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Another UK Custom Military Omega Seamaster: RN Clearance Diver

British Royal Navy Clearance Diver wearing CDLSE Clearance Diver Life Support Equipment mixed gas rebreather system. Photo: MoD

British Royal Navy Clearance Diver wearing CDLSE Clearance Diver Life Support Equipment mixed gas rebreather system. Photo: MoD

Yet another one of these custom Omega Seamaster Watches made for the British Military has emerged on the web, this one made in a limited series of 150 especially for the Mine Clearance Divers of the UK Royal Navy. It seems that many units and regiments are taking advantage of Omega’s custom purchase offer to military units, beginnig as far back as the X-33 in 19998 in its modern iteration.

From the selection of this particular Seamaster model it starts to seem quite clear that the watch was likely intended mostly for shore and off-duty wear, as the brilliant electric blue dial and shiny, reflective polished bezel are not exactly the most desirable features in tactical applications. As I’ve written previously though, the other UK military custom models were intended for wear “on camp” as well. And as with the others, these are privately purchased and owned watches, not official government issue.

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Posted in Military Watches, Modern Watches, Omega Watches.

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By Rrryan – 12 October 2009

Omega ’53 Issue Strap? Inquiry from the Mail Bag

Matt P. wrote:

Hi. I was given by my dad a 1953 Omega Military watch but trying to find an original Omega Nato strap is near impossible!! Can you help at all please? Matt

Omega '53 "Fat Arrow" CK 2777. Photo: Classicwatch.com

Omega '53 "Fat Arrow" CK 2777. Photo: Classicwatch.com

Well, Matt, congratulations on getting such a great watch with family provencance, but it’s not really near impossible to “original Omega Nato strap” for a CK 2777 Omega ’53. In fact, it’s completely impossible. You’re not going to find one because
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Posted in Military Watches, Omega Watches, Straps.

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By Rrryan – 11 October 2009

“Real” James Bond Straps

Sean Connery as James Bond checking his watch

Sean Connery as James Bond checking his watch

For years now watch collectors have been wearing what were termed “Bond” straps that were believed to have been patterned after the straps James Bond wore in movies. The only thing was, after a while it became more and more clear that what had become conventionally known as the “Bond” pattern wasn’t a very faithful replica of the original at all. Both the color scheme and the G-10/”NATO” construction pattern turned out to be completely wrong.

Maratac "Bond" straps in the popular if perhaps incorrect color pattern

Maratac "Bond" straps in the popular if perhaps incorrect color pattern

Close inspection of stills from the movies seemed to indicate that what were thought to be gray stripes are probably closer to olive tone, and the presence of thin burgundy-colored stripes along the edges of the gray. Continued…

Posted in Straps.

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By Rrryan – 07 October 2009

The State of the Vintage Watch Market According to Financial Times

As recently pointed out by Jeff Stein of On the Dash, Financial Times recently ran a piece about the state of the watch market as they see it.

Quite frankly, I think FT is at least a little full of it here, using its coverage of wider securities and commodities markets to imply some level of expertise in the watch market that really isn’t demonstrated in the evidence presented.

Yes, FT is quite right that there are fewer really nice and notable watches coming to auction at some of the more well known houses, with more and more modern and even current models appearing instead. This however has less to do with anything intrinsic in the watch market itself than it does with the *auction* market, which is a very minor subset of the larger vintage watch market itself.

And with particular regard to Antiquorum and Patrizzi & Co., the lack of notable offerings of late likely has more to do with persistent spectres of allegations of previous misdeeds and shortfalls. More studious watch collectors typically regard Antiquorum’s offerings and descriptions with a degree of skepticism after controversies like the Omegamania sale. Patrizzi & Co.’s initial auction was crippled by severe technical problems with online bidding and some military watch offerings of very questionable authenticity.

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Posted in Vintage Watches.

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By Rrryan – 01 October 2009

God help us. And Omega.

God must be dead.

God must be dead.

God is — apparently — dead. The horror.

Omega at this point is ostensibly trying to see just how many times they can jump the shark before going bankrupt, and yet by all rights continuing to get away with such. It’s a strange, strange world., gents

Posted in Omega Watches.

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By Rrryan – 30 September 2009

Reactor Watches: What Not to Buy

Reactor "Trident" with NEVER DARK luminova/tritium luminous system. Photo: Princeton Watches

Reactor “Trident” with NEVER DARK luminova/tritium luminous system. Photo: Princeton Watches

Reactor Tritium & SuperLuminova Watches Miss the Mark by Miles

I recently came across these watches from Reactor. They include the semi-significant innovation of utilizing supplementing SuperLuminova and tritium luminous systems simultaneously, a combination Reactor aptly terms its “NEVER DARK” system.

Most mainstream modern brands brands seem to have considered the technique redundant, but from a practical and reliability standpoint there’s something about the reassurance afforded by redundancy that appeals to me and I thought the tactic to be notable. It is potentially useful, as it perhaps includes the best of both worlds: the short-term brightness of Luminova and the long-duration, “self-charging” properties of a tritium radioisotope capsule system. The system has the potential to produce an especially luminous, legible watch under most any conditions.

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Posted in Modern Watches.

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By Rrryan – 13 July 2009

IWC’s Clever “Ambient Advertising”: bus wrist straps

That’s one clever way to “encourage” potential customers to see what that Big Pilot Chrono might look like on the wrist.

IWC "Ambient Advertising" bus hand straps.

IWC "Ambient Advertising" bus hand straps.

These bus wrist straps advertising the IWC Big Pilot Chrono are a form of what is called “ambient advertising”, advertising that seeks to blend in with its environment in clever ways for a more memorable impression. I expect IWC’s ad agency were patting themselves on the back for devising this ingenious way to get people to “try on” the product. I wonder though if rather than feeling tempted to buy if many customers are instead thinking things like, “Jessus, that must be a big damn watch.”

See more “ambient advertisements” at mental_floss.

Posted in Modern Watches.

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By Rrryan – 30 June 2009

Keep an Eye on those Gaskets

Omega Seamaster Professional 2254.50.00

Omega Seamaster Professional 2254.50.00

While my collecting interests now mostly focus on vintage watches, my habitual “daily driver” for the past several years has been my trusty Omega Seamaster Professional 300M diver. As much as I like my vintage watches they can of course be a little finicky and the lasting degree of water resistance is typically questionable at best. So I wanted something that could be depended upon without worry when I needed it or else at least without worrying about defiling an irreplaceable original. And I thought perhaps there was probably a little something to be said for owning at least one Omega from new as its sole owner, so a modern Omega diver seemed a logical choice.

It’s now been a little more than four years since I purchased it while on a Caribbean vacation (not the best way to purchase an Omega BTW but I didn’t know better at the time!). And as the 5-year mark has started to approach I began wondering if I would heed the factory recommended 5-year service interval or else take fortune into my own hands and flirt with extending the interval.

But a few weeks ago I was invited to a gathering of collectors at an Atlanta watchmaker’s shop, and in the course of one of our discussions the owner and master watchmaker offered to test the water resistance of my watch. I cheerfully agreed, not only just out of curiosity but just wanting the satisfaction of knowing whether my watch was really and actually “waterproof
or not.

Continued…

Posted in Omega Watches.

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By Rrryan – 24 June 2009