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

JwRosenthal
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Davidt Davidt
I think their SM120 is undervalued and they’re a great watch. However, it’s certainly a watch where it pays to take your time, set a sensible budget and buy a good example from the start rather than a doer upper as 1) many of the parts are no longer available, and 2) as they’re skin divers, they can look rough especially with water damage and mouldy lume.
It’s not enough to find a complete/original example, it needs to be attractive too. This one isn’t one I’d be chasing unless it was dirt cheap.
Shame about the case polish. It looks like that was done recently and I’ll bet it looked better before
Yup- was probably a decent beater before they tarted it up- original bracelet and all. Many here would have handed over $1.5k in a heartbeat for it without them doing a thing- but now they have ruined it. Like cleaning up your 18th century sideboard with mineral spirits and steel wool before taking it on Antuiques roadshow. :whipped:
 
HadgeBadge
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Davidt Davidt
I think their SM120 is undervalued and they’re a great watch. However, it’s certainly a watch where it pays to take your time, set a sensible budget and buy a good example from the start rather than a doer upper as 1) many of the parts are no longer available, and 2) as they’re skin divers, they can look rough especially with water damage and mouldy lume.
It’s not enough to find a complete/original example, it needs to be attractive too. This one isn’t one I’d be chasing unless it was dirt cheap.
Shame about the case polish. It looks like that was done recently and I’ll bet it looked better before

Yes, once those I saw those clearer images the case polishing was very evident. Nothing one can do to reverse that. I didn't realise until now that the hands were so difficult to replace.
 
JwRosenthal
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HadgeBadge HadgeBadge
Yes, once those I saw those clearer images the case polishing was very evident. Nothing one can do to reverse that. I didn't realise until now that the hands were so difficult to replace.
I got “lucky” on mine. My case and dial were in decent shape but hands had been replaced with white slender Speedmaster style hands (which I have seen on a couple others- I suspect that they were factory service replacements at one time before they did another run of the correct style hands). I waited months and posted a WTB and someone answered it. They had a 120 that had been sent back to the factory for service and still had the bag of parts that had been replaced. We settled on a price for them and it wasn’t cheap (he knew what he had). Luckily the lume color was a dead match for mine. After a year of tracking down the hands, the factory bracelet from another member here and a full service (which included almost every wearable part in the watch)- I was into it for more than I paid. So my “bargain” turned out to be not so much a bargain.
 
C
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Hello everyone. I'm considering this 135.027, asking price is 1355EUR. According to the seller it has been serviced.
What do you guys think, is it a fair price? I've tried to read through the thread and to my untrained eye the watch looks good, I'm just a bit unsure about the lume, especially the lume dot on the bezel. Looks a bit too good, considering the watch is 50 years old.

front.jpeg movement.jpg crystal.jpeg
 
front_dark.jpeg side.jpg back.jpeg
sonicosa
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C chatastropher
Hello everyone. I'm considering this 135.027, asking price is 1355EUR. According to the seller it has been serviced.
What do you guys think, is it a fair price? I've tried to read through the thread and to my untrained eye the watch looks good, I'm just a bit unsure about the lume, especially the lume dot on the bezel. Looks a bit too good, considering the watch is 50 years old.

front.jpeg movement.jpg crystal.jpeg

Serviced or not, for €1,355, I’d jump on that.
 
JwRosenthal
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sonicosa sonicosa
Serviced or not, for €1,355, I’d jump on that.
Agreed- that’s a nice one for a good price, but why do think I’ve seen that one before?
Not just the strap but the nick in the crystal at 6.
 
KaiseRRuby
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sonicosa sonicosa
Quick pic of my latest addition.

IMG_2574.webp

Really cool watch, also the bracelet fits well. Still wondering why some of these watches rock a black date wheel and some a white date wheel.
 
ZWD
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would love to get some opinions on this example:

the caseback looked like one of the early examples posted on the first page of this topic by Blacksharpie - but doesnt match most that I see.
eBay authenticated it but i wanted to see what people here thought. Not enough views of the crown and side, but will upload more pictures when it arrives.

IMG_3513.webp IMG_3512.webp IMG_3511.webp IMG_3510.webp
 
ZWD
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Davidt Davidt
It’s fake
hi Davidt thank you for the reply. would you mind expanding on what you believe to be fake about this? the Caseback was the onlything that stood out as suspect. thanks!
 
S
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Thanks for this thread, it saved me from buying one of several fakes, or at least one of several watches with reproduction components (mainly bezels). I've ruled out probably a dozen or more as a result, it seems the market is totally saturated with them. I'm new to Omegas (and this board as a result), and watches for that matter, so it was really helpful.

I'm not totally against replacement bezels, but it seems like values are all over the board and I'm not keen on paying the value of an original for one with a bunch of replacement/reproduction components.

I am curious what the market is doing on these. Back in May a post indicated ~2k is fair value, but it seems like the very few I can find with original bezels, dials, and cases are going for 3-4k right now. Those with fake components anywhere from 1800-2800. Is that the direction these are going or am I just hitting the market at the wrong time?

I'm also curious what you all think about wear on the outside of the bezel, some of the ones I look at - the wear almost seems too symmetrical. Is this from owners using the dial or why does this wear on the finish seem really consistent in some, inconsistent in others, and entirely absent in some others?
 
kaplan
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There was an all original one, no date*, blued bezel, awesome condition on eBay for $1700 just today

If those are the numbers you see, you’re not looking
 
S
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kaplan kaplan
There you go: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Omega-Seam...pid=5338899135&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

Screenshot 2025-01-28 at 05.03.42.webp
Fair, yes I did see this one - sadly he won't ship outside EU (I'm in the US).

I guess I was trying to get a feel for where the value range for these should be. If ~$2k is still the case and the others are asking too much then I'll just hold out, but I wasn't sure what range to expect from what I've seen so far
 
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kaplan
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Easy to solve that problem if you want that watch, you can pm me and I can suggest a forwarder

I've even seen sub $1k - but $1k-$2k seems to be the norm, closer to 1
 
S
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kaplan kaplan
Easy to solve that problem if you want that watch, you can pm me and I can suggest a forwarder

I've even seen sub $1k - but $1k-$2k seems to be the norm, closer to 1
Good to know, thanks. I'll send you a PM.
 
Davidt
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Imo you’re not getting a good/very good one for $2k. An average/running one yes, but not a good one, with bracelet.

The good ones I’ve sold in the last year or two have been around £2200 give or take which is around $2700-2800 (with bracelet).

Interestingly, interest and demand seems to have spiked for these over the last few months so I think value for a good or very good one with bracelet could be approaching $3k.
 
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