Omega Seamaster Professional 300M Ref. 212.30.41.20.01.005
Retail: $5,000 CAD
"The James Bond 007 50th Anniversary Collector's Piece celebrates half a century of the world's favourite secret agent in motion pictures."
That's a quote from the enclosed Certificate of Authenticity which comes with the watch. The packaging is different from the usual red box: the watch is housed in a spring loaded bed and the cover embossed with the anniversary logo.
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The Movement
The Seamaster 300M has the exclusive Omega Calibre 2507:
* Bi-Directional self-winding movement
* Officially certified chronometer
* 27 Jewels
* 25,200 beats/hours
* 48 hours reserve
* Co-axial Escapement with 3 levels and free sprung balance
* Rotor has 9mm bullet withm "James Bond 50 Years" etched in a circle
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The Case
The case is stainless steel, polished and brushed, with a uni-directional rotating diving bezel. It is available at 36mm and 41mm. The 36mm (ladies) version has a diamond at the 7 hour, which is not present in the 41mm.
The bezel ring is a polished black ceramic with the "50" in red. The back is a screw-in with central sapphire crystal. There is a gun barrel design surrounding the bullet decoration on the rotor.
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Dials, Hands and Crystal
Lacquered black dial with "007" repeated throughout the dial. Blue emission is used on the 11 applied indexes. This is very similar to the 40th Anniversary where the "007" was horizonally applied on a blue background and this version has them offset at an angle of 45 degrees on a black background. As with the other "Bond" SMP300M versions, the hands are the polihsed skeleton rhodium-plated.
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The Bracelet
As with the case, the bracelet is brushed and polished but now with an Omega patented screw-and-pined.
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OK, we have seen the specs, now lets compare and contrast with the 2220.80. The 2 cases are identical but the 2220.80 has a solid case back with the seahorse. The bezel is still not dive worthy as it is too difficult to rotate it with gloves or wet hands. The older model has a painted bezel where it is now ceramic. The pictures have it looking greyish but it is really a glossy black. The dial is where the differences can be easily seen: "Seamaster" is now in red with the word "Professional" directly below it in glossy silver. Lower on the dial is still the original words "CO-AXIAL", "CHRONOMETER" and "300m/1000ft". The other change is in the date wheel, it has raised silver numbers on a black background, where the older version had a white date dial with white painted numbers. The dial itself has swapped out the wave pattern for the repeatig "007" on a 45 degree angle. As in the older version, the pattern disappears under some light conditions.
I also see an improvement in the bracelet as it now employs the screw and pin instead of the compression pins. I don't know if this is any easier to change links as I had it done by the Omega repair shop to avoid potental scratches so early in the life. The links themselves appear to have a polish where the older version had mostly a brushed look. The clasp no longer has "Seamaster" engraved but does have a larger "Omega" and symbol. The links seem to have sharper edges over the previous ones but haven't noticed any difference while wearing it.
The crown, He valve and the provile view look identical to the 2220.80.
All and all, I am thrilled with the new look of the SMP300. With 11,007 peices in production, it would be a stretch to call it a "Limited" edition and would be more accurate to refer to it as a "Numbered" edition. Yes, the "007" is a little gimmicky but it's more subtle on this version and the presentation, IMHO, is outstanding!
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