I'm looking for a rubber strap for an SMP GMT I just acquired and I'm a bit confused about which rubber straps will fit.

Can anyone confirm if the 98000144 will fit the watch or if it's only compatible with the 98000085.

I'd love the ridged rubber with deployant but it's a bit pricey.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks.


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Rubber strap 98000144 is made for the Planet Ocean 2500 series and I very much doubt it will fit as well as rubber strap 98000085. Rubber strap 98000085 is made for the SMP 300 and it fits perfectly on the case. In appearance they look the same but the curved end hugging the case is slightly different. Mainly the hole for the spring bar in the strap does not align with the holes in the case lugs. These straps are made of a soft rubber and wear very comfortable on the wrist, I have one for my Seamasters myself. I have tried fitting a PO strap (not the 98000144) to my Seamaster with skinny spring bars but was not satisfied with the result.
I also have the double ridged rubber strap with butterfly clasp for the SMP. It indeed is expensive but well worth the money spent and wears very comfortable. I prefer deployant straps over straps with a tang buckle.

 

Thanks for the response. What should I expect to pay for the 98000085 and buckle from a UK AD, any idea?


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I am in Australia so no idea about pricing in the UK. Check eBay where there usually are some for sale worldwide, new or used. I bought mine on WUS.

 

I'm new here, but have registered to answer your question. I bought a 98000085 from an OB in London a couple of years ago for £140 which included buckle and spring bars. From the little research I did, OBs were better priced for straps than anywhere else. You can't pay by telephone, but you can by bank order and they will post.

 

There are three rubber straps listed for this watch head...

Blue sport - 97988082

Black sport - 97996082

Both these use clasp 94531803.

Then black padded rubber - 98000037

And it uses clasp 94521813.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks Al.
Maybe it is worth mentioning that black padded rubber strap 98000037 is not suitable for use in water.

 

In case anyone has similar questions to mine, I've since purchased a 98000085 black rubber strap for my 2534.50, from a regular high street AD.

I have paid £170 for the 98000085 strap with the buckle included in that price. Interestingly, the OB wanted an extra £36 for the buckle, whereas the AD includes it at no extra cost.

The alternative was the 97996082 ridged black rubber which takes the deployment (blue version also available as poster above mentions). The ridged strap was quoted at £170, but the deployment was an extra £240 for the old-style butterfly deployment. However, the OB told me that their newer single folding clasp is compatible and costs £170, which is considerably cheaper than the older butterfly option. The AD quotes the same prices but didn't seem to be aware of the cheaper clasp option.


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Glad you got what you wanted, though interesting that we found the opposite situations: the OB was cheaper when I bought mine, albeit a couple of years ago.

 

Indeed. Although results probably also depend to an extent on the individual who answers the call at the AD/OB. More surprising to me is how much more expensive other online sources seem to be when compared to both ADs and OBs. I would have thought the opposite. Good to know.


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Butterfly clasp on double ridged rubber is super comfortable!
Well worth 70 extra quid

 

It's a beauty alright. Very, very long though!


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That's what she said

 

Ha. Well, the same day I got a call to say the strap had arrived in store ready for collection, I had to take the watch back - suffering from what seems to be an issue affecting a number of 2534.50 GMTs, where the hour hand gets stuck at 10:00 due to a dodgy hour wheel. It's now in the workshop being resuscitated. I only had it about 12 days... [emoji16]


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Common failure on these - I replace the hour wheel assembly at every service...



Cheers, Al

 

Thanks very much for that. I did read your advice on this issue elsewhere and it was really useful in directing the store and their workshop as to what needs doing.

Can I ask - when you replace the hour wheel does that stop the problem re-occurring, i.e. because it's a differently tooled part, or is this something that will likely just keep happening over time?


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As far as I know there is no upgrade to this part. It's just normal wear and tear, and I would guess mainly from the resetting of the date by advancing the hour hand through many 24 hour cycles to get to the right date.

Keep in mind that the expectation is that the watch would be serviced about every 5 years, so this would only really have to last that long.

Cheers, Al

 

Oh ok, thanks. I thought Omega had redesigned the part to have longer/shorter teeth (or something like that), so that once you have it replaced you're all good. Too much to hope for maybe - better get a winder on my Christmas list!


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Hi Al

I have a question about this watch that you might (I hope!) have an answer for.

I have just got the watch back from service and I've noticed that when winding the watch, after each wind the crown slightly unwinds when you release it. Is that normal? It didn't do that before and my other watches don't do it either. Any reason for this?

When I say it unwinds, I mean the crown rotates a little back the other way when you release it.

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed.




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Hi Al!
Do you know if strap 98000085 is fine for 2594 spm chrono? If not which rubber is the right one for it.

Regards,
M