I just picked up a gem at the thrift store for a song and want opinions about keeping it. I’ve always loved this series but the gold bezel was never to my liking. That being said it has grown on me tremendously since waiting for a link from Switzerland now for a few weeks and I am thinking of keeping it. (Currently saving for the 3861 Speedy) Will this retain the same favorable feelings as the stainless blue bezel or become less desirable because of the gold trim?
I'm a big fan of the caliber 1538 quartz Seamasters, and they are my go-to travel companions (currently a 2264.50).
Can't speak on the future desirability of the gold bezel you reference, but I'd reckon if they were ever "in favor", they've likely already fallen out.
It's not my favourite SMP variant by quite a long way, but you are right, the combo of yellow gold bezel and blue dial really pops. No they are not commonly seen and presumably sold in low numbers. I wonder if the dial is actually a lighter shade than the near black of the regular Bond SMP, maybe it's just the pic but here it looks half way towards the electric blue of the 2255.80. The tritium lume has faded very nicely too, better than many of this mid 90s era which often get a stark pumpkin/green contrast between dial and hands. Note it has applied plot surrounds too, that isn't seen on normal SMPs until the 2000s so it was deffo a luxury version, odd that they did it in quartz really!
A new link wont have been cheap so I see you are already invested in it. My advice would be to use a cape cod or similar jewellery polishing cloth to bring back the bezel insert as it will look a million times better when less beaten up. The polished bezels are easy to improve, unlike the anodised aluminium ones on the regular Bonds which are toast once scratched. Even a light going over will bring it up very nicely and wont damage the crystal but be careful to not work too hard at the steel scalloped edges. These crystals aren't outer coated so there is nothing to worry about rubbing off there. Don't be tempted to remove the bezel though, were you to damage it, with the yellow insert being solid gold I suspect it would have a replacement cost not far off what you paid for the watch, probably more if you got it as cheap as you suggest.
If it is worth collecting would be up for debate, but it is certainly worth wearing. That would be a keeper for me alright.
Gold / Blue ! what a gorgeous combination ! OK it's a quartz movement, but IMHO was one of the best models in the 80s-90s, so it can only increase in value in the long run.
Yeah it was more then a song but a few hundred bucks for Omega still feels ok for me to take a chance. All the regular resale guys at the thrift store thought it was fake because it didn’t move when they gave it a shake. Good to know the 90’s came quartz from Goldeneye so I pulled the trigger and lucked out.
You would be surprised what you find in thrift stores. The employees aren't idiots, I'm surprised this one (even being quartz) made it out on the sales floor.
The employees have no clue. There is one price maker for the store and the watch was not running due to a dead battery. Not enough research available for her and the ebay resale crowd so I waited until the price went down and took a chance after taking a few pictures. P.S. it’s a veteran source thrift shop in a city with lots of retired military with an Air Force base. They have sold many high value watches in plastic bags with a few dozen junk watches in including rolex and omega to several resale guys so they are definitely not using the proper search engines
Definitely a keeper for me - I’m not a great fan of bicolour but that blue dial is wonderful, congrats 👍
I look in thrift stores (op shops / charity shops) often but very rarely see anything decent - I saw an auto Seiko yesterday but it was very tired. Your Seamaster will inspire me to keep looking with fingers crossed.
It’s by my house in a rough neighborhood and the prices are color coded to the day. You pick the item and depending on how many days or the color it can be 25% -75% off that day. Scored a 73 Pogue and a 50’s Seamaster the first moth they opened. That was 3 years ago and I’ve only been lucky twice more. They have definitely learned to double check the inventory but good stuff still gets missed and makes it the addiction that it has become.
I need to find some new thrift stores then, clearly! The best find I’ve ever had was a 1969 Timex Viscount. It’s a pretty cool little watch to be sure, but it’s no Omega Seamaster, that’s for certain.
Maybe another collateral damage of the past bad storms over Florida ?? Lots of people have lost everything, and hardly any compensation from their insurance co. ... could be that quite a few of them were forced to sell most of their remaining belongings just to make a better living ??
