Having lusted over a PO 8900 for months, I plucked up the courage to buy a black one a couple of months ago.

I have to be honest, I've not completely bonded with it. I find in certain lights it's absolutely stunning, but in other harsher lights I think the dial and the bezel looks a bit of a mess.

If you look at a lot of the pictures people post online, it's of the light reflecting perfectly off the dial, which gives it a really mirrored look, and it looks incredible. But all too often the light doesn't hit the dial in this way. I find 9 times out of 10, if you're indoors, in natural light it looks nice, but as soon as you're in or near a brighter light source say by a window, or outdoors or in harsh electric light it just doesn't look anywhere near as good.

Anyone noticed this?

Here's a couple of pics I've just taken which kind of show the point, but I think sometimes the dial looks even worse tbh.

Nice light:


Brighter light, and not catching the dial nicely:



I know there's not a lot I can really do about this, but it makes me in 2 minds whether I want to keep the watch, which may sound a bit mad to some perhaps, but can't help the way I feel!

What's other people's view on this, is it something you've noticed? Am I mad? Should I just keep wearing the watch and see how I feel about it in another 6 months time?

 

If it doesn’t resonate with you, flip it.

 

I think it's not mad at all. I have that with all my watches - I know in what light conditions my watches look good/bad. Bright light often emphasizes issues, especially in vintage watches. My recommendation would be to live with it and have that in mind while deciding which watch to wear on a given day

 

I can completely understand how you feel. I was feeling this regarding my SLA017 which I had bought first hand from a dealer when it was released. Amazing watch and I think sometimes, you can get caught up in the waves of reviews (good or bad) and its hard to find your feet sometimes.

some watches ring with others, some don't. There isn't a right or wrong, and thats the beauty of the hobby; you evolve and learn what you like and keep those.

 

Do you think you would have liked the last generation's matte dial more?

 

Have had mine a few weeks now and totally happy with the look - all the time.

 

Yeah possibly to be honest. I also have a Seiko Sea Urchin as a daily beater, which has a matte dial and no AR (as far as I can tell). I actually really like it, I don't mind the reflections off the crystal one bit on that tbh, and I think the dial looks great for what it is. It almost makes me want to try a Rolex GMT or Sub, but I can't justify their prices at all now, they've become a joke!

 

I honestly have the same trouble with my LMLE – on-wrist it looks phenomenal, but as the case with any Planet Oceans with the highly reflective ceramic dial, they're super-challenging to photograph. Just have to be ok how it looks to you on your wrist, and not how it looks through a camera lens – that's all that should really matter.

 

If you’re still in the market for a diver, perhaps you should consider the prior generation of the SMPc with the high gloss black or blue resin dial. It’s still available new from many grey market dealers and the dial looks spectacular in just about any light.

 

I thought I was the only one, but I feel like most watches are like this? Indoors my PO looks kind dull, but outdoors it is a beauty because of the light.

also getting scratches on the AR is annoying and I wish Omega would just put AR on the inside of the watch crystal.

 

Something like this is when the light catches well, it mostly happens in dawn or overcast weather

 

I think the 8500 PO, especially with orange numerals and matte dial looks pretty good in almost all lighting. The main reason I sold my SMPc was because the glossy dial only looked really good in a few types of lighting. The 8500 PO almost always looked good to me. I really wish I didn’t sell it

 

That's the problem, often when I look at it on my wrist, especially when out in the sun l dislike the look of it... I find myself tilting it to catch the light nicely, which is silly really!

 

Funny you should say that, if you look at some of my other posts, I actually do have one! I also bought it quite recently (although it's my 2nd, I had one a few years ago that I sold), and I actually find it has the same issue. I realise that does beg the question why did I buy another? Well... It was a good price and I thought I'd give it another shot! Before the year is out maybe I'll have neither...

 

That's interesting to hear you say that... It ties in with my previous post about having this and the SMPc and feeling the same way about both. I can see me punting the SMPc on again pretty soon, and keeping the PO for a bit longer to see if I change my mind about it. I'm finding it so polarising, it's very frustrating... When it looks good I'm like wow, I can see why I bought this, then in other lights I actually prefer my Seiko! The Seiko is also a lovely size on my wrist, it has great proportions, whereas the PO is certainly a bulky beast. Sometimes I love the wrist presence, but other times the weight and bulk of it can get tiresome... Its certainly not the most comfortable watch I've owned!

 

Same here. I have the 8900 blue and in some harsh light I really don't like the way the dial catches the light, it seems really flat and removes all the depth out the dial. If only a Matt blue dial variant was available on the 8900 series.

I'll probably move mine on soon because of this, otherwise it would have been a perfect watch. Mind you, I've always had a thing for matt dials like the tudors.

Q: which is the last series of PO that came with Matt dial? Is it the 2500 ?

 

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Sorry, misread the question , thought you asked which was last of 2500 to come with the Matt dial.

 

No, I believe its the previous gen PO's, which have the 8500 movement. They had ceramic bezels but matte dials I believe.

 

I guess that I still don’t see it. Here’s a full sun photo of my SMPc that I took this morning. The dial still looks stunning to me. Well, to each his own, I guess!

 

I think the issue is quite hard to describe and catch in photos, although I have seen more PO 8900 pics showing the issue than SMPc.

It's not just the dial, it's the reflections off the silver portions of the applied markers and omega logo as well. The double AR does a great job of keeping the majority of reflections off the crystal, but can't do anything about harsh light reflecting off these other surfaces. It's when this is happening I think the dial looks at its worst, as even the orange of the Seamaster looks washed out and not legible etc.