Hi all,

I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered before (I tried to find one but was unsuccessful).

I have a, new to me, 2541.80.00 Seamaster 300M Quartz and I'm wondering if I the current bracelet that is sold with the Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial 41 MM will fit on it. My current bracelet is pretty beat up and ideally I'd like to just get a new one and upgrade it to an adjustable clasp. But before reaching out to my local AD/OB, I wanted to learn from the experts if this is possible and/or a bad idea.

Thanks in advance,
Eric

Current Seamaster Diver 300M - https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watch-omega-seamaster-diver-300m-co-axial-41-mm-21230412003001

Seamaster 300M Quartz that I have - https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watch-omega-seamaster-300-m-quartz-25418000

 

I don't think it will, at least not very well. The case on the latest models is noticeably deeper than the 11.5mm or so the earlier 2531/2541s measured. It may work but equally it may also look and feel terrible as the end links might just be proud of the case. That is unless the height difference is all in the caseback, in which case my point is invalid and can be ignored!

 

Thanks @padders

I just returned from my local Omega Boutique and this bracelet is eligible for bracelet exchange program as the originals stretched more than they liked. So I left the watch with them and it's on the way to the service center to have a brand new bracelet and clasp installed for a significant discount (from buying new). So I am very excited about that.

 

Very interesting, first I have heard of that and I have owned I think 8 SMPs now, at least 2 of which had issues like that! Glad you found a happy solution.

 

Make sure they don’t touch the dial or hands

 

I’ve seen this mentioned before. Can you share the pros & cons regarding servicing the dial and hands of a watch of this type?

 

Yours appear to be tritium pre 99. They age better but have no more glow. Replacements will be luminova which will last fpr very but tends to not be as pretty as it gets older.

They just look better and you cannot go back.

 

That isn’t a pre 97 tritium SMP Foo. Those go a much darker beige colour on the plots. Judging by the minty green colour that is SL, there is a way to tell from the ft text too but don’t have the time find a link to demonstrate right now. You could easily change the dial and hands on that and not notice, not that you would need to. Interestingly the hands do look a little more faded so I guess it is possible the dial was already swapped for SL but not the hands.on balance I would say both are SL.

The SMP is one of the few watches where I think fading tritium makes it look worse! They go to fried egg plots with mismatched hands.

 

I should have it back next week and I’ll post a picture of the lume. But it is very bright on dial, hands and bezel.

Beyond the lume is there any other worries about having it fully serviced?

I think I’ll have the bezel replaced so it’s not all scratched up. Is that a no-no?

 

It’s fine but not cheap. In the uk around £200 so circa $260 on top of the service for a bezel. Those do fade nicely but your existing one looks pretty new, just scratched so you could go for it if you want the watch to look new.

 

Keep the old one.

 

It all depends on how you like the watch to look. I tend to agree with @padders that the dial looks to have luminova on it already. I'm also with him when it comes to the "fried egg" tritium versions . Omega can pretty much make it look like new, but you will be charged a larger amount for that sort of refurbishment. It's your decision. Do you want it to have signs of wear and age or have it refurbished to pretty much "as new"?

 

I believe this is a 1999/2000. I did get the original sales receipt for the watch and it was sold in April 2001. My goal was to find one made in the year 2000 - my son's birth year - and I'll eventually give it to him for a significant event (HS graduation, marriage, or something similar) and in the meantime I'll enjoy it. I've requested an Extract of the Archives and if that goes through, then it will probably end up being a 1998/1999 - in which case I might sell it and continue my search for a 2000.

So, I won't have it serviced until I find out the actual production year.

If I end up selling it and it is a 1998/1999 watch, would it be better to keep it as-is or would it really matter?

I'm really hoping it's a late 1999 - early 2001 (my son's birthday is in December 2000) and if it's something I could have walked into an AD at that time and purchased, it might be "good enough".

Based on everyone's feedback, if I decide to keep it (and I hope I do) I'm inclined to have it fully serviced and restored to as close to new as possible without spending a small fortune.

Assuming I keep it and gift it to my son in the next several years, it will also give me an excuse to replace it with the latest version of the diver too.

 

Yes, it is not a tritium dial.
Photos not mine.


What I don't know is how the transition looked like?
Was it Tritium - Luminova,
or, Tritium - Luminova - Superluminova ?

 

Thanks vitriol, work got in the way today so you helped me out there and those are good pics but these days the trit one would look a lot more beige. Luminova = Superluminova, they are the same thing, the latter is just a trade name I think, there was just one change over, from trit to doped Strontium Aluminate (ie (Super) Luminova)

 

I saw these pictures before from the original site, one thing that caused me to question them though. Is the tritium dial from the 41mm and the luminova dial from the 38mm? They appear to be slightly different in overall size which would account for the smaller fonts.

 

No the spacing of the date window suggests they are the same dial size.

I actually have a tritium SMP dial in my parts box, I will go and take a pic later but take it from me, all of the tritium ones are a nasty (YMMV) beige colour now. Not all tritium fade is desirable, sometimes it can look (literally) like crap.

 

Good to know regarding the size difference. For this specific dial, I agree and I'm not a fan of the "pumpkin" aging of the tritium. When I was looking for this one, there were several selling that as a feature. Definitely a personal preference, but not mine.

 

Very cool photos showing the difference, Thank you Vitriol.