Hi All,

I’m new to the forum so do forgive me if I do anything wrong when posting.

Recently I’ve been looking to buy a pre bond Seamaster as a gift, 30th birthday ‘watch with a story’ from around the same birth year.

Am I right in thinking the one I’ve attached photos of isn’t quite right. The face looks like it’s been repainted and the spacing isn’t quite right on the text.

Any help is much appreciated and if anyone has a full face automatic they’d like to sell do let me know!

Thanks

 

Welcome! The plot on the dial def resumed.

 

Dial appears to have been retouched. The printed outline of the plots is no longer visible likely covered by lume. “Automatic Chronometer” doesn’t look correct.

 

By 'full face' do you mean full size? The one you show looks like a mid size to me, those are ~36mm. The full size 40mm auto is the rarest and most valuable. You'll be looking a long time for a tidy one, most Pre-Bonds are very tatty and messed about as they weren't really valued for years so were left to fester. Unfortunately the parts to make them look good are also in very short supply, bezels for instance are unobtainable. There are probably 20 mid size quartz Pre-Bonds for every full size auto out there.

 

Thanks for the advice all, my thoughts the same regarding the Automatic Chronometer text. The Seamaster text also looks a bit too thick.

Yes meaning full size, it’s definitely my ideal but if a mid size auto in good condition came up I’d also be interested.

Thanks for the advice on the rarity and difficulty in sourcing replacement parts, really helpful for a novice like me!