Right, so I bought a Seamaster Professional 300 M in titanium second hand on Chrono24. Reputable dealer, paperwork, box & the rest. Watch is in decent shape, but does probably need a service. Decent price and I am quite happy with the purchase. I have been wearing it pretty much daily for the last 3 months. At the time there was some confusion about the actual reference number (I was initially told it was 2231.50.00, but in the end we couldn't confirm this). So I am trying to figure out the actual reference number of this particular model: I was able to find the following three models: Bond bracelet, electric blue dial. Reference 2231.80.00 Speedmaster bracelet, black dial, reference 2231.50.00: Electric Blue dial, Speedmaster bracelet. Reference: 2232.80.00: So the fact that there are two separate reference numbers for the two bracelet option on the electric blue dial version made me think that the same should be the case for the black version? Initially I thought the ".80" was for the colour and the "31" and "32" were for the bracelet options, but that doesn't match up either. So does anyone know the reference number of my particular watch (black dial & bond bracelet)? Or do you think the bracelet was added later? Or is there just one reference number for the two bracelet options in the back? Or is it just one reference for the blue and black on the same bond style bracelet? Any help would be appreciated. While we are at it, a few more questions: - The watch does need a service - it's running a little to fast for my liking and while I own a couple of modern Omegas (X33, Grey side of the Moon) I have little experience with older models, is there a consensus on if something like the orange seconds hand should be replaced? It started it's life red... I think the red looks great, but I don't want to loose massive resell value if I decide to sell in the future. - Any guesses what year the watch is from? Is there any way to date it? The fact that the seconds tip went orange, I am guessing early 2000, is there a way to confirm? The seller seemed to think 2001, a random serial number decoder I found online seemed to think 2006.
I think it is a 2031.50, though there are some funny things seen in the PIC codes for the titanium models. Normally the way it works with SMPs is the the second digit is the bracelet identifier, for instance the steel 2254.50 has the Speedy bracelet, the less commonly seen 2054.50 has the Bond style bracelet, like yours. With the blue dial titanium SMP though, the Bond style is 2231.80 and the Speedy style is numbered 2232.80. Possibly this is because the blue titanium was launched before the Speedy style SMP bracelet was in production. There is a titanium grey dial 2232.30 with the Bond bracelet too, which makes little sense considering the 2232.80 has the Speedy style. Yes I would change the second hand, it looks better in the original vivid colour and the lume should match perfectly. What is the serial? I will have a pretty good idea what year it is from, having had about 10 of these.
Ah that makes a lot of sense. I’ll send you the serial via PM, not sure if it’s safe to post that up here... Any thoughts on replacing the seconds hand?