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Really appreciate some help and advice on a 300 Seamaster

SXP
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Hi, I would really appreciate some help and advice:

I recently purchased a 1966/67 300 Seamaster; my budget was limited so it's not an amazing example, but I've had some thoughts on how to make it look a bit better.

Firstly, the bezel insert has a few cracks, and the numerals are really dull and indistinct; would it be possible to do a sympathetic restoration using methacrylate or whatever is the original material?

The indices on the top half of the dial are fairly indistinct, is it possible to clean these to make them appear a bit brighter in daylight, or would it be possible to have these tinted to match the lower half without removing the original lume?

There's a fairly large chunk out of the crystal at five o'clock, could this be sympathetically restored by perhaps resurfacing/polishing or should I get a replacement?

The handset has been relumed at some point, and it's been poorly executed, could I have this tinted to match the original color or should I have them restored sympathetically?

It all seems to be working OK.

Lastly, I'd really like to know what the approximate value should be, that is to say, as it is, without any restorative work?

Kr

s-l1600-2.jpg s-l1600-3.jpg s-l1600-4.jpg s-l1600-5.jpg s-l1600-6.jpg s-l1600-7.jpg s-l1600-2.jpg s-l1600-3.jpg s-l1600-4.jpg s-l1600-5.jpg s-l1600-6.jpg s-l1600-7.jpg

Kr
 
Davidt
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Purely based on those photos I’d say value is around £2800 GBP.

No issues from a collectability standpoint from replacing the crystal with a modern genuine item.

I can’t help with advice on the bezel I’m afraid, other than to say I’d leave it alone.

Hands can certainly be relumed. The dial can also, but I think it’s an all or nothing job. Either you remove the lume and reapply with aged tritium effect compound or you leave it. I don’t believe it’s possible to tint the existing. Personally I don’t find that lume at all attractive and if you got it for a good price, I’d be strongly consider James Hyman (alchemist relumer) for a sympathetic relume.
 
Donn Chambers
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Davidt Davidt
Purely based on those photos I’d say value is around £2800 GBP.

No issues from a collectability standpoint from replacing the crystal with a modern genuine item.

I can’t help with advice on the bezel I’m afraid, other than to say I’d leave it alone.

Hands can certainly be relumed. The dial can also, but I think it’s an all or nothing job. Either you remove the lume and reapply with aged tritium effect compound or you leave it. I don’t believe it’s possible to tint the existing. Personally I don’t find that lume at all attractive and if you got it for a good price, I’d be strongly consider James Hyman (alchemist relumer) for a sympathetic relume.

I’ll second all this advice.

1. Leave the bezel alone. I don’t know of any method to restore it, and any work done will likely damage further.

2. Replace crystal.

3. Relume the dial and hands to match.

There is another option that many won’t like, but will give you a watch that looks better than the heavily damaged one you have.

Have a watchmaker with an Omega parts account order the service bezel, dial, and hands and replace them. I did this years ago on an example I bought really cheap (back in 2008) — its bezel and dial were even worse than yours. I just couldn’t enjoy the “patina” of the old watch. I wore the one with service parts almost daily until about 2015 when I decided to buy a more modern co-axial version. Still kinda regret letting it go, but such is the life of a serial flipper.
Edited:
 
Dan S
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Based on how messy it is, I think the dial lume is already not original.
 
sathomasga
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Donn Chambers Donn Chambers
Have a watchmaker with an Omega parts account order the service bezel, dial, and hands and replace them.

If the watch was sent to Omega for a service, that's what they would do, right? Not cheap at USD 900, though.
 
X350 XJR
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This is what you can have when you do as Donn noted in his post above.

Mine was basically a parts watch when I bought it years ago.

IMG_0171.jpg
 
Davidt
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While I understand that going the service dial/hands/beze route is an option, particularly for basket cases, I think this watch is too good for that. The dial body is fairly good so a sympathetic relume will improves matters significantly. The bezel will still be trashed but hey ho
 
SXP
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Davidt Davidt
Purely based on those photos I’d say value is around £2800 GBP.

No issues from a collectability standpoint from replacing the crystal with a modern genuine item.

I can’t help with advice on the bezel I’m afraid, other than to say I’d leave it alone.

Hands can certainly be relumed. The dial can also, but I think it’s an all or nothing job. Either you remove the lume and reapply with aged tritium effect compound or you leave it. I don’t believe it’s possible to tint the existing. Personally I don’t find that lume at all attractive and if you got it for a good price, I’d be strongly consider James Hyman (alchemist relumer) for a sympathetic relume.

Brilliant, thank you for the recommendation!
 
Donn Chambers
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sathomasga sathomasga
If the watch was sent to Omega for a service, that's what they would do, right? Not cheap at USD 900, though.

Yes.. but doesn’t have to go through Omega to get the parts. But I have no idea what the cost for parts is anymore, so still likely more expensive than a relume and service.

Just throwing it out as an option.
 
SXP
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Donn Chambers Donn Chambers
I’ll second all this advice.

1. Leave the bezel alone. I don’t know of any method to restore it, and any work done will likely damage further.

2. Replace crystal.

3. Relume the dial and hands to match.

There is another option that many won’t like, but will give you a watch that looks better than the heavily damaged one you have.

Have a watchmaker with an Omega parts account order the service bezel, dial, and hands and replace them. I did this years ago on an example I bought really cheap (back in 2008) — its bezel and dial were even worse than yours. I just couldn’t enjoy the “patina” of the old watch. I wore the one with service parts almost daily until about 2015 when I decided to buy a more modern co-axial version. Still kinda regret letting it go, but such is the life of a serial flipper.

Thank you for the great advice.. I think maybe I'll get a replacement bezel and replacement glass, and get the dial and hands relumed but very sympathetically DavidT recommended James Hyman, I don't think I'll go for too much of a faux patina, but there again I really don't want it to look brand spanking new like a service dial.
 
SXP
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Davidt Davidt
While I understand that going the service dial/hands/beze route is an option, particularly for basket cases, I think this watch is too good for that. The dial body is fairly good so a sympathetic relume will improves matters significantly. The bezel will still be trashed but hey ho

Thank you kindly! Yeah it's a shame that the bezel can't be sympathetically restored. I think maybe I'll get a replacement bezel and replacement glass, and get the dial and hands relumed.
 
SXP
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X350 XJR X350 XJR
This is what you can have when you do as Donn noted in his post above.

Mine was basically a parts watch when I bought it years ago.

IMG_0171.jpg

It looks so crisp, almost new.. Much more attractive than the grungy look 😉
 
SXP
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sathomasga sathomasga
If the watch was sent to Omega for a service, that's what they would do, right? Not cheap at USD 900, though.

Yes, 900 USD is pretty hefty, I think I'm gonna go down the replacement omega bezel and replacement glass route, and get the dial and hands sympathetically relumed.
 
watchlovr
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SXP SXP
Thank you for the great advice.. I think maybe I'll get a replacement bezel and replacement glass, and get the dial and hands relumed but very sympathetically DavidT recommended James Hyman, I don't think I'll go for too much of a faux patina, but there again I really don't want it to look brand spanking new like a service dial.
I heartily recommend James Hyman but take your time, look around, check out what he can do then decide.
On the bezel issue, a new one will look completely out of place with anything apart from a new dial, the lume material is absolutely different.
 
SXP
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watchlovr watchlovr
I heartily recommend James Hyman but take your time, look around, check out what he can do then decide.
On the bezel issue, a new one will look completely out of place with anything apart from a new dial, the lume material is absolutely different.
Thank you for the advice, yes you're absolutely right! there will be an obvious dichotomy between the brand-new bezel and the re-lumed dial and handset, but I've been looking at the back of the service bezel insert, and it looks as if you could potentially carefully remove the black back coating (presumably some kind of acrylic) where needed, to reveal and remove the existing lume, and then match this to the dial in handset. I'm adding a photo that I've been looking at and I really welcome some advice on whether this can be achieved. I'm a visual artist (mostly 3-dimensional) so by nature, I try to find solutions to unusual sometimes difficult problems. I had some retail quotes from Omega on the parts CRYSTAL 082ST1660324 - £96 & BEZEL 082ST1660324 - £240 without fitting, but it seems that they don't do the bezel insert on its own, I'm just wondering if there is any way of obtaining a bezel insert on its own, I couldn't find anything apart from some replicas in the US that just don't look right?
 
53143e0cae05854bd753396ebabc9e01-1.jpg f620887d25ceda8964170d9cef174510-1.jpg
masteroftime
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SXP SXP
…there will be an obvious dichotomy between the brand-new bezel and the re-lumed dial and handset, but I've been looking at the back of the service bezel insert, and it looks as if you could potentially carefully remove the black back coating (presumably some kind of acrylic) where needed, to reveal and remove the existing lume…

Omega doesn’t sell the insert separately. Probably one of the reasons you were able to find photos of the insert separately is because there used to be a defect of sorts that would result in the insert falling out of the bezel ring.

That being said, restoring and reluming the bezel is possible, but almost no one is willing to do it because of the risk involved. The bezel ring and insert are not made to come apart. Removing the insert to work on it can be very failure prone and there isn’t a way to do it 100% safely. Therefore most people err on the side of caution and keep the bezels as is. There are a few people that remanufacture new inserts which may be an option.

i recently bought a trashed original bezel to experiment with and was able to pull out the insert out of the bezel ring. I’m currently working on the reluming/repainting and can update you with my results.
 
SXP
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Thank you, I didn't realise the bezel insert from ring separation would be so prone to failure, you may have saved me a few quid 😉
I figured they probably wouldn't sell them separately.. I did look at some aftermarket inserts in the US but they were without the 1 serifs, and had a small triangle so wouldn't work.. Do you know of any really faithful inserts that could work?
Are the OEM replacement bezels made from a hesolite type material or similar?
Yes, great.. I'd be really interested in seeing what you do with the trashed one is it in a similar condition to mine with cracks etc?
 
Knudsen1971
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This is the piece form ebay, right? The winning bid was low for a reason - the serial of the movement is very low for CB case SM300 and is very likely form another watch. It has an advantage, that you are not ruining collectors piece... would go with dial+hands relume, the aged lume bezel insert can be bought here: https://www.ebay.de/itm/133882012173
 
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RoadRunner73
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IMO you should first work on the crystal - relume of dial and hands, and see the result before eventually changing the bezel : that first work alone may be enough to enjoy a "living" watch that will exhibit nicely on the bezel the scars of its past life !
 
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