Seamaster 168.022 / 166.028 Orange Seconds Hand - A Thread

Hi OF,

I came across a photo the other night of Seamaster that sent me down the rabbit hole and of course I've come out the other side with a new grail watch, hahaha so it goes. For now though, I'm wondering if any of you can help educate me on the reference. After reading through the forum I've seen some conflicting information regarding the correct reference number. So I thought I'd start a thread and pose the question to the experts and see if any of you would be willing to share you knowledge on the reference.

I'm specifically interested in learning about what you see in the photo below; Concentric circle dial, orange second, date window, black hands with rectilinear ends (I've seen a few with pencil / sword end hands), and T-SWISS-T with the tritium lume dots at the hour index marks.

Photo below was posted by @kyle L when they sold it on the forum here.


But here is where the confusion comes in for me as I have seen conflicting information:
Is this a reference 168.022, 166.028 or a 168.028?
Should it have a 563 or a 565 movement? I've read the different calibers were dependent on where the watch is delivered, can anyone confirm?
I have also seen ones with "CHRONOMETER OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED" under the automatic, would those models be the ones that come with the 564 cal. movement? If so what is the correct reference number for those?

And as a bonus for you history buffs that stopped by, I found this advert from the '68 Mexico Olympics showing what I think is the same reference with the same dial and hands(seen on the right). But I'll let you all be the judge of it.


I'd love to wear one of these stunning pieces on my wrist one day but for now I'd really enjoy learning about them. Any help / knowledge you all could share would be greatly appreciated.

And if you own one of these, let's see them! Please post a pic!

168.xxx is for chronometers so the version in your post is certainly 166.xxx as it appears to be a non chronometer.

I also think (although I’m no expert on these cases as they don’t appeal to me for some reason) that 166.032 is the day+date version whereas 166.028 is the date only version you’ve posted.

Got it! Thank you for the clarification regarding 166.XXX vs 168.XXX @Davidt. I have seen a few non-chronometer with just date window versions with the lone168.022 stamp on the case but maybe that's a service case back? Or just what ever the watchmaker had handy?

Here's an example of that on eBay, albeit the eBay post seems to mislabel the watch.

Actually just to confuse matters, both the chronometer and non-chronometer versions sometimes shared a dial stamped case back I believe.

edit-typo, I meant double stamped caseback.

I was searching through eBAy for the off chance that one in good condition was available there but no luck until I found this......

LOL it's obviously not the watch but it will have to do for now until I can find one. And not having a magazine advert in my hands I'm almost positive that the advert from the '68 Mexico Olympics that I posted previously shows the same reference. Well at least the case ref., dial and hands match the reference I'm looking for. I'll just keep searching for the real thing

@Nepomuceño wow I did not 🙁. Spent a good portion of Saturday looking around for one as well. Although that one did not have the exact hour and minute hands I'm looking for, I definitely would have loved to sport that one on my wrist. C'est la vie

Can any one who owns one of these 166.028 / 168.022 provide me the case lug to lug dimension? I believe the diameter of the case excluding the crown is around 36.5 but I have not been able to find the lug to lug length.

Edit: Now that I have one I just measured mine as well. Case diameter 36.5mm, lug to lug is 41.90mm for mine.

Well it took me a little bit of time but I was able to get my hands on one of the illusive orange seconds Seamaster Jumbo references with the concentric circles dial and the black flat ended hour/minute hands.

Just back from a basic service with a correct crystal and silver tension ring! While I have seen a few of these come up for sale, excluding the immaculate one that @b-lilja purchased from @Toishome , I found that the ones were available abroad had been pretty abused. But then this one came up for sale and I was pretty interested. Although the lume is gone from the Hour/Minute Hands, the dial is in overall pretty good condition and most of the lume at the hour indices is still present.


Also you can see the double reference stamp here on the caseback. This reference with the non-chronometer 563 movement should be the 166.028 from what I've found here on the forum but if someone else knows differently please let me know.


My main goal though for the one I purchased was to find one where the case and movement were in good to great condition.


And while the case has a couple nicks, it appears to be in original state having never been polished or refinished. The lugs are still sharp and the bevel at the lugs has a crisp line.

From what I understand, the crown appears to be a service replacement crown but for me I'm happy with the aesthetic of the crown and the patina/wear of the crown appear consistent with the rest of the watch.


The Seamaster engraving on the back is really crisp and I'm very happy about that.


I was also able to find a bracelet ref. 1098 with accompanying 540 endlinks that are correct to the watch. I'm really happy with the bracelet as in the summer months here in Southern California I prefer a bracelet.

All in all I am extremely happy with the patina of the watch and now that it's fitted with the correct crystal and has had a basic service, I'm worry free about daily wear. I plan on wearing this one quite a bit for the foreseeable future. And for those of you that made it this far, thanks for reading and here's to enjoying the journey.

Oh and here's a little bonus post. The watch on top a Mexico 1968 Olympics advert featuring what looks like the same watch just on a different bracelet. One day I'll have it on the same bracelet in the advert, I believe a 1067 w/532 endlinks, but those are out of my price range at the moment.

I saw that one as well. Movement was in good shape as well as the hands but the case looked to be polished. There was this sparkle dial orange hand that sold earlier this week on eBay as well. Dial and movment looked decent but case appeared polished and the seconds hand look to be painted.

Appreciate the clarification on the bracelet reference / endlink combo @masteroftime ! That's a wonderful 166.028 you have there.

I just realized looking at the image of yours that the seconds hand on our watches differ slightly. I almost looks like yours has an offset circle where the hand meets the post (center of the dial), where on mine the hand the line of the elongated triangle is continuous and uninterrupted (similar to and Speedmaster Ultraman). I wonder if there is any info out there about the reason for the differences?

Very, very nice combo. Congrats guys, hope I will find one of those sooner or later.

Well since I had been looking and know of a few available, @bardamu take a look at these:
- This one's available on chrono24 from Italy. Decent condition but does look like there may have been some water intrusion at the edges of the dial.
- Then there's this one on eBay from Japan. I looked at this one quite a bit but I saw identical postings of this watch just with different main photo so that made me a bit cautious. Also from the condition of the back of the lugs, I could be wrong but I think this one has been refinished.
- And lastly there is this one out in Maryland. Recently popped up for sale and the auction is ending in two days. Condition might be a bit iffy, case looks to be polished, but the photos seem to be low quality so that could definitely be adding to that observation.