Is SeaMaster 300m bezel misalignment common? or Okay?

redpcar

OCD thing. I understand. Some people buy a new Porsche and want all the seams in the seats to be perfect. Others FLOG it on the track. To each his own.
You pay top dollar for a nice watch you should have to right to be a perfectionist. That said, the first brush against a cement wall and it's no longer perfect.

Dan S

Frankly, I'm having a hard time relating to this level of pickiness, but we see similar posts pretty often, so I guess you're not alone.

I'm not sure that Omega would be willing to rectify it unless it actually falls outside their QC standards. I guess you could ask about those standards w.r.t. bezel alignment. Some watches will be perfect and some will be slightly imperfect, but there is no way to guarantee that a given watch will be better than Omega's standards. People often complain about a piece of dust or an imperfection on the dial that can only be seen using a loupe, but that type of flaw is acceptable to Omega, their standards involve naked eye viewing. The only way to buy a perfect watch is to take a loupe with you and inspect watch after watch until you find one that satisfies you. In practice, this might be difficult for desirable models.

An independent watchmaker might be willing to keep messing with it until it meets your standards, but you don't want to do that while the watch is under warranty.

redpcar

the first brush against a cement wall and it's no longer perfect.

Donn Chambers

For example, on the Seamaster, when the bezel marks are lined up perfectly with the 15 minute and 45 minute markers on the dial, the bezel lume plot is aligned, but the 25-minute bezel mark is just slightly rotated CCW from the corresponding mark on the dial, and the 30-minute bezel counter is also slightly off center.

Donn Chambers

After seeing the picture, I’m not convinced the problem even exists. It looks like the lens of the camera was slightly below the center of the watch, so that will distort everything slightly. You can only really tell if the camera is straight on to the watch. And even then, depending on the focal length of the lens, you can still get aberration.

remember, the picture is “flat” but the object is not.

frankly, as others have said, if this level of “imperfection” is too much for you, then I suggest finding a different hobby. I have yet to see a “perfect” watch.

Tom Bombadil

I had the same issue on my 300M Nekton Edition, wacky alignments of some of the bezel numbers. I sent it in to Omega for examination and they installed a new bezel. Problem solved, all bezel numbers now align perfectly. I would also check the dial furniture. My 3 o'clock hour marker was slightly misaligned. You can view my post here https://omegaforums.net/threads/diver-300m-nekton-edition-6-month-review-with-service-update.131601/

BlackTalon

Isn't it just a matter of removing the bezel, rotating it slightly and pressing it back on? Seems like it would be an easy fix unless I am misunderstanding something. Misaligned dial furniture would seem to be a much more difficult issue to resolve without causing damage.

PandaSPUR

I find it funny that Seiko gets a lot of hate for being known to have misaligned bezels but here we have a 50/50 split on unacceptable vs "you're just nitpicking"

I wouldnt accept it.

Although you do have to be careful to make sure you're not just looking at the watch from an off angle. Like that picture from IG, I think the bezel is actually fine based on the 3 o'clock markers lining up but its hard to tell.

O owl.

Haha good point.

Everyone makes fun of Seiko, then you save up for years, but a Rolex and the rehaut is as crooked as a Seiko bezel insert haha

But everyone is fine with it because "it's still a Rollie bro."

The instragram one I am unsure of, I just saw it and thought it was a good example.

The one that I saw in person, I took my loupe to check the markers and stuff. Then I realized the bezel was off. And I spun it, tried to align it, like 10 times, and it was always off, no matter how I looked at it.

Loupe or no loupe.

Nobel Prize

The way things are with Rolex and their fans (me being one of them) you may end up wanting the misaligned bezel because it will be worth more in the future once somebody publishes the misalignment on a specific model, serial, year. Any exception to the rule becomes somehow a reason to desire it more. Like a misaligned stamp or coin.

Anyway. I would want a correctly aligned version.

Archer

Remove the bezel, remove the insert, then realign - should be an easy fix.

O owl.

So I guess my questions are:

#1 Is this fixable under a service or warranty repair?

#2 Is this common?

O owl.

Sorry it took me so long. This is the one from Instagram. If you look closely, the bezel is a little too far clockwise to be dead center

and it seems like it the person did one more click counter clockwise, it would go over

this is what I mean.