Omega Vintage Seamaster 300 Frankenwatch

[Heywood]

Hi All,

I picked up a new 5512 from Trusty at the post office on this past Friday. I ordered this watch not knowing whether I could use it for some modifications to turn it in to a pseudo Rolex with a genuine movement. Well once I got it apart the crystal mounting lip was too small to fit a tropic 19, the inner dimensions of the case weren't perfect, the genuine dial fell thru the front of the watch because the hole was too big....and so goes the frustration with the search for a case for this project. Oh well, I guess I can just sell it and buy an MBW to Franken up.

After bumming about not being able to finish the Rolex project yesterday I decided to put together another project that has been in my toolbox for a couple of years. My main interest in watches has been the vintage Rolex sports models, but I picked up a couple of Omega Seamaster 300 case kits a few years ago from Watchco. They never excited me that much and have been sat in my toolbox untouched. The movement, an Omega calibre 552, came from a donor Seamaster dress watch picked up on flea bay. All of the parts are original, but the sources of the parts being different models I must call this a Frankenwatch. Pardon the lack of photos from assembly, it was late and I didn't to stop to take pictures. Anyway here are some pics. Please pardon the crappy photography, it looks much better than it appears.

Edited September 4, 2006 by Heywood

[TJGladeRaider]

If it looks any better, please keep your photos to yourself!

That's all I need -- another direction for this hobby to go in.

LOL

That's a very nice looking piece.

Bill

[panerai153]

That's a really nice project watch. I'm sure you now have a watch that today is much more valuable than the sum of the parts bought a few years back.

The NOS parts for the SM300's are drying up pretty fast, and of course as they become scarcer, the price goes way up. I bought a few parts from Watchco back at the beginning of the summer to restore a genuine SM300, and the prices according to some of the folks on the Equation of Time Dive watch forum,had doubled in just one year. The old law of supply and demand.

Wear it well, the SM300 is really one of the icon dive watches, unfortunately it had many flaws that allowed Rolex to stay miles ahead of it in "usability". It is still one of my favorite dive watches.

Arthur

[ubiquitous]

Now that's a beauty! I love it! My favorite Omega in my collection (well, the only one I have, really...).

All original from 1967.