This was my Dad's watch. He bought it in Gibraltar in August 1958 on his first assignment after graduating from the US Naval Academy. He was a diving fanatic and used this watch for diving all over the Mediterranean--including an inspection of his ship when the commander suspected something was amiss. I have the original box, warranty booklet, and even the bag from the store all in great condition. Unfortunately, the bezel insert survived until he brought it over to me in Switzerland a few years ago! I didn't save the pieces thinking I could get a replacement. Yes, I know...I am kicking myself now. There has to be a way to travel back in time!

A few things I am wondering about:
1) From what my father told me, everything on the watch is original...does that match your analysis?
2) Would this watch have had a countdown dial since it is an early watch? I can't remember now if the original was or not.
3) Is it possible to transfer the bezel insert from one bezel to another? I would rather have the original bezel and an Aldo repair than a bezel from another watch with an original insert
4) This watch is not for sale (it was my Dad's), but of course I am curious about value...any ideas?

 

My opinion is this is the most valuable version of the early 300's. Everything looks in order coupled with your story. More pics would help. Values can be checked on the web by googling Seamaster 300 2913. Around $5K usd last time I looked but going up. There are plenty of people asking more. Since this one is all original, it will bring a solid number. Yes, too bad about the insert. Aldo is the best but takes 6 months + to finish. There is one guy making inserts out there but not sure of the quality. The original was made of bakelite. Aldo reproduces this. The other insert out there is made of aluminum so would be further from original. Count down or not? Your guess is as good as mine. If it was your fathers, I would even lean toward leaving it as is after service.............btw...........ask the forum the best place to send it to have serviced. Spare bezels in any condition are nearly impossible to find. I've been looking for years. You can't swap inserts, sadly. You are in Switzerland?
Great watch...............errrrrrrrrrrrrr..........timepiece.

 

Thanks redpcar. I lived in Zurich for 17 years, but just moved to Portugal. So Aldo's replacement is made of Bakelite? I guess with a layer of acrylic on top? I was just reading up on Bakelite. You can still buy bakelite sheets (brand name Micarta). Do you know if the numbers on the original bezel are inlays or printed? If they are printed, it wouldn't be too hard to silkscreen the numbers on a flat sheet then machine up a mold to press them into the right shape/bond the acrylic overlay. If that is what Aldo is doing, I wonder why it would take 6 months.

thanks again for the helpful feedback, John

 

I wear mine proudly with out insert , does not bother me as thats the way I found it...yours is a great looking piece , wear it proudly

 

Thanks guys! I will wear it proudly. If I don't find a good bezel insert solution, I will have no problems to wear it without an insert.

One question on Aldo's repair: from the pictures at the bottom of this thread, it looks like Aldo is filling in the bezel with liquid plastic rather than making a new Bakelite bezel insert. Is this true?

https://omegaforums.net/threads/rep...aster-300-model-2913-14755.24657/#post-273200

Given
1) how valuable these watches are,
2) how common the missing bezel insert problem is, and
3) how easy it would be to machine up a new press;

I can't believe no one is making proper replacement bezel inserts. If that's true, this is my first retirement project.

From the pictures I have found of the original bezel inserts, it seems that the numbers are painted on rather than inlaid and there is no acrylic overlay. Can someone confirm this?

Any idea how the numbers are applied? I can think of two possibilities:
1) they are painted on top of a flat bakelite insert
2) the numbers are pressed into the bakelite insert and the indented numbers are filled with paint and then sanded smooth.

I can't believe I threw out the bezel insert pieces!!!! I could be looking at them right now.

 

Beautiful watch!
No, your bezel is there, it's just missing the black colour and white numbers (see photo above).
The bezel inserts were not very rugged - most 2913's lost theirs years ago.
all you would need is for Aldo to restore the existing bezel.
$US5k is low. Could be double that or more, if the watch is original and comes with box and papers, as you say.

 

in case you are interested:

http://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/pdf-hell/article-moulding-bakelite.pdf

 

Beautiful Heirloom you have there.

 

i think 5k is low as well, lunar oyster has one for 10K, the bezel insert missing is a value loss of a couple grand , but you have box and papers which are probably worth a couple grand,
have looked long and hard for a bezel insert, but aldo seems like the only option, i have seen a bezel with insert come for sale on one of the forums over the last couple of years, I think they were asking 4K

 

If you could share a picture of the caseback...and if possible open the watch and tell us the serial number and the reference no. in the caseback, then I could give you some more precise answers.
But if it was bought in the summer of 1958, my guess would be a 2913-3. And on those a lollipop could be ok, but they are usually seen on the later 2913's. And the 2913-3 could have both count down and count forward bezels. And they came with either the BA hands like yours or the arrow minute hand like on MSNwatch's. And furthermore the caseback also came in two versions. So the 2913-3 subreference is the transitional of the 2913's ;-)
And if you care to post/share pictures of papers and box, that could also help narrow down answers, value etc.
Nice Watch! Enjoy...

 

Here's one of my original bezels below. I'm not 100% sure of the old production process, but I don't think they were handmade. The bakelite inlay was "pressed" down on the bezel and "baked". Numbers applied after. If you don't have the old forms/machines the correct concave shape of the inlay is quite hard to make. Even Aldo's are not concave in shape.
Below mine is an example of some recently chinese made ones - inlay made of aluminum and glued on.

 

Thanks alot Kox! I have posted some pictures for you. Unfortunately I don't have the watch in front of me, so I can't open the case back. The guarantee booklet lists a movement # and a case #. What is the standard practice for listing those numbers? Is there any concern of somebody using those numbers?

Regarding the bakelite insert: my understanding is that it would have started life as a flat sheet of bakelite then would have been pressed (with a fairly high pressure and at a high temperature) into the correct shape in a mold rather than in the watch itself. If the numbers are just painted on, making a new mold would be ridiculously easy on a CNC lathe. Does it look like there is a layer of clear plastic on top of the numbers?

edit: I see what you're saying now: the bezel was used as the lower half of the mold during the shaping process. My recollection of the insert fragments when I had them is that the bezel insert was thin like paper, so the mold would would have had to have been concave on one side and convex on the other.

 

No standard practice as such. But most hide the last digits in public. But the 4 first digits of the serial would also be enough for me. You can also just PM them to me.

Exactly! That's also why the numbers are "bent" on the original inlays. The follow the concave shape.

 

The 1st 4 digits of the case number are: 1552

thanks again! John

 

Ok. That's very interesting. A bit earlier than I've seen before. Now I'm really looking forward to see more pictures of caseback and the inside.

 

Toobs,
Cracking watch with the provenance and ephemera.
One other aspect of having Aldo do a bezel is that you have to send him yours to work on. I'd personally keep yours as is and maybe search for a donor bezel to send and have done. then you could swap the second bezel in to wear it and keep the original one safe?
Cheers,
Buster

 

Understood. I'd make this the retirement project, to find one that does fit, then have that restored. Otherwise if that weren't feasible, I'd cherish the watch as is.
Cheers,
Buster