This is a diary entry really with an informative guide about how to spot the real from the fake versions of a great watch the Omega Seamaster 300. Have a look and see if the information is any good. Let me know if there is anything else I could add?

The point of this post is to pass on some information about buying a genuine Omega Seamaster 300 cal.552 to begin with this is a real one above dated as 1966 (movement and case ref).



And this is a fake one below  dated to 1961 for the movement and 1966 for the case reference. (note –only the case is fake as the rest is NOS.)

 

 

 

This is my story to help you on your way.

I collect and sell chronographs and in late 2002 I was contacted by a guy in the North of the UK he had a nice 60’s Speedmaster to sell and some other Omega bits and pieces. Said ok send it down to Bristol in the South were I live. The box arrived and inside there was the Speedmaster and 2 Omega Seamaster 300 (non date) models. I liked the Speedy and was intrigued by the Seamasters so I made him and offer and it was accepted. The Speedmaster was a nice condition as was one of the Seamasters. The Speedy was restored and went to a good home as did one of the Seamasters after the dial/handset and crown/stem were replaced as they were in a terrible condition having been water damaged.

Here they are:

 

 

So that left me with another SM 300 in bad condition.  In to my parts drawer it went and I forgot about for 18 months. The time came for me to see what I could do with this watch as I thought it would be nice to re hab it as a daily wearer for myself. It needed a new crown/stem, dial/handset, bezel and a bracelet.
Well I sourced most of the parts from a well known Melbourne based watch company with the exception of the crown and stem which came from Ebay.The crown/stem arrived first so off I went to my watchmaker and said can you sort this out for me and the next day I dropped off the dial, hands and bezel.

This was when things got weird. My watchmaker said he was having problems with the crown fitting. My first reaction was, ‘I have bought the wrong crown’ this was the large waterproof crown and as I had casually dated the movement from 1961 I thought that it was perhaps for a later model or even with the lugs being longer it was a case from a 565 date model. Not being an expert on this model I thought the better part of valour was just to pass the watch case on to someone who might be looking for what was and still is a pretty rare version of this watch.

Here is an advert for it, notice the longer lugs!

Off I went to one of the military boards and posted the case for sale or trade. To my horror I was immediately asked outright why I was trying to sell or trade a fake case.

Gasp! Aaahh! What!   What!!

I was so embarrassed, I spoke to the guy in question and assured him that I was not aware of this and it was my ignorance of the model that led to my terrible error. Anyway I apologised to the board and it went back in my draw until I might come across a beat up version that I can restore properly.

Well the time has come so I just thought I might pass on the information I have learned and as I only have a fake case with NOS parts I can’t point out everything but I will try and make comment from what I know.

The case backs engraving is often a give away from bad spelling to incorrect type faces. The most common one is the pointed ‘A’ in ‘waterproof’. The real one case back is higher and has a steeper edge and of course for a 40 year old watch to have no wabi (wear) is a bit silly really. Original NOS case backs have been flying around for this watch so they fakers may have adapted since then to accommodate a ‘real’ back.

Next here is a side shot of the case, quite a different shaped curve to the case edge and the fake is longer at the lugs and has a flat area at the edge of the case were it comes to the end of the lug.. And now you can see them side by side, this is a real ’tell’ as you can see the case edges are very different.

Here is a comparison with a real SM 300

Another is the interior of the case back as they seem to be copying the Omega details but not putting them in the correct places.

I have just been on Ebay and there are 3 Vintage Seamaster 300 watches that are not either real or are fakes. One is the same as this fake case with NOS parts, one has the wrong type of bezel and the other is actually a Seamaster 120 with what is possibly a fake SM 300 dial with date.

Usually there are a lot more as it is enduring design and one that someone in Vietnam or where ever has invested some cash in copying.

There are other things to look for on the dials like the type face of the 9pm, which should not meet as the top of the 9 curls under, also for the date versions there should be a silver outline around the date window which is also often missed. It seems that as soon as this is spotted the fakers correct their error. They may as well be working for Omega soon.

Again this is just my opinion and some info I have gathered, other people have done good work here before me;

Roger here in German (great pics) but I think he has an English version somewhere! Here...

Anyway this is just ‘my experience’ that I thought I would pass on…

My reference material.

Big Chuck had some serial numbers online - Thanks for that.

I used Omega’s actual archive site for more specific movement references and case references which was an excellent source and you should register if you are interested in vintage Omega here: Omega Vintage Watch Archive 

However just a note, When I searched for the case reference for my watch which is supposed to be 1966 by the movement serial number the search said that 024 was not used by the Seamaster 300 552 but for the 565 date version but when I searched for the 565 the note said the 024 ref was used by the non date SM 300 through 1966 and earlier so don’t take everything as correct especially not this document which is a guide.

Good luck and Good Hunting!

 Regards

Alistair