Seamaster f300hz bezel, crown and stem5

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Hi,

First post on here and looking for some guidance. I am clearing my mums house for sale and found this vintage Seamaster f300hz belonging to my grandfather.

The watch has lived a life! Lots of wear to the case and bracelet. It has been inspected by a well known tuning fork specialist who has advised the index wheel needs replacing, also the stem and crown. The bezel is seized and would also need to be replaced. He thinks the crown and stem will be challenging to find and the bezel will be unobtainable.

Any thoughts on who could tackle this repair, ideally a full restoration if viable?

 
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Great looking watch, this will clean up just fine. he bezel looks fine so it probably just need to be cleaned. A new crystal will do wonders! You can find some good information about this in this site: http://www.deskdivers.com/Site/SMf300.html
The stem is available a lot of places, just search for ESA 9162. The crown is more challenging but a Omega certified watchmaker should be able to get that
 
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I agree it is a great looking watch and one that I really want to get working reliably, I am delighted to have found it. And thank you for the leads, with the ESA 9162 reference you provided I can see it won’t be a problem to locate the stem.

I found this for the crown in the US https://www.ofrei.com/shop-bin/sc/productsearch.cgi . I don’t know if this is a genuine Omega part or third party, but a least it’s available.

Hopefully the problem with the bezel will just be dirt or a problem with the retaining spring.

I think the big challenge will be finding a watch maker willing to take the work on and do a great job, any suggestions?
 
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I agree it is a great looking watch and one that I really want to get working reliably, I am delighted to have found it. And thank you for the leads, with the ESA 9162 reference you provided I can see it won’t be a problem to locate the stem.

I found this for the crown in the US https://www.ofrei.com/shop-bin/sc/productsearch.cgi . I don’t know if this is a genuine Omega part or third party, but a least it’s available.

Hopefully the problem with the bezel will just be dirt or a problem with the retaining spring.

I think the big challenge will be finding a watch maker willing to take the work on and do a great job, any suggestions?
I should have said, UK or EU ideally based restorer - any suggestions welcome.
 
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In the UK, try the Croydon watch centre. Or Paul at electricwatches.co.uk.

I've not used either of them, in Paul's case it was because he was almost permanently not working - according to his website. And on the odd occasion that he was open for business, he did not reply.
 
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Oh. I should have said, a full restoration that watch does not need.

The bezel looks fine. OK, it's jammed. That is almost certainly just dirt and gunk. Yes it is a little scratched, but you may struggle to find a replacement.

The crystal is bearing many scars, but they don't look deep. That might polish out, it might be cheaper to just get a new crystal fitted. Just doing this alone will transform the look of the watch.
The dial and hands appear to be in excellent condition.

The case is in pretty good condition too. There are a few shallow scratches and dings, but what do you expect for a 50 year old watch? Here is where I would advise the most caution. If you let a watchmaker put that on a polishing wheel to buff out the scratches, you will lose those beautiful crisp edges. It'll look like jelly taken from a mould, all soft and not quite symmetrical any more.
At most, you could lightly re-finish the brushing with one of those abrasive fibreglass pens. But frankly I don't think it's needed.

The bracelet has a little stretch in the links. It looks like its still going to be secure, so I wouldn't worry about this. Personally I find that bracelets are often a tad more comfortable when they go like this. They have a bit more lateral give and twist.

Both the bracelet and the case are a bit grubby though. If you can remove the bracelet you could clean it yourself. Just soak in hot soapy water overnight, scrub with a toothbrush/nail brush & repeat until clean. If sending the watch to a watchmaker, ask them to clean it. It will probably get a trip to an ultrasonic bath.

OK finding parts...
Genuine Omega parts are now only available to certified Omega watchmakers. They guys that I recommended are not that. You may be able to find NOS Omega parts on t'internet or a acquire a donor watch. My local watchmaker will service these, if I ask really nicely. I have a "frequent flyer" arrangement with him where he tells me what part are required to breathe life back into whatever idosyncratic heap of junk I've foisted over his counter and I source the parts.

Do all you can to keep the original crown, hopefully whatever the problem is lies with the stem.

An index wheel is something that a tuning fork specialist will source for you. They are very easily damaged. If you find a non-running hummer on the bay ("Untested" is seller speak for non-running), odds are that the index wheel is kaput.

That just leaves the crystal. A non-Omega certified watchmaker probably won't be able to get their hands on a genuine Omega part. A generic part will fit, but may not have the exact profile of the original - and it will be missing the tiny Omega logo in the centre. The one that's so small you can only just make it out in your first photo. The Omega part will also be much, much more expensive.

I hope that helps. The beauty of asking an independant watchmaker to do the work is that you can (& should) discuss this stuff with them to ensure that they do what you ask, and ONLY what you ask.

And finally, it's lovely. I don't have one of those and I'm jealous.
 
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Oh. I should have said, a full restoration that watch does not need.

The bezel looks fine. OK, it's jammed. That is almost certainly just dirt and gunk. Yes it is a little scratched, but you may struggle to find a replacement.

The crystal is bearing many scars, but they don't look deep. That might polish out, it might be cheaper to just get a new crystal fitted. Just doing this alone will transform the look of the watch.
The dial and hands appear to be in excellent condition.

The case is in pretty good condition too. There are a few shallow scratches and dings, but what do you expect for a 50 year old watch? Here is where I would advise the most caution. If you let a watchmaker put that on a polishing wheel to buff out the scratches, you will lose those beautiful crisp edges. It'll look like jelly taken from a mould, all soft and not quite symmetrical any more.
At most, you could lightly re-finish the brushing with one of those abrasive fibreglass pens. But frankly I don't think it's needed.

The bracelet has a little stretch in the links. It looks like its still going to be secure, so I wouldn't worry about this. Personally I find that bracelets are often a tad more comfortable when they go like this. They have a bit more lateral give and twist.

Both the bracelet and the case are a bit grubby though. If you can remove the bracelet you could clean it yourself. Just soak in hot soapy water overnight, scrub with a toothbrush/nail brush & repeat until clean. If sending the watch to a watchmaker, ask them to clean it. It will probably get a trip to an ultrasonic bath.

OK finding parts...
Genuine Omega parts are now only available to certified Omega watchmakers. They guys that I recommended are not that. You may be able to find NOS Omega parts on t'internet or a acquire a donor watch. My local watchmaker will service these, if I ask really nicely. I have a "frequent flyer" arrangement with him where he tells me what part are required to breathe life back into whatever idosyncratic heap of junk I've foisted over his counter and I source the parts.

Do all you can to keep the original crown, hopefully whatever the problem is lies with the stem.

An index wheel is something that a tuning fork specialist will source for you. They are very easily damaged. If you find a non-running hummer on the bay ("Untested" is seller speak for non-running), odds are that the index wheel is kaput.

That just leaves the crystal. A non-Omega certified watchmaker probably won't be able to get their hands on a genuine Omega part. A generic part will fit, but may not have the exact profile of the original - and it will be missing the tiny Omega logo in the centre. The one that's so small you can only just make it out in your first photo. The Omega part will also be much, much more expensive.

I hope that helps. The beauty of asking an independant watchmaker to do the work is that you can (& should) discuss this stuff with them to ensure that they do what you ask, and ONLY what you ask.

And finally, it's lovely. I don't have one of those and I'm jealous.
Thank you for your interesting reply. It is a lovely watch and very worth restoring to reliable working condition - which is my goal. From the research I have done having now a better understanding of the case number and the movement reference I believe the parts can be located with patience.

Can you recommend a tuning fork specialist to do the work to get it working?
 
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That just leaves the crystal. A non-Omega certified watchmaker probably won't be able to get their hands on a genuine Omega part. A generic part will fit, but may not have the exact profile of the original - and it will be missing the tiny Omega logo in the centre. The one that's so small you can only just make it out in your first photo. The Omega part will also be much, much more expensive.
The crystal is just plain glass on these, no logo. You can get original ones from Cousins https://www.cousinsuk.com/search?searchTerm=TN5193
Or just a generic one that looks exactly the same for a tenth https://www.cousinsuk.com/search?searchTerm=F350CMH305 3.5mm x 30 mm

The crown gaskets have probably turned into goo by now. They can be replaced, if you can find the correct sized o-rings.

If you can't find the index wheel, just get a complete NOS ESA 9164 movement from eBay and take parts from that. They pop up from time to time. This is day/day movement but the oscillator plate is the same. You can even swap out the whole plate but it won't be copper colored as the Omega variant, so make sure you keep the original one!

You can clean most of the case yourself. There are four grub screws on the underside that holds the center case to the outer case. Be careful with those, maybe a drop of WS40 to loosen them up. Bracelet is held with a long screw on the side. When you have the center case separated, you can carefully pry the bezel of whith a thin blade. It's just held with a spring. Under the bezel you will find three spring loaded ball bearings.

If it was me, I would only replace the crystal, clean it up and look into having the movement serviced. Leave the rest as it is.