Rrryan
63
They just called out to me...
I've always been enamored with wristwatches for some reason and I've long been the kind of person who feels naked and disoriented without a wristwatch. I discovered Omega through eBay in its early days, browsing while procrastinating or taking breaks from studying, looking for a "nice" watch on a student's budget. Though most of the ones I liked were out of my reach it was a way of fantasizing not unlike window shopping. As I was trawling I kept noticing that a lot of the ones that caught my eye were Omegas for some reason, and the pricing was much more attainable than some of the other brands that grabbed my interest. Some searching through Infoseek (my search engine of choice in those days before Google) I came across Chronocentric and the late Derek Ziglar's wonderful FAQ and was fascinated. The more I learned about Omegas and their history the more I liked them, and when I learned they had also made watches for the British during WWII I was determined to get one of those.
I saw that the Seamaster had been worn by James Bond in "GoldenEye" - cool. Then I saw the newly released X-33 and I was completely entralled. It seemed like just the greatest watch ever, and even NASA used it. Though I liked the newer models best they were out of my price range at the time so I wound up following the unusual route of acquiring vintage first because the entry price was lower.
This was my first Omega, a c.353 bumper:
I wasn't knowledgeable enough yet to spot the mediocre redial, and the movement had some issues like missing bumper springs and some poor previous workmanship. Lesson learned...
This was my second one:
Fortunately, I'm a fast learner. 
The hands seem to be MOD or at least Omega-genuine replacements very similar to those I've seen on some Railmasters. Though I managed to get my "grail" fairly early on, the interest and collection continue to grow...
Regards,
-r
