Tried it on, but wasn’t tempted for a number of reasons.
One of them being the bulging lume in the indices. What’s that all about?

 

I’ve got more of an issue with the bezel finish. For me personally it’s a bit too course and needs a bit more refinement.

Domed lume pips scream quality to me though - I love them. They add another level of quality to an already outstanding dial.

 

It's an interesting finish, and although I haven't seen it in person, my gut feel is that it will be quite difficult to refinish compared to previous bezels like this that have a finer grain between the numerals. Fixing this is pretty straightforward:





This new one I'm not so sure...

 

Ooooohhh no! Finished perfectly level for me.

 

Love the look of that watch

 

It is a fantastic watch and i can justify the high RRP with the precious materials and the low production number, but aesthetically speaking, i don't like it!!

 

Maybe it looks better in the metal, but from the photos the bezel looks like cheap
moulded plastic. Colours are all a little dull. Does not look that special considering the price. I’d go for the black ceramic no date before this one I think. I do like the dial though.

 

Would it be same technique to refinish a gold Rolex Yachtmaster bezel? My wife has a TT YM and after seeing me carefully cleaning and mollycoddling my watches she decided to clean and polish her bezel ( whilst I was out I might add ) Needless to say after she was finished she realized her mistake....

 

I think it is very tastefully done having an opportunity to see it in person. I'm glad it is not a glossy finish. Here is a better look at that bezel...

 

You need to read the instruction manual more carefully. The bulging is caused by Helium over-pressure. You need to open the valve at 10 o’clock and let a little gas out until the indices turn from cream to blue as show in this handy example.

 

Yes. The fine grain between the numerals is easily done with bead blasting. With the coarse finish of the new Seamaster bezel the grain size of the blasting would have to be much larger, and if you have ever sand blasted or bead blasted a thin section piece of metal you know it can cause issues with deformation.

 

I’m sure the sales assistant said it was laser etched.
Maybe that wasn’t the bezel?

 

Please note there are two different designs being talked about here. One is the "fine" grain that I've shown, and that is most certainly bead blasted.

The SMP that is the subject of this thread is a different animal as I've said. It would not surprise me at all if it was done with another process such as using a laser, because as I've said to bead blast this and get that coarse of a pattern would be challenging indeed. If true, this means that once this gets damaged, the only solution will likely be a replacement bezel or insert (if they make the insert available, and they often do not).

Cheers, Al