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ztirual
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W10 300, aka Omega Seamaster 300 for Special Air Service

I have read on this forum more than once that one has to thread very carefully when advancing in the field om Omega's vintage military watches and even more so when considering Omega's military version of SM 300, where the landscape can be more readily compared to a minefield because of the relative lack of clear, reliable information and the relatively large proportion of fakes.
I have recently stumbled upon a watch that has attracted my attention and would not consider making a move for it before doing a bit of research and receiving a bit of feedback. The watch in question is in good condition and is on offer from an expert collector cum merchant (in this case it might be wise of 'buying the merchant' as well)
What follows is an attempt at describing the characteristics of an original W10 300.  What do you think of my homework? Have I done well? Any mistake or important omission? Please, feel free to comment. I hope that my description is sharp enough for you to visualize the watch

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Ztirual

Typology/ characteristics of an original vintage W10 300:

-Movement serial number starting from 27.xxx.xxx onwards/ manufactured from 1967 onwards.
The watch has '27.7xxx.xxx' serial number.

- Automatic mouvement cal. 552 in good working condition. Rotor engraved with 'OMEGA WATCH Co SWISS'. One brigde inscribed '552' under Omega's logo and the number '1' within it.

- Original black plastic bezel with thick markers and roman numbers (top small equilateral triangle, 10, 20, 30 40 & 50 light brown colour, all other minute's makers equally fat but white) Different fonts and font thickness have been produced. It is normal for the bezel to show sign of use and variation/ staining/ discolouration. The font of the watch has a font with rounded 3, relatively broad top flat 4 and relatively closed 5.

- Crown is screwed (as always with military SM, not snap/ Naiad type) sunken within Lyre case

- Fixed, thick bars with old traces of wealding

- Lyre type stainless steel (acier inoxydable) case

- Inside of caseback stamped with inscriptions centred from top to bottom : 'ACIER INOXYDABLE', stamped triangle with Omega's logo   'OMEGA'    'WATCH Co'    'FAB. SUISSE'    'SWISS MADE', ref nr: '165.024' , 'CB' mark lowest

- Outside of screw back clearly ingraved on 4 lines with military order and serial number:  Arrow sign at the top     'W10/6645-99-'    '923-7697'    'A/xxx/67'. Distinctive font matching other original W10 300s (This area is, thank god, fairly well documented).

- Black matt dial with circled 'T' (tritium marking) and broad triangle at 12. The circled T marking can be below the hands' axle or above (less common?) Some argue thar the W10 and 0552's also came without circle T marking. It may well be the case. Circle T marking is the cherry on the cake. In this case the circle T is above the hands' axle.

- Dial has a tiny but distinctive holes, one in the12 o'clock and one in 6 o'clock lumed markers. The are made relatively close and at near equidistance to the 'rehaut'.

- Lumes (tritium) are either yellow-orange or green-green and have a definite vintage 'texture'. All lumes are very bold, broad triangle (BT) at 12, short at 3, 6 and 9, and almost twice as long for all other hour markers. In this case the lumes are a lightly 'textured' yellow-green.  The SM 300 military was also made with 'ordinary' 12 o'clock Arabic number and short lumed marker (matching 3, 6. 9 lumed markers) ie. without the BT.

- Omega logo immediately below the BT, fattest at the side 'handles', the base of the logo 'with serif' curling upwards. Centred undertext, first line: 'OMEGA', second line: 'AUTOMATIC', third line below the centre axle: the characteristic 'Speedmaster 300' in italics. Fat white Arabic numerals 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. 6 and 9 being distinctively 'open'

- Hour's hand is fat sword/ diamond-type, minute's hand is sword, centre second's hand is spear tip type. Unlike the other 2 hands that have polished metal edges, the centre second's hand is painted white. All hands have matching lumes that also match the hour's markers' lume.

- T-SWISS MADE-T painted at the bottom of the dial (partly visible)

- Original hesalite glass with Omega logo

- Original Omega's certificate from Omega's archives with matching ref. nr and mvt number, delivered to SAS

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