New Member - Seamaster Rubber Strap Question

I’m UK based but live in Europe probably half of the year.

As a long time fan of Omega, I’ve had a Constellation for years and years.

As well as the Constellation I’ve a couple of other watches, all of which I enjoy wearing day to day rather than keeping under glass as investments.

I’ve long hankered after a Seamaster and now find myself in a position to be able to consider one. I was in SE Asia earlier this year and bought a fairly good copy of 42mm Seamaster on a rubber strap to try it out and see if I could get on with wearing it day to day. Suffice to say, even though it is a copy, I love the look and feel and am convinced that I want the real deal.

My question here is this twofold:

My wrist measures 19cm (about 7.5 inches)

On the standard rubber strap which is 114mm / 76mm I wear it fastened on its widest position, i.e. the hole nearest the triangular hole.

I’m thinking I’m going to need the longer 134mm / 96mm strap, which by my rough measuring would put me on about the fourth hole from the triangle.

Question 1 is this: What is the common / accepted way to wear a rubber strap, is the 4th hole too much ‘overhang’?

Question 2 if I can get hold of the longer strap, 032CVZ010485, could I mix and match this with the standard strap to make a hybrid strap more suited to my wrist size

Many thanks in advance for any opinions or advice

Welcome to the forum.

I think I understand what you're asking. For what it's worth I personally would prefer wearing the watch on a smaller strap, using the last hole (therefore with minimal excess) to wearing it on a longer strap (with lots of excess). But that's just down to personal choice.

I don't think there's a widely accepted "right" answer here. Having a long overhang (four holes) is totally fine; that's what the keeper-loops are for. But it will bulk up the strap quite a bit, with a longer expanse of double-width.

As for mixing and matching, I don't see why not: both straps (unless I'm mistaken) use the same tang buckle (or deployant clasp, if that's what you're after), meaning they taper exactly the same from the lugs to the buckle. That said, doing this could mean the buckle ends up sitting somewhere other than the center-point of the underside of your wrist---I'm not sure.

Do be advised, in case you don't know: if you buy a second strap, it will not come with the hardware (buckle): that's a separate, expensive purchase. But it's easy enough to transfer the buckle from the original one to the longer one---as with removing the strap from the watch, it's just a matter of using your springbar tool.

Once you've got the real thing, consider posting a video of yourself destroying the fake one with a sledgehammer.

2: yes you can mix and match absolutely.

Does your fake strap not have the associated internal tab keeper for the triangular hole? That makes overhang largely unimportant.

Many thanks for your advice on this.

I think I'll buy the watch with the standard strap and then look for the longer strap to try a 'mix and match', noting that the buckle may not sit centrally.

Looking around, the original Omega rubber straps on their own don't seem to be an unreasonable price, so its worth trying. I can always offer whatever I don't want for sale, or just keep it in case I have a sudden growth spurt or shrink a bit in my old age 😀

Next step is to source a watch, I don't think I'll be buying in the UK so am looking around at Airport Duty Free, Tax Free, or Chrono24 seems a popular market place.

At current rate I don't think my fake has long to live, it is falling to bits already. It has however served its purpose in that has assured me that I'd be comfortable wearing this type and size of watch on a rubber strap on a day to day basis