Hi - this is my first post to the forum, although I have been a lurker for a while. I received my first Omega (SMP) as a Christmas present in 2013. As I understand nothing happened without photos, here it is: I'm now bitten by the Omega bug, and in a moment of weakness placed a winning bid on what was listed as simply an "Omega Seamaster" but which upon inspection appeared to be a genuine 176.007 chronograph. It came in the mail today, and I'd appreciate any opinions as to its authenticity. I'm a newb to these watches, but based on the research I did (after the purchase, of course) it looks like the hands aren't original as I haven't seen photos of any other 007s with this style. The case back is heavily polished, but there are still signs of the original brushed starburst on the case front. The crystal is signed, but needs some polishing. Everything appears to function, all chrono hands reset to zero. Here are some photos I just took (the movement photo is from the ad, I haven't tried opening the case): So what did I buy? Thanks for the opportunity to participate in the forum! Kevin
Hi Kevin and welcome! You got it right the first time, pictures and everything. The Seamaster is as genuine as they come, no doubt about that. Seems it's in pretty good condition. The chrono minute hand should be orange, but it may just be faded. Else it looks correct. Get some Polywatch and polish the crystal. A service may be in order at some point though. cheers, Ketil
Thanks Ketil. This was quite the impulse buy, but it looked to be a good deal if genuine. And I'm a sucker for blue faces!
Great watches, and great avatar! I thru-hiked about 10 years ago...absolutely love the AT but now live in Texas so don't get on it nearly as much as I'd like.
I finally realized I would never set aside the time necessary to thru-hike, so I started NOBO section hiking with my son last year. We've made it into NC and plan to hit it again next month for another 5 days.
Nice watch, but your hour and minute hands are not correct. Do an image search on google and you will see there are 2 variations on the hands. I am guessing the jour and minute hands on your watch came from a 176.004. This is a picture from a catalog posted on Steve Waddington's site. Mine.
Enjoy the section hike with your son! I hope to get mine into backpacking as he gets older. The NC/TN section is my favorite after the White Mountains, so it should be a nice five days, weather permitting.
Nice find! I agree that your hands are not original but but I believe Omega still provides appropriate replacements, except for the needle-point minute hand. If you search this forum for 176.007 you'll see several hand variants with and without the needle hand. I think the most important thing to look for in these is that sunburst finish on the case, which looks pretty good on yours. Many of the ones you see on ebay are so polished the sunburst isn't at all recognizable. Here's my later 007 with applied indices, white subdial and non-needle hand:
Would replacement hands be superluminova or tritium? Although the hands on the watch aren't original, the lume insets have faded to match the tritium indices. My concern would be that new hands, although "correct" in shape, wouldn't match the age of the watch.
I like the look of your purchase - congratulations. You might consider replacing the permanent minute and hour hands when the next service is due - they are the only things that don't look quite right. I am re-posting a link to a discussion of the 1040 movement which you took an excellent photo of btw https://vintagewatchblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/omega-seamaster-chronograph-st-176-007-part-1/ I have some more information about this model and can add to the blog if there is sufficient interest.
PS I see others have also commented on the hands. Andy K refers to the needle-point minute hand. The attached image illustrates this on the right-hand model with the more conventional alternative on the left-hand side. Either would greatly enhance your watch imho