Today’s auction of an 165.024 Seamaster 300 “Military”

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JanV

·Feb 20, 2019

Hi guys,

I was looking at this 165.024 prior to the auction and at least to my eyes it felt a bit “off”. The auction house states it as a “British Military Army Issue”, but i’m not buying the provenance.

Just to educate myself, these are my findings about the item.

It’s two EoA’s don’t confirm this as an watch delivered to British Military.

The EoA confirms delivery to Mexico?!

The watch is with sword hands and this type of bezel is to young for a correct Military with a W10 case back?

So my opinion is that this is just a “run of the mill” Seamaster 300 that has had a W10 case back fitted to it, am I right?

The watch sold for 7.200£ excluding hammer and cost. In my opinion too high for a standard 300M in this condition, so was someone in the thoughts that this could actually be a correct British Military Army Issue?

What do you think?

 

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madjestikmoose

·Feb 20, 2019

Sceptical. It seems strange that if it has the correct caseback, the 'T' emblem denoting British military is not on the dial. Bezel is also very different from the early military SM300s (from which the dial T is absent).

 

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nurseford25

·Feb 20, 2019

The case also has the welded lug bars and coupled with the caseback seems like it could be legit but with these types of pieces it’s hard to tell.

 

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JanV

·Feb 20, 2019

nurseford25

The case also has the welded lug bars and coupled with the caseback seems like it could be legit but with these types of pieces it’s hard to tell.

This is my point exactly, these Military Issue watches look like a mine field and now with prices up it’s not that difficult to weld / solder solid rods on a watch and call it Military in order to try to get an premium on it. The caseback looks legit in this picture though. At least the watch should have been shipped to UK, and not to Mexico??

 

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td69

·Feb 20, 2019

Someone bidding this up may be in need of the W10 case back and use it as part. Just my $0.02.

 

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JanV

·Feb 20, 2019

td69

Someone bidding this up may be in need of the W10 case back and use it as part. Just my $0.02.

My thoughts also. Otherwise this would not make sense to me at least. 😀

 

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Dash1

·Feb 21, 2019

The case and case back look genuine enough after a quick inspection, however this is obviously not a correct issued watch having been delivered to Mexico! Delivery to the U.K. would be a minimum for the extract, they will often state that it was military issued as well.

 

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JanV

·Feb 21, 2019

Thanks @Dash1 for your info. So more likely this is a “put together” watch that can have parts from several 300’s.

 

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elmar2001

·Feb 21, 2019

In the abstracts is often mentioned, that a watch was delivered to the military. This is just a "normal" abstract. And a British military watch delivered to Mexico? 🤔 I do not know much about British military but was there ever a British military base in Mexico?

 

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Mark020

·Feb 21, 2019·not the sharpest pencil in the ΩF drawer

Of course not. Either the movement or the case back were swapped

 

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Dash1

·Feb 21, 2019

JanV

Thanks @Dash1 for your info. So more likely this is a “put together” watch that can have parts from several 300’s.

Correct.

 

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omegaman

·Feb 21, 2019

Good old acquaintance, archived that watch before in 2013 😁
Legit: Case with fixed bars, engraving, no A/ matches to the NAIAD crown, dial, hands and bezel are all from 1967
Not so good but could still be legit: missing circled T (quite common for a W10 SM300)
Not legit: movement delivered to Mexico, although the S/N is in the correct range for a W10
So it's a nice military case with a swapped movement from Tijuana

 

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JanV

·Feb 21, 2019

Thanks @omegaman for the update and background info! 👍 Learning something new every day here at the forum.