Social media has had a profound effect on watch taste, collecting, and the entire hobby in general. Where it used to be that you would walk into AAA UK replica watches shop, eyeball something under the counter and buy it purely because you liked it – now there’s all manner of other external factors to consider. Will it look good in photos? Will people click the “like” button? Will I gain followers? Is it a hot watch? While I’ve done my darnedest to steer clear of this realm of horological intrigue, I’ve definitely noticed its creeping effects. And so, for this edition of A Week on the Wrist, I opted for a watch which seems to have been born out of these conditions.
Released in 2021, the updated Omega Seamaster 300 represents the brand’s full lean into the vintage-inspired game. This is not the first time Omega has gone this route. We need only look at the Seamaster Railmaster, the First Omega in Space, or even the preceding Omega 300 line to see how we got here.
But those high quality fake watches never took the vintage ideal all the way over the goal line. The Railmaster manages to mix modern design aesthetics with vintage tones to evoke the history of a rather esoteric model range. The First Omega in Space basically recreates a historical Speedmaster model, but forgoes the use of faux-patina. The now-discontinued range of pre-2021 Seamaster 300 models were similar to the Railmaster in their attempt to evoke the feel of original 300 divers, but also included dial text that felt entirely modern, as well as liquid metal ceramic bezels.
This new 300 takes a page out of Tudor’s playbook and opts to look back in the rearview in order to move forward. The result is vintage-effect lume (known as “old radium”), matte dials, and aluminum bezels paired with an old-school-style bracelet.
New to this model is the Panerai-style sandwich dial, which adds increased depth and visual interest. It also does away with the “showy” dial text, opting – much like the vintage Seamaster 300s of old – to feature a single line that reads, Seamaster 300 … and that’s it.
I look at this watch as the apex of vintage-inspired design as a whole. If we were building a line graph to map out the trajectory of the vintage-inspired aesthetic, the best replica Omega Seamaster 300 watches might just be the peak. It’s all downhill from here. It’s as if Omega brass has been scrolling through Instagram to distill down what would make the perfect social media watch.
Is this that watch? I don’t know, but it definitely ticks the necessary boxes. Vintage charm, faux-patina, depth to the dial markers, matte textures, and it’s a steel sports watch. Clearly, Omega is doing their grassroots research.
To my mind the newest Omega Seamaster 300 is – well – an Instagram watch. It may not be the most legible, but it photographs well. And if it’s “likes” and “follows” you’re after – this might be your watch.
Instagram is very much the reason we are looking at this piece today. The Seamaster 300 (retail price: $6,500) may have come out in 2021, but over time, the blue dial model has developed a bit of a reputation as a hype piece. I set out to check its bona fides.
A Week On The Wrist
Now, this is far from my first in-depth experience with this cheap copy watches. I got to handle basically every color and metal variation in this new collection last year upon its release. But, like with many things in life, time has had an effect on my perception. The shock and awe has worn off. A little distance allowed me to observe and take in the piece for what it is – only now, unlike before, I was faced with outside noise. Whereas originally, this was just a new splashy release, now it had some time to sit in the minds, and hearts, of others. I was determined to not let the hype cloud my judgment.
I was looking at this watch for what it was meant to be: A plausible everyday option with do-anything capability. And, to be honest, it fits the bill in that regard. We’re talking about a modern-sized, 41mm, diver with 300m of water resistance, and a charming throwback design that certainly won’t offend anyone.
I spent more time during this go-round, paying attention to how the dial plays in the light, and how that playfulness affects the overall legibility factor. This is, to my dismay, where some points get knocked off. Especially on this blue model, where the interplay between dark, near-navy, and the aged faux-patina makes for a final product that lacks in contrast in real-world use cases. Of course, when shooting this Swiss movements replica watches on a camera, and getting the lighting just right, it comes across as a perfectly legible, entirely vintagey, winner. But that’s the Instagram talking.
While it’s not perfectly legible, it’s certainly good enough. And on top of that, it’s a pure joy to look at. It’s a watch made for a watch nerd – the kind of thing you want to un-buckle from the wrist and just hold right up to your face … like centimeters away. That’s where you really come to appreciate the sandwich dial. I found myself just twirling it under the sunlight to see how different positions revealed the various textures on the matte dial and aluminum bezel.
On the wrist, it wears like modern super clone watches for sale in terms of feel, but visually it presents almost like an antique. I have to hand it to Omega for paying equal attention to the design of the bracelet and clasp as it did the case and dial. Everything feels like a singular unit, and the experience is better for it.
Speaking of taking this one off the wrist, turning it over reveals the Omega Master Co-Axial caliber 8912, a METAS-certified automatic movement featuring 60 hours of power reserve. Omega has become something of the gold standard when it comes to movement technology in “won’t-break-the-bank” luxury watchmaking — and this is no exception. It’s also the most modern component of this watch. You won’t find an actual vintage Seamaster 300 with an exhibition caseback, but I’ll give this a pass because If I made a movement this good, I’d want to show it off, too.
Since we are on the topic of vintage Seamasters, I thought it would be a good idea to weigh the latest Seamaster 300 against another modern Seamaster in the Omega stable, as well as a vintage model. What I took for review were two icons of luxury replica Omega dive watches lore from completely different eras. One was a vintage Seamaster 300 from 1967 and the other a modern Seamaster Diver 300m, which takes its design from the iconic Bond Seamaster of the 1990s.
In many ways, the new 300 is a combination of both fake watches shop site. It takes much of its modern build and capability from the Diver 300m but does away with the modern design flourishes such as the wave dial, red text, and oh-so-’90s bracelet. In terms of the vintage model, you can see where the new 300 took its inspiration, like the layout of the numerals and Seamaster 300 wordmark.
But again, it was Instagram which made me consider this comparison in the first place. The vintage 300 and the Professional 300m are mainstays of the social media platform. Watch influencers the world over have posted photos of these wholesale replica watches since the very inception of the app. Considering that this new Seamster feels like an answer to Instagram, I just wanted to see how it stacked up.
The best way I can describe the new Seamaster 300 is as a vintage-inspired watch inspired by the idea of vintage-inspired design. Nothing about it is a carbon copy of a particular vintage Omega, but rather a distillation of the vintage ideal. It’s the kind of watch someone would see and just assume is based on an old Seamaster reference – only it isn’t. And in a way, that’s cool. Because, while it has all the faux-aging, and old-school charm, it’s also its own thing – more a design update of the outgoing Seamaster 300 model than a recreation of something old.
And it seems to be doing its job out there in the social media sphere. Like many fake watches for men today, the Seamaster 300 range, though released in early 2021, took some time to hit stores and therefore build momentum to reach the hype levels it’s at today. Only time will tell if that momentum can be sustained.