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Is this blue seamaster golden eye a legit piece? 2541.80

lalaji
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Saw this watch online and wonder if the experts here find this watch legit. The lume looks a bit small and uneven to me when I compare with other sample pictures online. The lume is probably also too orange to be true?

Is that true that some version of this model was tritium dial while some are superluminova? This watch is supposed to date around Oct 1998. Makes sense to have tritium dial?

Thanks in advance.

Clipped_image_20241130_202250.webp
 
Donn Chambers
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That dial has had fauxtina lume added to make it look like tritium, IMO. I’ve never seen a real tritium dial of that area where the lume plots are so narrow and tall. Notice also that the bezel pip and hands appear to be luminova, and the dial is marked “Swiss Made” not “T Swiss Made T”.
 
Vercingetorix
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Lots of those old ones have yellowish lume. I would not be concerned.
 
sathomasga
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My initial reaction was the same as @Donn Chambers, the lume boundaries seem really crisp for Tritium and there are no "T"s enclosing "Swiss Made." But a quick google search turns up lots of examples exactly like the OP's photos, so I agree with @Vercingetorix, nothing to worry about. And to the OP, yes, Omega did switch from Tritium to SuperLuminova, I believe around 1999. So you can find examples of this reference with either.
 
lalaji
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sathomasga sathomasga
My initial reaction was the same as @Donn Chambers, the lume boundaries seem really crisp for Tritium and there are no "T"s enclosing "Swiss Made." But a quick google search turns up lots of examples exactly like the OP's photos, so I agree with @Vercingetorix, nothing to worry about. And to the OP, yes, Omega did switch from Tritium to SuperLuminova, I believe around 1999. So you can find examples of this reference with either.
Thanks for the replies. I also googled and saw some tritium pieces with similar color and also without "T". But what bothers me more is the size of the lume. Especially the at two o'clock.

But the seller is able to provide full set with warranty card. He also showed me a service paper although there is no serial number linking it to the watch.
 
Jakeys
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sathomasga sathomasga
My initial reaction was the same as @Donn Chambers, the lume boundaries seem really crisp for Tritium and there are no "T"s enclosing "Swiss Made." But a quick google search turns up lots of examples exactly like the OP's photos, so I agree with @Vercingetorix, nothing to worry about. And to the OP, yes, Omega did switch from Tritium to SuperLuminova, I believe around 1999. So you can find examples of this reference with either.

I have a 1998 serial 2541.80 with Super-LumiNova. My understanding was that the transition occurred around late 1997 to early 1998. It is plausible OP's watch is one of the last tritium models, most likely manufactured around the cutover and sold in October 1998, seller is probably dating it off the warranty card.

Agree with your assessment that tritium T markings are not required on the dial and the tritium was applied inconsistently back in the day, so I definitely think it's possible OP's dial is original. The hands are service replacements, obviously.
 
lalaji
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Jakeys Jakeys
I have a 1998 serial 2541.80 with Super-LumiNova. My understanding was that the transition occurred around late 1997 to early 1998. It is plausible OP's watch is one of the last tritium models, most likely manufactured around the cutover and sold in October 1998, seller is probably dating it off the warranty card.

Agree with your assessment that tritium T markings are not required on the dial and the tritium was applied inconsistently back in the day, so I definitely think it's possible OP's dial is original. The hands are service replacements, obviously.
I asked the seller about the services he did for the watch. He said the hands were replaced. So my only concern is the dial. The lume just looks a bit too narrow. But I wonder if there is any fake or cooked dial on omega just like Rolex does.
 
dsio
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I have seen lume like that on early ones in the past, the early 90's examples were not really Omega's best work and there's quite a bit of variance, if you search for 2541.80 and specify a year like 1993 1994 in the search you'll see some very similar examples with rough looking shrunken lume. Goldeneye hadn't even come out yet when these watches initially launched and Omega was still somewhat of a basket case having just come back from the brink of bankruptcy in the 80s.
 
Vinz Clortho
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Think it's the replacement hands make it more noticeable, but looking at the rest of the dots, the top four are smaller than the bottom four.

Here's my 2351.80 with some variances in the lume dots. Never noticed it before due to the early luminova not fading like the tritium. But it has the normal sun fading from years of wear.

20240825_144237.webp
 
Vinz Clortho
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During that time period, fake Rolexes were being cranked out like candy, but very few if any Omega SMPs since it was a newer design at the time. The factories didn't have the bandwidth or technology to crank out a decent replica in short order. And there wasn't the colored lume options like there are today.

From the looks of it, think OPs dial is legit and made during the transition period when they still had some tritium lume but the newer dial stock.
 
Jakeys
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Vinz Clortho Vinz Clortho
made during the transition period when they still had some tritium lume but the newer dial stock.

I don't think it's a transitional dial, I can't find a single early 90's SMP photo online with tritium T markings on the dial. They all just say "Swiss Made". It doesn't seem like they ever designated it on the dial.
 
lalaji
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Vinz Clortho Vinz Clortho
During that time period, fake Rolexes were being cranked out like candy, but very few if any Omega SMPs since it was a newer design at the time. The factories didn't have the bandwidth or technology to crank out a decent replica in short order. And there wasn't the colored lume options like there are today.

From the looks of it, think OPs dial is legit and made during the transition period when they still had some tritium lume but the newer dial stock.
Thank you all for the valuable feedback. I asked the seller for more picture on the dial before I pull the trigger. Unfortunately, the seller wasn't very friendly and declined my ask as he thinks the watch is not that expensive for him to take additional photos for me.

Kinna turn me off on the purchase, I will just shop for another one.
 
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