Omega Aqua Terra 38 vs 38.5

Hey guys, I am about to purchase my first omega watch, I am stuck between a new 38m vs a 38.5m in excellent condition (blue color with horizontal or vertical lines stainless steel), if money is not an issue for any price differences which would you choose and why? My wrist is 6.5 inches for reference. I am mainly stuck because of the movement as although 8800 makes the watch 0.4mm thinner it looses 5 hours of power reserve and the jumping hour hand.

I don’t think the tiny variation in thickness or power reserve will make any practical difference to you.
The jumping hour hand is useful if you travel between time zones and want to adjust the watch without stopping the movement, but again, not a big factor for most.
Visually the watches are different due to the dials and position of the date window. I’d base my decision on this, as you’ll look at the dial a lot more often than you’ll adjust the hour hand.
Other factor, of course, is if the “new watch” factor is important to you. Do you want to be the first owner and have the whole experience, or just buy another watch for a collection?
You say it’s going to be your first Omega. I’d go brand new, everything else being equal.

I’ve owned both.

The Skyfall wears bigger, partly due to longer lug to lug and I let it go for that reason. I have similar wrist size to you…

Both gorgeous watches of course.

Here’s a photo of the one I kept.



Opti

I went for the 38.5 because I prefer the vertical teak pattern dial. The spacing between the "planks" is nice and even. If you look closely at the 38 dial, there are bigger gaps between every 3rd plank, which gives the dial a more uneven appearance. I've got wrists just over 6in diameter and I find that the 38.5's lug-to-lug of 44mm is small enough to comfortably fit within the outer margins of my wrist.

Is the date window black or blue?

Black