Possibly saving my grandfather's Omega

My grandfather was awarded an Omega Seamaster quartz for twenty five years' service at the mine he worked at. I've mentioned it before, but the watch has since sat tucked away in a storage box/dresser. It's willed to my uncle, so it won't be seeing time on my wrist any time soon. He's not a massive watch geek and the watch hasn't seen a wrist (discounting the day I wore it once) in over a decade. This doesn't bother me, because the core of this hobby is sentimentality and honouring my grandfather's wishes is more important than having the Omega name on my wrist.

I wrote about wearing broken watches here and mentioned it. Ever since then, I've been pulling my hair out in worry about battery leakage. I made a stop by my grandmother's place and popped the back today before I lost more sleep.

The movement was clean. Pristine. The calibre 1430 lives to tick another day when a fresh battery is put back into it. For now, it'll just sit there until I convince my uncle to give it some occasional wear if he fancies.

Some more about the watch: The Omega calibre 1430 is (from what I've read across the web) a rebadged ETA 255.411. It features six jewels. One can speed up or slow down the movement by turning a little brass screw above where "six" is printed on the movement. This, as you might expect, is probably very finicky and requires some patience. I doubt that the movement of my grandfather's watch has ever been adjusted. The case and caseback are made of 18k yellow gold

Compare this to a standard ETA 255.411...

Translation: J.H. Roodt August 1987 for 25 years service.

On a slight aside, I've been thinking about my grandfather a lot lately. I was recently on holiday for a weekend in Mpumalanga, near the Kruger National Park, where I saw a biography of a rugby player. It reminded me of him. Visits to Granny and Oups' house meant there was usually some rugby book somewhere, and it was him and my father that made me a die-hard Blue Bulls fan. If it were possible to have negative knowledge of a subject, rugby (and any sport as a matter of fact) would top my list. I somehow never made myself acquainted with the South African weeken-braai and bar-fight classic. When my grandmother had a part of the house's roof replaced, one of the handymen found a Swiss Army knife. My grandfather had a habit of losing them; when someone dropped a phone between the cushion of the couch he usually sat in, a few knives came out with it. I have the knife, it's missing one scale and one blade is completely snapped off, but it works, I guess.

This unexpectedly turned into a slightly long-winded trip down memory lane for me, despite my memory lane being barely more than a decade ago. Rest easy, Oups.