Sure, the Omega Seamaster 300m is my “One Watch”—the watch I’d pare the collection down to if push came to shove.
But I’m not in that situation now, and enjoy a handful of watches. One of those is the Planet Ocean, specifically the original one in 42mm. The reference 2201.50. It has the 2500 caliber—Omega’s first big production model caliber with the co-axial escapement.
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Here’s why I love the 2201.50
It is Omega’s modern-day take on its best diver in history—the 165.024, which was the reference number of the Seamaster 300 during the 1960s.
- Wedge-shape hour markers. Big, legible, symmetrical even with a date.
- 12/9/6 numerals on the dial in a delightful, somewhat quirky typeface (the open 9 and 6—where the lines don’t connect all the way back on themselves) directly borrowed from the 165.024.
- Iconic asymmetric case shape with lyre lugs.
- And there’s one last Easter Egg of a feature that nobody has ever mentioned before (ok surely somebody besides me has noticed this but I’ve never seen it anywhere online)—which you can find me discuss at 6:22 in the video below.
If you’re not familiar with the 165.024 Seamaster 300, one of the reasons it has as much modern attention as it does is that for about a half decade or so, a couple of certified Omega watch repair companies (most famously, WatchCo) were taking vintage Omega watches that housed the same movement as the 165.024 (caliber 552), then ordering brand new service parts for the 165.024 from Omega in Switzerland—the case, the dial (with superluminova instead of tritium), the hands, the crystal, the bezel (fully lumed, fully graduated), the gaskets—and assembling it into an essentially new watch. With all-new gaskets, case, caseback and crystal, it would have full water resistance (something an old vintage model could probably never attain from bangs over the years on the case, crystal, caseback, etc.).
The images above are from Watch Exchange Co.
Omega put a stop to it, but you can find WatchCo Seamasters for sale to this day on the forums or occasionally on Chrono24 (such as this one). They go for about $5,000.
I became obsessed with them, and strongly considered buying one. The price is high, but for the best Omega diver in history in a case that’s safe to wear for anything, maybe worth it.
But ultimately, I chose not to source a WatchCo Seamaster. And instead, I bought the Planet Ocean for about half that price, $2,500, via a Japanese seller on Rakuten, using a proxy service called FromJapan.
So much of what I love about the 165.024 is present on the original Planet Ocean. And it is a truly modern watch, meaning I can count on Omega to service it when I need it. I can count on the movement being robust and accurate (the number one downfall of the WatchCo watches is the unknown state of repair of the movements they sourced. I own a 1966 Seamaster Deville and the movement has broken twice on me when wearing it; vintage movements can be finicky).
The double broad-arrow hands are very legible, and give it its own personality. This is not a heritage re-issue. The bezel isn’t my favorite, but it’s like 90% good. I wish it had a narrower inner ring, like the special edition version they made in 2008 called the Liquid Metal Limited Edition (reference 222.30.42.20.01.001).
The bracelet is comfortable, but I find its overly rounded appearance makes the watch itself feel kinda fat. So I was delighted to discover that the excellent Forstner contemporary flat link with pre-2018 Seamaster 300m end links fits the Planet Ocean 2201.50 just about perfectly. And with the flat link, it even more heavily evokes the 165.024. Most of the photos of the watch in this article are on the flat link.
Thickness
If you’re still reading, you may be asking: OK yeah but what about the thickness?
At 14.2mm thick, it’s definitely thicker than the vintage 165.024 (which, with its rounded hesalite crystal, was about 12.5mm thick). And it’s definitely thicker than its contemporary counterpart, the Bond Seamaster (which in automatic form was 12.5mm, then 13.0mm thick when it moved to the co-axial movement).
This is indeed one of its downsides. But I’m used to it and it fits in my collection.
So, is the 2201.50 Planet Ocean 42mm a forever watch in my collection—assuming, that is, I never have to pare down to just one watch for some kind of financial emergency?
At this point, the only thing that would get me to sell is if Omega makes a heritage re-issue of the 165.024. I’m imagining them taking their Heritage Seamaster 300 and refreshing it into an authentic remake of the 165.024, or perhaps doing a Trilogy-style re-issue like they did in 2017. If they did, I’d sell the Planet Ocean immediately to fund the new watch.
But until then (hope springs eternal), I absolutely love this watch.
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