Omega Seamaster 600 ref. 135.011, Matte Black 'Technical' Dial

Dealer description — Oliver & Clarke

The Omega Speedmaster is one of the most historically important, if not the most important wrist watch ever produced, full stop. Its story can be summed up with one simple acronym: NASA. Surely, this is not a watch that needs an introduction with our audience... However, the sibling to the Speedmaster, the Seamaster, is worth shedding some light on. The model family was conceived in 1948 as what was effectively a time-only watch, not the dive watch that is most commonly associated with the named today. It wasn't until nearly a decade later where the Seamaster 300 would show up with its rotating timing bezel and larger case size. As with so many other icons and popular vintage models, the Seamaster has seen countless iterations and variants over its nearly 70-years of continuous production, but it is the 300 that is probably what comes to mind when you hear the name. The piece that we have here, a Ref. 135.011, dates to circa 1963 and follows the original recipe for the Seamaster: a water-resistant, versatile, modestly sized timekeeper with one of Omega's wonderful movements. Coming in at 34mm in diameter, this stainless steel piece features nicely 'faceted' lugs, with a screw-down caseback and a signed crown. Inside, the dial is a very uncommon matte black variant known as a 'Technical' dial. Rather than the much more common white and silver dial variants, these black dials have a printed red 'crosshair,' elongated Tritium indices with additional minute markers for legibility, and a matching 'pencil' handset with Tritium within. The result is a more sporty and traditional 'tool watch' feel than that of the other dials, and we're here for it. Powering this piece is Omega's attractive, workhorse Calibre .601 manual-winding movement. Been looking for an honest, daily-wearable diver from the 1960's from a storied brand? This is hard to beat.