Omega Seamaster 300, caliber 552, circa 1965

This is a restoration I did about 3 years ago and posted at another web site. I have reworked the posting and thought it should be here.

Now there are some purists out there who might say don’t touch the watch, and sourcing original period parts is almost impossible these days, but it had to be done!

- the watch arrived with a non movable bezel. The bezel luminous had turned a nice deep rust brown but was it rust or age that turned it brown? I will let you be the judge ;-)

- crystal was really scratched up.

- hands had been BADLY resumed.

- case back was deeply attacked by pliers.

- dial lume completely oxidized.

- the hermetic case did its job and as a result the movement was in perfect un-oxidized condition

So other than a watch movement service what to do? Well it is for me so I secured the following:

- New stock bezel, bezel retaining spring, three bearing springs, three sapphire bearings, case back. New bracelet and crown. Of course all new gaskets.

The dial was sent for a redial however, it turns out that only the lume was in bad condition. A new process was applied to the dial and the lume was removed leaving the dial in its original condition. Only the lume has been replaced, not the silk screened script or indices . Turns out that the Seamaster dial of the period, as with other high end dials were not painted black. They were chemically treated to become black wherever the font screening was not applied. Black paint of the time suffered from UV degradation and pealed, sort of like K cars from the 80’s!

So on the dial what you see is the original black dial which is re-lumed in an antique luminova with the hands lumed to match.

All original case parts were kept. The crystal was polished using 600 grit, 1200 grit and 2400 grit wet dry ()using wet soap solution) finished with a plastic polish and is original. The hands were polished and there was corrosion therefore I nickle plated and polished them before lume was added to match the dial.

So to the pictures:

Before picture as it arrived ($400 USd):



The bezel required pliers and a flat case knife to remove! It was not salvageable but I still have it.



The new bezel unfortunately it does not come with an aged patina, but beggars can’t be choosers and this was all that was available:



Case with bezel removed, note the notched rust. This is actually the remnants of the bezel retaining spring which rust welded the bezel to the case:



Once the bezel was removed I de-rusted mechanically and with chemicals; exposing the three holes used for the springs and sapphire bearings. The holes were drilled out and only one spring was found:



New springs and sapphire bearings:



New bezel retaining spring:



Case was resurfaced by hand trying to maintain the sharp edges. Not all the nicks were removed as that would have involved too much material being removed. The object was to make the watch look 50 years old but cared for:



Case back with plier marks:



I tried to resurface the original case back but ended up securing a NOS replacement:



Movement removed showing luminous oxidization and badly lumed hands:



Hands showing corrosion and bad water based lumpy lume:



All the new parts:



Here is the crystal after polishing, the omega symbol is there and the scratches are dust on the crystal. It is perfect and being a Seamaster 300 it was very thick allowing for a good resurfacing and polishing:



The case restored and awaiting for the movement:





And now the before and after:





Please ignore the Seiko placard 😉





So there you go, I finally got a Seamaster 300 on my wrist!

Hope you enjoy

Geoff

Okay, the bezel is totally wrecked, it was welded to the case by the retaining spring. The stainless portion was rusted through and unrepairable. The plastic covering the lume was cracked in 5 places. I still have it, but there is no retaining groove for the spring to reside in as it rusted away.

The case back has been retained is resides in the original display box. It can be replaced at any time but I prefer to wear the new one as it was deformed by some idiot and a pair of pliers, this insures better water resistance.

The dial is original:

_____________

“The dial was sent for a redial however, it turns out that only the lume was in bad condition. A new process was applied to the dial and the lume was removed leaving the dial in its original condition. Only the lume has been replaced, not the silk screened script or indices . Turns out that the Seamaster dial of the period, as with other high end dials were not painted black. They were chemically treated to become black wherever the font screening was not applied. Black paint of the time suffered from UV degradation and pealed, sort of like K cars from the 80’s!”

“So on the dial what you see is the original black dial which is re-lumed in an antique luminova with the hands lumed to match.”

______________

Part of the description before the pictures.

Cheers

No problem! I was really pleased that I got to keep the original dial and only had to have the lume replaced.

Looks great. I can't help wonder however what it would look like with the original bezel which I have a liking for. Wear in good health.

Unfortunately the original bezel was welded to the case by the rusted retaining spring. I agree the bezel in place now is to “new looking”, ie, no patina. The original bezel is unusable from a physical standpoint. I soaked the case for 2 weeks in rust remover to try and remove it without damaging it or the case. I had to resort to a case knife and my attempt to pry it off without deforming it was futile. In fact the inner lip that the retaining spring sits in is rotted away.

Still have it but it cannot be salvaged.

The notched rust is actually the combined rust from the bezel retaining spring and the bezel lip that the spring resides in holding the bezel to the case:



Here is a photo of the relationship of new bezel and retaining spring. The spring and notches in the bezel were rotted and the bezel would never have worked in place again.

Great job, looks very nice, well done 👍. I’d use the bezel as a key ring...

I agree and an aged bezel would be appropriate and look nicer. Yes, should have mentioned that the parts are new stock not new old stock. I do try to restore original parts and then source NOS parts but sometimes new parts are required. The original case back is still with the watch, you can see it in photo of the new parts, it is the lower case back. It is just not on it at the moment but will stay with the watch. The font and sea monster are slightly different sizes between the original and the new stock.

Wow nice work. Congrats

Looks great! Really enjoyed the before and after photos.

Very nice looking SM 300 now, great job and wear in good health 👍

Curious why you didn’t just change the crystal? New seals better and as far as I know, looks identical.

Did you get a new crown gasket into the crown as well?

Tom

Looks great - lots of work and care went into reviving this one.

I hope you’re very pleased with yourself - I know I would be! 👍

I re-stuffed the original crown with new gasket and silicone grease. The original crystal, after polishing just to see if it could be done, pressure tested perfectly. Since I am not using this as a dive watch, but a daily wearer, the original Omega crystal was just fine.

Cheers