There's not been a whole lotta love shown previously on OF for the Seamaster Bullhead; the original or the re-issues. Prices being asked for originals in good condition are however well into SM300 territory; $10k+ being asked and possibly received. So I'm starting this thread for any secret Bullhead lovers to showcase their hunks of brushed stainless steel and I'll kick things off with a review of my Rio 2016 LE. The first thing people usually comment on with this watch is the size; it looks BIG. But actually it's a bit of an optical illusion. It's only 43mm, 2mm less than my PO 2500 and as it's on a (to my eyes very natty) blue leather strap with deployment clasp, it only weighs 2/3 of the PO on a bracelet; 137g v 210g. So when I'm wearing it, and I do wear it reasonable often, it doesn't feel that big on the wrist. I don't ever wear it with a suit, it's just not that kind of watch, so there's never a cuff issue. But the thickness is probably the biggest illusion of all, it's 15mm against 14mm for the PO. It's just that the Bullhead is all slab side with a slither of crystal whereas the PO is a bezel/case/back sandwich. I usually wear the Bullhead to casual events, it's that type of watch, and especially if there's a motorsport connection. The original was, according to Seamaster to Seamaster, 'built for rally car drivers' being a chronograph with large orange (red on this LE) centre sweep seconds hand and the leather strap has ventilation(?) holes reminiscent of 70's driving gloves. The chronograph is operated with the two 'bull horns' at 11 and 1 and the 'crown' at 6 rotates a bezel under the crystal. There's a date window at 3 and sub dials at 6 and 12 for running seconds and chrono minutes respectively. The Rio 2016 LE was limited to 316 examples. I only learned some time after buying it that the 16 is for 2016 and the 3 hundred because it was the third time golf had been in the Olympics. All seems very random but I play a lot of golf and my favourite golfer Justin Rose won the gold at Rio. The stitching to the strap is in the colours of the Olympic rings, red, yellow, green and black, as are the numerals on the internal bezel. These numerals are small and the green and black ones are particularly difficult to see. The large flat surfaces look great with the starburst finish but they so show up marks as I think you can see from the pictures above. The strap is also chaffing on the bull horns. The comparison shots above were taken with an iPhone 7 and the others with a fairly old Nikon D60 with an 18-55mm lens. And I finally found a use for the rather disappointing Seamaster to Seamaster book; as a dark background. MOT Rolycoaster
Agreed dimensionally it’s not huge. But the lug hole placement makes it massive to wear. Still pretty.
I think its a funky cool 70s watch. Guess nobody wanted them even in the 70s. Recently saw 2 NOS omega bullheads from 2 seperate sellers. Really expensive items. Asking like 13.5k euros.
I have been looking at Seiko bullhead watches for sale on eBay recently and prices seem to have risen dramatically over a short period of time. They are rare here in Europe and finding good examples at reasonable prices is difficult .