Inherited Seamaster, help please

DanielH · Tues. 2:52pm

From my googling, this is a Seamaster 145.018 with a serial number of 27xxxxxx (which I can't find much info on, but it appears it's from 1968). I have yet to see one with a red hand like this. So here is what I know. I sent the watch back to Omega and had it factory serviced and "returned to factory specifications". The card from them says the average rating is +4 (no idea what that means). I learned that the band is not original, but it seems the watch itself is. I don't even know how to use the silly thing. The left smaller dial (complication?) is obviously the seconds hand, but the actual seconds hand doesn't move. I'm assuming that can be used as a stopwatch? The main crown only pulls out one stop. The top and bottom don't seem to do anything at all. I don't know what the other two small dials (complications?) are for/do.

Can anyone tell me the approximate value of the watch? (I just need to know if it's $600 or $6000) ballpark? I'm not trying to sell it, just know if it belongs in the family safe.

Can anyone tell me how to use the silly thing? Any other info is always welcome.

ErichKeane · Tues. 3:08pm

Not sure I've seen one with the orange hand either, that seems like a replacement, but I'm surprised Omega left it that way.

The reference number, 145.018 is good for googling.

To use it, you wind the crown (the center thing) clockwise, it'll hit a hard stop, that means it is fully wound. The small-left dial is the 'seconds runner' hand, so when it is running, that will be moving. The thicker center hands are obviously hours/minutes.

The other 3 hands are for the chronograph. A chronograph is a 'stop watch' type movement. You press the top button to start it and stop it, the bottom hand to reset.

The long center hand is the 'seconds' for hte stop watch, right dial is minutes, and bottom dial is the hours.

Value is ~ $2.5k-4k. The 1 different hand would make me less likely to spend the higher end of that though.

Edit: correcting my description of the buttons, can't believe I screwed that up, too much time with Landerons obviously.

DanielH · Tues. 3:19pm

ErichKeane
Not sure I've seen one with the orange hand either, that seems like a replacement, but I'm surprised Omega left it that way.

The reference number, 145.018 is good for googling.

To use it, you wind the crown (the center thing) clockwise, it'll hit a hard stop, that means it is fully wound. The small-left dial is the 'seconds runner' hand, so when it is running, that will be moving. The thicker center hands are obviously hours/minutes.

The other 3 hands are for the chronograph. A chronograph is a 'stop watch' type movement. You press the top button to start it, the bottom hand to stop and reset (2 separate clicks).

The long center hand is the 'seconds' for hte stop watch, right dial is minutes, and bottom dial is the hours.

Value is ~ $2.5k-4k. The 1 different hand would make me less likely to spend the higher end of that though.

First off, thank you so much for your reply. The top chronograph button does start the stop watch. The red/orange hand is minutes, and I guess you are saying the bottom dial is hours of stopwatch. That's crazy. Turns out the red hand came back from the factory that way. It's from omega. They had to create a whole new chronograph button for the watch, and while they made that, they replaced the glass and hands, but they did include all the original parts when they returned it! I hope I didn't ruin the collector's value of the watch, but personally I'm glad it's back to factory standards. By the time my son inherits it, the value may go back up again!

calalum · Tues. 3:22pm

Manual winding, not automatic.

The top pusher should be to start and stop the chronograph function and the bottom pusher should reset the subdial hands to 0.

And I concur about the odd orange hand.

CaseStudy · Tues. 3:46pm

Splendid heirloom, hope you get to enjoy it a ton. No shortage of detailed youtube vids to fill in some of the operational dos and don’ts.

Donn Chambers · Tues. 3:56pm

The red hand is interesting. I suspect a previous owner wanted to be able to see the minutes counter better and had it replaced. Quite a few Omega chronographs from the 60s and 70s used colored minute/hour counters (red and orange were popular) along with a matching central seconds hand. Would have been easy enough to procure one and have it added back in the day.

I’m also surprised Omega did not replace it with a correct hand (like the other two), but it’s cool they didn’t!

SOG53 · Tues. 7:00pm

These are very nice watches I had one and then traded it away which I regret. They are a nice midsize chronograph with the 861 movement same as Moonwatch from era.
If red hand bothers you can always get it replaced with a matching hand from independent watchmaker with Omega parts account. Not necessary to send it back to Omega.

https://www.fratellowatches.com/dear-omega-bring-back-the-glorious-de-ville-chronograph-145-018/

SOG53 · Tues. 7:17pm

I thought it wore very well on original bracelet 1069/524 endlinks
You can find these and if can’t find endlinks Omega still sells them and they are pretty much identical to original
OF member @masteroftime is good resource for bracelets.

Dan S · Tues. 7:33pm

Screenshot 2026-04-07 at 6.33.18 PM.webp

Inherited Seamaster, help please

DanielH

ErichKeane

DanielH

calalum

CaseStudy

Donn Chambers

SOG53

SOG53

Dan S

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