So I have been seeing a lot of omega watches being posted as seamasters. Without the seamaster logo or font on the dial or back-case, are these actually seamasters or omega "blanks"(dunno if there is an existing name for this)*? Can a caliber or movement indicate a seamaster?
This is philosophically an interesting question. Based on my super simple and stupid definition, I would expect Seamaster is a watch that is specialized in water resistant segment, while Railmaster is a watch that is specialized in antimagnetic segment. Nowdays, with Omega metas coaxial technology, basically all new Omega is Railmaster. On the other hand, I see many vintage Seamaster was dress watch. Not to mention Seamaster, Seamaster 120, Seamaster 300, Seamaster De Ville
Seamaster is just the name of the product line. That line is typically tailored to water activities/sports/etc. If you look up info on a particular watch's reference number, you can see which product line it belongs to even if it isn't explicitly stamped on the watch itself. Its kind of like how General Motors has several car makes under them... Cadillac is their luxury brand - all models have a high level of finish and comfort, Pontiac used to be the sporty brand - all of the models had sportier appearances with big engine options available, GMC is the workhorse brand, Chevy is the budget brand (with exception of the Corvette sport models), etc. Same idea for Omega. Seamaster is geared towards water, Speedmaster is for motorsports, De Ville is the "dress watch" line, Railmaster was for engineers/scientists, etc. Side note about Railmaster... it is no longer a product line. It is now the name of a model which lives under the Seamaster line. So the name of that watch is officially the "Omega Seamaster Railmaster", which I personally think is kind of stupid. But the styling is very similar to the Aqua Terra from that line, and as Khamenman mentioned - basically all of that line is anti-magnetic now anyway.
What bugs me these days is that there are Seamasters produced with very little water resistance. I get it back in the day - any water resistance was somewhat of a novelty, but it's inexcusable to be producing any watches now with the Seamaster moniker that don't have a minimum of 100M water resistance.
What model are you referring to specifically? I can't think of an example that has less than 150m... Planet Ocean = 600m Seamaster Diver 300m = 300m Seamaster 300 = 300m Aqua Terra = 150m Railmaster = 150m Ploprof = 1200m Bullhead = 150m
If you are talking vintage... oh well, considering the only difference between a Seamaster and other generic or Genève watches was often the dial marking and/or the hypocampus on the back...
Very simply, Seamaster is whatever watch Omega designates/names as such. If Omega did not designate it, it's not.
The City Editions are only 60M: https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watch-omega-specialities-city-edition-51113402006002
Try all of the City Editions and variants such as the Olympic Official Timekeepers as well as the limited edition Railmaster: all 60m
The LE Railmaster isn't really a Seamaster since its a repro of the OG Railmaster which wasn't in the SM line. But the other 2 are good examples (even though they're special editions and not really a widespread model).
As this is a thread in the Vintage subforum, I'll add that in order to be a "Seamaster" it could have a press-in caseback, but there must be a gasket. Dust-proof only models will not make the cut. I am pretty sure that the oldest Seamasters have a WR of 30M. When looking up models on the Omega site, I believe that a number of 50's references will come up as being under the "Seamaster" line, even though there is no such marking anywhere on the dial or case.
This helped alot. I was wondering if those sellers just called it a seamaster as it is a more "preferable" model, in this day and age.
Eh? About 98% of the watches out there marked as Seamaster haven't got a sniff of Bakelite. Here is one of the very first. No Bakelite here just a gasketed crown and caseback. Here is one so early. (first year of production) they didn't even mark them as Seamaster on the dial:
@padders nice pieces those two. Im curious to know how can the claim that a watch with no marking whatsoever is a Seamaster be substantiated?
Exactly the OP's original question which has not yet been answered. I saw attempts at an answer like, "whatever Omega desginates...", but the question is specifically HOW the designation is made. For example, is the designation made with a mark on the dial that says "Seamaster?" Or is the designation made by reference number? Is the designation made by the use of a special O-ring? Or is the designation made by the name "Seamaster" being stored in one column of a database, with the serial number in the next column over? Very interesting question.