hi; First ever post, so please go easy on me! Have a few nice watches, but my daily beater was an Old pre bond Seamaster. It keeps outstanding time, has dives all over the world with me, and has never let me down...... but compared to others in my collection, it is starting to look it’s age and needs a bit of TLC. I HATE the bracelet, so the obvious option is to replace it for a NATO. But the fittings make this impossible! Has anyone magaged it, or adapted it? I found someone did in an old previous post and fitted it to a nato and it looked pretty cool..... but he seems to have disappeared from here now, and I am unable to find him to ask him! Regards Dan
That's quite a well looked after watch, great job on that. As for the NATO conversion, did you have a link to the old post? I have a feeling that the watch in that previous post was modded or adapted somehow because looking at the picture in your thread it seems like the bracelet has a very small gap for attachment. My solution would be to remove the bracelet and widen the gap where it attaches, so you can comfortably fit a NATO strap through it and under the watch. It isn't the best solution and I don't know how fragile the bar which holds the bracelet to the watch is, but it would work. Other than that I'm out of ideas, I'm sure other members will come up with better solutions however.
Thanks...... Here is the old thread; https://omegaforums.net/threads/nato-or-leather-straps-on-the-200m-seamaster.68531/
The member was called https://omegaforums.net/members/tchipchase.24453/ But he seems to have vanished! Thanks for the compliment regarding how well looked after it is, but a different camera tells a different story!
Okay so, what I've noticed here is that in both photos of the thread that you linked that middle notch isn't used at all. Notice that lug area in red? I think it's using a ring or springbar of sorts which connects normally like how the bracelet does but then has a ring so the NATO can slip under and attach securely.. If that makes sense. It also looks like two separate pieces of metal at the lug. The orange ring shows the springbar/ring piece. The angle is a little weird but I can see the bar clearly going into the lugs, I think you need to remove the bracelet and get a ring which can attach to the bracelet and then use a NATO like normal. Not sure if I make sense there... Let me know in which case I'll clarify.
Ah I see.. Still for it's age it is good looking, it has the kind of wear which shows character and tells a story rather than abuse and neglect.
Cheers, I can see what you mean now. It’s almost like they have been bent back on themselves in order to make it hold the strap. Thanks for your help. Anyone out there actually this or similar for themselves?
Yeah, I’m suspecting the same as well. If I can find something small enough to use, may need to do a bit of DIY!
You could start with a large spring bar or wire and work from there, just bend it back to make the ring, twist the excess together, solder the two join points and clip off the excess. If the wire isn't strong enough once bent you could always harden it if it's good quality by heating it until it's red hot and then dipping it in water. Do that right and you'll have a solid attachment point.
Its just a loop of spring wire that fits into the outside of the drilled lug holes of these watches. Clever, but not rocket science.
Showing my ignorance...... but what don you mean by spring wire? Just thin bendable wire? And I take it the paper lip is a joke, even though it does seem the best size! And as for the pip, yeah, I bought it out in Australia many many years ago and the pip was lost during a dive and was just out of warranty and never bothered to get it replaced. This watch has never been for show, but was a true workhorse. It’s never been serviced, and has just had the battery replaced every time it needs it. It’s been down to 50/60 meters and at one point was going down 4 times a day, every day for weeks on end. I can literally recall where every scratch and dink came from, and that’s why it means so much to me. At the time, everyone was wearing big 90s seamasters, and this always got approval from them because nobody ever used these as proper dice watches. One of the big seamaster chaps was unfortunate to have the helium escape valve leak water into his! Now older and wiser, and more into watches, I have a vintage submariner, and a full size seamaster with the electric blue face. But I somehow don’t feel the submariner would hold up to such abuse, and the other seamaster is just too beautiful to scratch! I don’t dive anymore and it’s time it earned its rest. This is why I want to put in on a nato and continue to wear it now and again. I have tried to have a look for a bezel insert, but it actually needs the whole bezel replaced as they don’t have inserts on these. The quote for this is about £250, which is only slightly less than I paid for it back then! Thanks for the advice all...... I’ll put some time aside and have a play with it. Dan
Yes, the paper clip is a sort of in joke here, they can be used for everything from chronograph hammer springs to bracelet adapters. Because of the integrated design of your bracelet, if you go with the wire option it will look like crap. A suggestion, I don't know if it's feasible as I can't assess the watch for suitability, but just maybe............. If you know anybody with a machine shop, you could disassemble the movement and use a mill to extend the centre gap out to the edges, say out to 18mm wide, thus making two lugs, already with holes for standard springbars. Good luck with your beater, whatever you do with it.