, to a CK2609 with the name of my city on the dial, that I’ve been lucky enough to find, Omega has found a way to connect with me personally. All this has has lead me to spending way too much time reading and looking at vintage Omega’s. The watch I’m reviewing today is an Omega De Ville from the 1970’s.

To address the elephant in the room, yes, this Omega De Ville was retailed as lady’s watch. Unlike the popular strategy of ‘shrink it and pink it’ or add diamonds to an existing model and call it a woman’s watch Omega actually designed this model for woman. From what I understand this is one of the deigns of Andrew Grima, a famous jewellery designer from the 60s and 70s. Mr. Grima is notably one of Queen Elizabeth II favourite designers, from what I read in an article featured in Revolution Magazine (if this is incorrect, please let know). The watch is a gold-plated rectangular case measuring 25 x 33mm. This is smaller than most modern watches but watches were much smaller then with 38mm Seamasters considered as Jumbos.

The most notable feature of this Omega De Ville is it’s crystal. The solid piece of sapphire crystal adorns the elegant case as is rises a few millimetres above it with a large baguette cut only visible when viewed from the sides of the watch. To counteract this the dial of the watch is very simple with minimal markings. You have the Omega name and logo at 12 O’clock, De Vile at the 6 O’clock and three painted indexes at the 3, 6 and 9. To further simplify the dial, the watch only has hour and minutes hands, the main attraction is definitely the crystal.

I love uncommon watches, even if owning a Speedmaster is a complete contradiction to this statement. This watch, an Omega De Ville 511.0379, with its strange crystal encompasses why I’m falling in love with vintage watches. It’s a well made, strange and beautiful watch that is relatively affordable. It helps when you don’t care that’s it’s a “lady’s watch”.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/09wnXM1skYIwgBRJd52dGF?si=10b04fbe445b4963