Weird And Wonderful Omega Seamaster....and Other Strange Dive Watches

[Helmut]

Whilst bored here on a Friday night, I did the usual surfing around for time pieces. I came across a Seamaster model I'd never seen before;

The Seamaster Ploprof 600

A very specialised pro dive watch certified down to 1300'. Not everyones cup of tea but it would be a nice one in the collection.

Searched around for more info on the odd looking thing and came across other highly specialised dive wrist work. One that I would consider to win the 'most imposing crystal' award would go to the Rolex Deep Sea Special;

Now that would certainly be a conversation piece!

From what I can glean, it was designed with the help of Jacques Piccard for use in the Trieste descent to the Marianas Trench. Not cheap either. Only a handful were made and only a few remain and they fetch upwards of £75000! Talk you way out of a rep with one of them!

The site is here. Its in Swiss but can be Babelfished. Lots of very interesting history on dive watches and some nice pics of the more extreme arm clocks.

I particularly liked the Seamaster 120 near the bottom of the page.

I really like the old traditional 1960's 'divers' watch look. Functional, solid and just a bit mad.

C'mon rep makers, go out on a limb and give us some of these barking mad jobbies!!

[panerai153]

Among Omega collectors the Ploprof is indeed the "Grail" watch. It is an imposing creature, probably not a watch you would wear on a daily basis, unless you were a Diver. They are available from time to time, usually fetching around 3-4k depending on the condition. The Seamaster 120 is another nice watch, sort of the same type as the Doxa T-Graph and the Jenny Sub Chrono.

One of the nice things about Omega vintage is the availability of genuine NOS parts, at a price that won't break the bank. also Omega in Bienne Switzerland maintains a vintage restoration department. They do a beautiful job on restorations, and here agan, they don't require a 2nd mortgage on your home to get a watch restored.

I toyed with collecting vintage Omegas, even bought a couple of SM300's. They just didn't grow on me like some other vintage dive watches have. That is not to say that they aren't beautiful watches.

[Everythingape]

Now that would certainly be a conversation piece!

"Let me look into my crystal! ...I see a busty blonde in your future!"

[Canuck88]

Small error but the ploprof actually was rated for 2000' (600m), not 1300'...