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My Early Seamaster 120 Divers. What to look for and what to avoid.

COYI
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I agree with what @Davidt has said.
Subject to the limited amount of photos posted it looks like a pretty decent example of a 165.027. This happens to be my personal favourite out of the four Seamaster 120 models - automatic movement without the date complication - and is generally thought to be the hardest model to find. It is also worth noting that it has the lumed seconds hand which is not seen very often.
Is it possible to get a photo of the movement (should be cal.552)?

A Seamaster 120 would certainly be a very nice first vintage watch subject to getting one for a fair price relative to the condition and whether it has had a proper service or not.
Edited:
 
Archer
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palatine palatine
IS this ladies 565.007 correct? Print on the dial is faint but apart from that I think it may be ok.
I bought it years ago for my then missus but upgraded her to a speedy. Been lay in the watch box for a decade since

23454EE6-0915-4EBE-9F19-A7A5933D2E6E.jpeg 9D40BAC4-8339-4381-A854-634483F0AAE7.jpeg FA2345B9-556B-4722-AE41-F533FB35F50D.jpeg 22DC5B48-B9E7-41F7-A890-C120C751B024.png

Well, Cal. 684 is a movement with a calendar, so as this is a no date dial, something is certainly off...this should have a Cal. 671.
 
COYI
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Archer Archer
Well, Cal. 684 is a movement with a calendar, so as this is a no date dial, something is certainly off...this should have a Cal. 671.

Also the dial is missing the text 'Automatic'.
 
Archer
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COYI COYI
Also the dial is missing the text 'Automatic'.

Indeed - I wasn't sure if the smaller dials had this, but I looked up the dial for this and yes it should have Automatic on it as well. Good catch.
 
watchswede
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Hi, I just got this beautiful sm120 yesterday. Everything looks legit to my eyes, but Im wondering if the movement starting with 25xxxxxx is okey? Cal 565 of course 😀 Also, mine came ona 7912 64/2 #6 braclet and endlinks, is that period correct?

IMG_7694.jpg
 
JwRosenthal
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Gumby01 Gumby01
Thanks.
These were sold as a "kit" for a little while. The first give away is the ight grey text- it should be bold white. When you start looking at the details compared to real ones you see the differences.
 
kaplan
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Hey everyone, nice thread, ty

Ever since I saw a 120, I want one, I discovered it's a small ladies watch (Edit: I guess the Ladies version is different? It's confusing), I still want one - for some reason it's indeed a highly faked watch ...

(First one I saw, sold for 830$'s - I didn't pull the trigger because it had a makeshift seconds hand, for some reason they used a minutes hand of another watch as a sweeping seconds hand for this watch - honestly, It wasn't a bad price for a simple seconds hand replacement job)

Anyway, the reason I'm posting: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-OM...atch-17-J-Stainless-No-Bezel-563/224206579918

^ What's up with this watch? - It looks good to me, but the original model number is carved on, and "1 6 6 . 0 2 7" is manually carved under as an addition

I was thinking of buying this, a bezel, a bezel ring etc. - however, if the model number is makeshift, maybe the case won't accept a bezel if it's a failed frankestein
Edited:
 
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X350 XJR
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Where do you think you will find a bezel?
 
kaplan
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X350 XJR X350 XJR
Where do you think you will find a bezel?

Honestly I'll probably just use an aftermarket one, If it had an original bezel, it would be a museum piece for me anyway

Reading the thread further, I discovered there is a Ladies size and Mens size? So the second hand bezel on eBay is for the Ladies one?
 
sonicosa
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It certainly will be a failed franken if you buy it and put a fake bezel on it.
 
JwRosenthal
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sonicosa sonicosa
It certainly will be a failed franken if you buy it and put a fake bezel on it.
Franken or not- has anyone seen a bezel (non Omega) that actually fits these watches? Mine is fine but I’m always paranoid about what I would do if I lost a bezel.
We don’t need to get into the whole fake parts thing- this is a NLA part from Omega so we are left to our own devices. If Omega didn’t have service bezels for Speedies, we see a clamor for a replacement elsewhere.
 
hmmmcamu
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just my 2 cents .. CASE BACK ... original case ref# is scratched off ... in its place a hand scribbled replacement for the case ref# ... food for thought ...
 
sonicosa
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
Franken or not- has anyone seen a bezel (non Omega) that actually fits these watches? Mine is fine but I’m always paranoid about what I would do if I lost a bezel.
We don’t need to get into the whole fake parts thing- this is a NLA part from Omega so we are left to our own devices. If Omega didn’t have service bezels for Speedies, we see a clamor for a replacement elsewhere.

I can only provide my perspective / experience, which is going to wade into the whole fake parts thing you said we didn't need to get into, so forgive me that.

As someone who got suckered by one of those fake SM120 kits a couple years ago, I can say with certainty that I couldn't enjoy wearing fake parts that are sold / marketed as genuine, as all the modern recreations I've seen have been. I was even able to source a genuine Omega dial from another OF member, but I wound up taking the whole thing apart and plan to use the movement I had sourced and possibly the genuine dial in other projects. (I've got a 135.027 that I believe was relumed, and I might use the dial I sourced to replace that existing dial. Will post pics later, I'm interested in other's thoughts.)

If there was a bezel available for these models that was marketed as aftermarket like Uncle Seiko's bracelets, so they weren't tainted with the intent to deceive, I think it would be a different story. But in terms of what we currently have at our disposal, I found out the hard way that it's a hard pass for me.

Somewhat ironically regarding your comment about paranoia around losing a bezel, I knocked the bezel off my Admiralty last night on a door jam. It was a little disheartening to think how easily it would have been lost if I were out and about somewhere.
 
W
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kaplan kaplan
Honestly I'll probably just use an aftermarket one, If it had an original bezel, it would be a museum piece for me anyway

Reading the thread further, I discovered there is a Ladies size and Mens size? So the second hand bezel on eBay is for the Ladies one?

Coming from someone who has been looking for a bezel for a watch I inherited for 6+ months now.. I can tell you that the ladies size bezels show up from time to time however the full-size version do not. There is one on ebay right now that is literally broken at the pip with a case, stem and crown for $1300 USD but I wouldn't even consider that one. Even if you could get it laser welded, according to quite a few posts it would likely break again on installation.

If you do decide to go the route of a bezel-less watch just make sure to get the measurements on any bezel before you buy it. It will also need the bezel spring to hold it onto the case. Not sure if the spring is available, I've been unable to find an omega part number for it.

As for the aftermarket kits - they show up all the time on ebay and etsy, they will not part with just the bezel (I asked out of curiosity). Unfortunately if you do go this route you're encouraging the creation of black-market parts... which hurts this hobby (just my humble opinion). The amount of fake kits out there is quite unfortunate, I imagine there are quite a few folks walking around thinking they have a legit watch only to have been duped.
 
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