Trolling the Bay while waiting for my Speedy day/date to come back from service, I'd been looking for a coax Aqua Terra 38.5 mm in white. I normally wear smaller watches, and I was looking for something sort of dressy and about the same size as my blue mid sized Bond SMP 300M. I have 2 - one quartz, and the other an 1120 caliber. I stumbled onto this 2501.31.00 which is essentially the same watch as my Bond auto, but with a fixed bezel and 120 meter water resistance. I believe these were the forerunner of the Aqua Terra and came in a few different color combos. I couldn't take my eyes off it. The jeweler wanted $1169 for it, and I offered him a little more than half that on a whim - figured no way he would take that, and I really didn't need this watch, but it was fun to bid. He jumped on my offer. Comes with all boxes, cards, and instruction book. Internet picture - not my actual watch Until I saw this auction, I wasn't even aware of this model, But it's the same 36.25 mm size as the mid Bond and should wear a bit bigger due to the thinner bezel and larger diameter dial. Service history? "Uh yeah. I think it was serviced like maybe 3 months ago." In other words, no service history. But the price was low enough to allow a complete service and still not be too deep into it. Now I can't wait to see this retro looking piece on my wrist...should be here by Wednesday. Will post pics. Stu
I've never seen one that looks like that ... beautiful watch! Keep us posted on whatever you find out ... and more pics!
Well, I paid a slight newb tax. The seller's pics of this "mint" watch were a bit blurry, but not bad enough I couldn't get a good feel for what he had...or so I thought. Bought the seller - lots of feedback, almost all positive. So I open the box and see a good looking watch, except someone must have polished the top of it with a buffer. The bracelet end links and the entire top surface of the lugs was mirror finished. 1500 grit wet-or-dry took care of all that. I then taped off all the brushed surfaces and went after the shiny bits with white rouge. Rather proud of the results, and it looks killer on the wrist. Pic w/brushed lug surfaces and end links repaired Turning to the bracelet, 3 links were missing the pin tubes and had split pins from some cheap aftermarket bracelet pounded in. I couldn't have seen this regardless of picture quality. I had a bunch of pins and tubes from Ofrei, so this was fixed quickly. Luckily, I factored a full service into what I wanted to pay for this watch, and it needs it badly. It's losing about 2 seconds per hour, and it's so badly magnetized, I might be able to use it for a fridge magnet. Just kidding, but it does swing a compass needle hard. And just my luck, my cheap Chinese demagnetizer committed suicide almost as soon as I pushed the button. So, off to Omega it goes for the full spa treatment. Still, I love it.
Of course. My entire point here is that one should factor a full service into any used watch purchase, and pay accordingly. I see some of these with BIN prices high enough that a new owner would be upside down big time when he discovered the inevitable.
After doing a litle research and scanning ebay, it seems these were sold mid '90s to around 2005. Mine is a 2003. Forerunner to the Seamaster Aqua Terra and used the same 1120 movement as the SMP300M of the period. They came with various dial colors and either black or polished hands. Quartz models had the 1538 caliber, "Seamaster 120m" printed on the dial, and the date window broke well into the wave pattern. Not as common on ebay as the SMP 300M, but nothing you'd consider rare.