Restoration of world’s smallest automatic watch mechanism - Omega - Nicholas Hacko Master Watchmaker

In 1961 Omega released a new watch mechanism: Calibre 661. By the number of components per volume, it was the smallest ever industrial manufactured automatic movement in the world. To this day, this record is still unbeaten! The watch arrived in rather poor condition suffering both water damage, broken escape wheel and worn out auto rotor post. Most annoyingly, it also suffered from ’jellified’ rubber casing gasket. While most vintage Omega watches manufactured in 60s and 70s do suffer from this issue, this DeVille was definitely the worst one I’ve worked on in years. The restoration project commenced in December 2020 and was completed 3 months later, on February 26, 2021. Sourcing the original parts was a challenge. The main goal of this restoration was to preserve as many original parts as possible, especially the original dial and hands. The escape wheel was re-fitted (riveted) on new a pinion. The timekeeping result was rather pleasing with a healthy a