I have one, it's a favourite I don't wear often enough.
Nice clean simple dial, perfectly proportioned dimensions. Well worth having one.
I do like the Aqua Terra generation Railmaster, the lack of date and bright lume make them very appealing in a toolish way. They were of course available in 4 sizes, 36, 39, 41 and a faintly ridiculous 49mm. I had the 39mm which is the one being discussed here. It wears very nicely and has a lot of the Explorer 1 vibe with a slightly more dressy twist. It is all dial though so to many eyes works best in the smaller 36 and 39mm sizes, the 41 and 49mm look a bit like Flava Flav's neck ornament in some ways. The 36mm is very hard to come by and consequently priced higher than the rest, but I think the 39mm is a good compromise and is rather easier to get hold of at a sensible price.
Do inspect the sapphire crystal of any you are interested in closely as it is domed and as such the first thing to hit the door jamb or car window and anecdotally these get chipped more than those on other designs. The bracelet on these uses the button and sliding clasp design favoured by Omega during this era which I find quite fiddly and a little fragile. It is possible to bend the thin joining strip if you are clumsy or sit on the watch. As such many including myself favour a strap.
In short its probably better suited to wearing to the pub than charting the Orinoco but since I do more of the former than latter, that if fine by me.
Agreed.
I have one that is 39mm and it's a dead set ripper of a watch.
Mine originally had the brown croc leather strap with deployant, but as of the other day it's on it's second calf leather pin buckle strap, with this new one being a fau black croc that's matte with white stitching and it looks better than it ever has in it's life since 2005.
The watch has had one service at about 13 years old and it's a great timekeeper that's been dropped and banged and vibrated to hell and back which has literally taken a lickin but keeps on tickin reliably.
A real strap monster as well for good measure that's helped me re-discover the joys of a watch on a strap😉
Highly recommended for it's outright honesty😀
Also²: what's the public opinion on the movement. It seems like it's "just" an eta-movement, no? Probably no issues with finding someone that can repair/service it? ;-)
Well this generation of RM used a heavily modified ETA movement with a totally different (co-ax) escapement so it wont be as easy to get it serviced well as a bog standard 2892-A2 or even an 1120 (which is still quite different to the parent 2892 in several ways). Many of the parts are bespoke so you might have problems if some are needed, and they often are it seems. There were I think 2 versions of the 2403 used, the A spec (which corresponds with the 2500B, and the 2403B (which is similar to the 2500C). I don't think there was ever a triple layer version like the 2500D seen in these. The later 2403B is reckoned by those that know to be more reliable. I had a B and was very happy with it.
Interesting! Thanks for the details. How could I know wheter a RM has an A spec or a B?
