165.024 Omega Seamaster 300

The 165.024 is not a rare watch. Yet, often, the original examples are worn to hell with flaking lume, abused cases, and corrosion peppering the movement. Even worse, there are an abundance of unoriginal examples. Today, we have the opposite: an original, yet very composed Seamaster 300. The 300 was introduced at the end of WWII to British Naval divers for field (or sea?) use. Today, those original military references are as rare as they are expensive. Civilian references followed closely thereafter. This reference 165.024 is the elegant no-date, sword-handed, lyre lugged, civilian variation. And I haven’t seen one this great for awhile.

In this market particularly, it’s actually quite refreshing to find a stock piece in honest condition. The preceeding 2913s are more usually original, however many of 165.024s and their generation are not. An Omega authorized, Australian service center WatchCo found a surplus of original Omega Seamaster 300 parts in the early 2000s. An enterprising service center, they began assembling these surplus parts into full watches and retailing these ‘NOS’ Seamasters and selling replacement parts. I would like to say for the record I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that in the slightest, but component watches should be represented as what they are though often are not. It makes this market a little more complex that your average vintage diver.

What we observe here is exemplary: the slightly-large-for-its-era 42mm lyre lug case is razor sharp. Its dial and sword handset tritium is a deep even gold, matched in the fat font-variant bezel. The crystal is signed with the tiny Omega. All of this is on a period 1506 bracelet signed 3rd quarter of ’67. It makes me wonder just how many of these utterly perfect patina masterclasses still exist out there. Not many, if the market is indication.

Having just commented on the loveliness of this 300’s condition in the above copy, I’m not sure there’s much more to say. I suppose worth noting that this one does not come with an extract which is a bit surprising, but it takes time and likely the seller simply chose not to. Would be something to look forward to learning about upon purchase. It comes from a well-regarded Miami retailer.

Find this 165.024 here from Menta Watches for 14975 USD.