I am new to the forum and interested in vintage Seamaster watches. I have purchased a few on eBay. I would like to learn more about assessing originality. Is anyone aware of a good book or resource out there on this subject?
Yup. And to get the best response. Ask questions that show you have at least tried to do research. don’t. What is a don? do I don’t understand the difference between a don and a DNN can you help?
For whatever it's worth—and I think this is distinct from the OP's Q—I'd love to know if there's any repository or database re: vintage Seamasters, specifically dress Seamasters. While the military/tool-built Seamasters are fairly well covered/understood, the dress ones aren't, that I can see. Constellations have been fairly well covered by Desmond's excellent site, but I know of no place that treats Seamasters the same. I would love to be pointed toward it, but I don't know of any resource that, for instance, has anything close to a comprehensive list of references, dial/hand/case variations, and movements, broken down by year, by progression/evolution/etc. I presume this lack's got to do with the huge variety of Seamasters, but still: I'd love to know, generally (not anecdotally, nor piecemeal, from Seamasters I've happened to own) what timelines exist. When was the 147XX case introduced, and how long did it go for? How many dial variants were there of reference 166.010? How about variances in 2848/2848s or 2849s, dials/hands/etc? OF has been an extraordinary resource for me over the last several years, and the general Speedy awareness built up by passionate collectors is incredible. But this particular topic (which happens to be where my horological heart lies) seems to be mostly not covered. There are collectors here who I presume know, through their own collections, just about all there is to know (@MSNWatch) about vintage dress seamasters, but, again, unless I'm missing something, there's no Seamaster101.com type resource a la @Spacefruit's Speedmaster101.com. To repeat: if such a resource exists and I've missed it, please feel free to point it out and have as much quarantined fun at my expense as possible.