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Omega Seamaster 300m Ceramic Black - A review (finally)


Guest khashayar

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Does anybody know whether this one is thicker than gen? Old seamaster rep was thicker than the gen.

I believe it is 1-2 mm thicker than gen.  The gen is 12.5mm thick whereas this one is thicker but not by much.  One reason is the ETA 2824s are 4.6mm thick whereas the Omega 2500 is based on the ETA 2892A2 which is 3.6mm thick.

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  • 2 weeks later...

just for a quick reference, heres my gen smp quartz that I modded myself...it has a crystal from a planet ocean, bezel ring from a planet ocean and the original smp insert...

had to use the po bezel to avoid the lip between bezel and crystal, however on the new smp-c, the bezel and ceramic insert are a lot taller than the older smp, so im hoping the crystal will be a straight swap height wise.

 

1000258_342215859245494_1505468064_n.jpg

 

1009810_342215762578837_866636267_n.jpg

 

check out the no crystal effect...even from relatively straight on...

 

644208_342215719245508_1909436311_n.jpg

 

1001919_342215942578819_959836828_n.jpg

 

you can see here the longer hands compared to the older model, so should look fine on the smp-c

 

549518_342215882578825_1924857849_n.jpg

 

954677_342215792578834_1509201251_n.jpg

 

and a final wrist shot...

 

1150929_342214612578952_1435588690_n.jpg

 

 

Nice watch!!!!!

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Guest khashayar

So... Almost 2 months later since my SMP-c arrived. Been wearing it almost every day and have compared it to gen at different AD's (don't worry, I just looked at the watches that were in the window) and here are my remarks:

First and foremost I must say that it is an incredible easy thing to wear and the bracelet is really comfortable. Perhaps the best bracelet I've ever used. The versatility of the watch is also something I regard highly, it goes equally well with a blazer and shirt as it does with a t-shirt for more casual days. Would love to try it with a omega rubber strap sometime, but that's not a priority at the moment.

When it comes to time-keeping I wouldn't say that it's good, but rather satisfactory. For me it gains almost 4 minutes per week, which is far from good, but it doesn't bug me nonetheless.

Now, when it comes to differences with gen there are a few (though not substantial) differences I'd like to point out:

1. The hour markers (indices...?) are more "bubbly round" than gen. The gen has almost flat hour markers. Even though both gen and rep markers are raised from the dial and this contributing for it to be harder to tell the difference, it's there. You actually don't have to look closely to tell the difference.

2. The pearl is an interesting story. 3/5 stores I visited had a pearl that was in level with the bezel (like how I and bamcky modded them to be), whereas 2/5 of the stores had a pearl that was sticking up. Not as much as the reps, but still quite a lot.

3. The bezel markers were all painted so to say (like the crpo) on 5/5 stores. Not one gen SMP-c I've seen, ever, had bezel numbers that are carved out like the rep. The rep actually looks better IMO, but the difference is still there.

4. The caseback on the rep is almost ridiculous. The waves should be in the back of the seamaster horse, not in line with it. The waves should have a more "grainy" look to them, rather than pure silver.

Worst of all is the omega anti-counterfeit mark. Wth happened there? On the reps they look like a little circle with god knows what inside them. The gen has a much bigger anti counterfeit logo, with a substiantial difference between the details in it.

5. The lume is nothing I've seen on a gen irl, but I still have to tell that the lume on the rep is sh*t.

Despite its shortcomings it's a great watch that fits to almost anything you possibly could wear.

Feels great on the wrist and all, but In my not so humble opinion I would say that if you really want a SMP-c, then don't buy the rep, save some Money and go for gen. The SMP-c is perhaps one of the cheaper gens you could buy if you look on ebay or chrono24 or something like that. It's definitely a watch worth and rather easy to pay the gen price for.

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I have to disagree with you. Having had mine for 3 weeks now, and also handled the gen a handful of times, the rep wins once again. With the flaws you have identified, that doesn't justify what so ever the price gap, $320 (rep) vs $3100 (used gen) $4000 (brand new gen). I agree the caseback is a tell if you know what you're talking about, but even without the pearl mod, not even baby jesus himself is going to be able to tell its a rep, unless he has done prior homework, plus has a loop handy.

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Guest machineboy

I did the pearl mod on mine yesterday. Super easy with a bit of heat and IMO it solves the biggest tell for "normal" people. I'd say even a gen owner wouldn't call it out unless compared side-by-side.

 

 

Do you have a (before and after) photo? It would be interesting to see the result!

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Guest machineboy

The real-life difference is like night and day. Maybe I could push it down a little more, but I don't want to risk breaking anything.

 

That looks good. How did you do it, exactly? Mine also sticks out a bit.

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That looks good. How did you do it, exactly? Mine also sticks out a bit.

 

I took my wife's hairdryer, used it on "high" for a minute or so, waited about two minutes and just pushed with a hard plastic thing. Then I put it face down and let it cool. I think someone said that there was plenty of room under the pearl, so don't push it down to far. Use the bezel as a stopper for whatever thing you push with, i.e. don't push with the pointy end of a pen or something :)

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This looks like a pretty good rep I'm considering getting one!
Another difference I spotted is the dial values thickness is incorrect.
You'll notice that on the rep they are actually about half the width of what they are on the genuine. (see comparison pic attached)

I think that and the back of it are instant tells. The pearl is easily repaired though which is something!

Does anybody know where I could purchase a genuine back/better rep of the back and the same for the dial?
If I could get those then this would be awesome!

EDIT: Interestingly the bezel is only different on the official website. When I look up the model number it's the same as the rep elsewhere online :\

post-57602-0-88041000-1379384088_thumb.p

Edited by peterpanda
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Guest khashayar

I found some pictures online by someone who did a review of their gen.
The pictures are very good and does show the differences that I previously pointed out:

post-52261-0-18112100-1379535264_thumb.j
post-52261-0-73868000-1379535266_thumb.j

These photos clearly shows the gen flat indices in comparison with the round rep ones.

post-52261-0-25136300-1379535331_thumb.j

This is a great shot of the bezel and how the numbers and everything are painted (which makes them more bold) as in comparison with the rep.

post-52261-0-88966900-1379535571_thumb.j

post-52261-0-94792500-1379535572_thumb.j

And at last some pictures of the caseback. Needless to say; this needs to be improved!

Edit:

An extra shot of the lume:

post-52261-0-65732300-1379535688_thumb.j

Edited by khashayar
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Guest machineboy

Just wanted to add my proverbial 2 cents. I've had my blue ceramic SMP for a week now, my first rep. Got it from Trusty Time.

 

The fit and finish of the watch is nice. The blue colour is dark, almost black indoors and a deep blue outside. The pearl is a bit too high and the crown is difficult to screw in, it's hard to get it to "connect" to the tube. It will not screw completely in which is a bit of a disappointment. It seems tight enough though, I've showered with the watch twice without problems. A gen crown and tube would probably be a good upgrade.

 

The bracelet is great. It was a bit sticky the first few days, but now it's smooth and wears very comfortably.

 

The dial and indices look good. Slightly bubbly indices but the lume is pretty decent. A 5-6 second blast of UV light keeps it legible for me through the night.

 

Today I had a problem with one of the hands. From the start I felt that the hour hand was alarmingly close to the dial and the raised logo. Today the hour hand actually stopped against the Omega logo and I had to disassemble the watch and bend the hand upwards to clear the logo. Not fun. But after the operation it looks better. Probably hard to see this beforehand in QC pics. I didn't receive any before the watch arrived, though. Weird.

 

The movement has a Omega sticker on the rotor. It looked pretty clean and it runs quite well. I'm guessing around -6 per day. I'll do a slight adjustment soon just to get it slightly faster.

 

All in all, I think this model is reasonably well put together for the money, but it has some weak points.

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Hey machineboy thanks for the review. It would be cool if you posted some pics. How's your bezel pearl centered? Mine is half a tick toward 59.

I concur it's a nice watch. The reason the back is so off is that this watch was replicated from a James Bond 50 years. They did the back beautifully on that. They then proceeded to recreate the back from a few pictures online.

Another basic difference is the rehaut is too deep. The gen is thinner overall by a couple of mm.

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I meant to say the total thickness of the watch is different, in part due to the rehaut. But here's the deal with the rehaut... the Swiss 2824 in these (which by the way looks brand new and not reclaimed), has a taller canon pinion than standard so the hands do take up the space nicely.  The rehaut difference is difficult to detect, but it is there.  I have both a James Bond 50th and a blue SMP.  The latter came with the Swiss movement, the former with a 2892a2 clone which is excellent.  On the 2892 the canon pinion is short, and the hands are very close to each other, so one can see a bigger gap of empty space between the top of the sapphire dome and the top of the seconds hand tube.

 

Seriously though, it would be very difficult to spot these on the wrist, and only knowing the caseback difference would be the tell-tale.  I'll try to post some pics when I have more time, if anyone wants to see.

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Guest machineboy

Hey machineboy thanks for the review. It would be cool if you posted some pics. How's your bezel pearl centered? Mine is half a tick toward 59.

I'm not allowed to post pics yet (5 posts minimum), I can post a few when I've been around the forum a bit more.

My pearl is pretty well centered but still a little high. I've pushed it down a little bit today, looks better. I also noticed that after the hour hand got stuck on the logo, the date changes 2 hours early. Might have to go back in and adjust the hands next time I'm in there :)

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I'm not allowed to post pics yet (5 posts minimum), I can post a few when I've been around the forum a bit more.

My pearl is pretty well centered but still a little high. I've pushed it down a little bit today, looks better. I also noticed that after the hour hand got stuck on the logo, the date changes 2 hours early. Might have to go back in and adjust the hands next time I'm in there :)

Looks like you made it to 5!  I meant the alignment as far as the placement of the arrow at 0/60.  Mine is at 59.5!!! so I have a choice to align the bezel with the arrow and have every other marker be off by 1/2 tick, or align the markers and have the pearl/arrow off by 1/2 tick :-(

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