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I read the Hodinkee review of the Seamaster 300 heritage diver by Danny Milton and listened to the attendant podcast they did, too. I thought his overall thoughts on the watch were on the mark—that it’s a somewhat strange amalgamation of many different design cues from the history of the Seamaster 300 line’s entire history without a particularly coherent thread tying them together. Though I found his lede—that it’s a watch “made for Instagram”—a little trite.
Since originally publishing this post in 2022, I’ve tried this watch on a few times in person. I think it’s great. Not for me, but it’s grown on me. Time does that—allows you to grow accustomed to something and appreciate it more, or grow to hate it.
However I did totally agree with something he said on the podcast—that he finds Omega’s modern flagship watches more compelling (i.e. the Planet Ocean, the Aqua Terra, the Seamaster diver 300m lines).
I think those types of heritage models (like the Seamaster 300 heritage pictured above), if executed with restraint and good taste, can be great. Consider the First Omega in Space, which was released in 2014. It was modeled after the pre-Professional Speedmaster CK2998, which had leaf hands, no crown guards and straight lugs, but otherwise had the same overall design otherwise as what became the Moonwatch. The modern version used the normal modern Speedmaster movement at the time (1861), and used a sapphire crystal instead of hesalite. It’s great.
But there’s definitely a bizarro aspect to trying to recreate 30, 40, 50+ year old designs using modern materials and make it feel simultaneously old and new; when it leans too old is when it doesn’t work for me. The warm lume that is meant to evoke faded tritium is often the giveaway for me. Also, if it’s supposed to feel more like the 1957 Seamaster 300, why is it 41mm? I thought the prior-generation Seamaster 300 did a significantly better job because it leaned more new, with less use of warm lume, and by using modern materials like ceramic for the bezel insert, giving more coherence to the 41mm size (unfortunately it was too thick to wear well on the wrist). You can catch Louis C.K. wearing this watch on a black strap occasionally, and it looks great.
So I agree with Danny’s view—when Omega is really crushing it is with their current flagship watch lines. Consider the Aqua Terra. Every aspect of it borrows from Omega’s past 60 years of Seamaster design—the sharp, pointed hour markers, the use of a broad arrow hand, the twisted lugs and (on the first two generations) the asymmetric case with crown guard.
Yet it takes those and has created something with an identity all its own firmly rooted in the modern era of Omega. Those pointed hour markers aren’t flatly painted on, but are made in stunning multi-faceted steel that dance in the light. The dial evokes the teak deck of a boat with either vertical or horizontal striations. And of course it isn’t a dive watch, but rather a modern dress-sports watch that can be easily dressed up or down.
Or consider the Planet Ocean, which most directly resembles the 1960s-era Seamaster 300 reference 165.024, with its wedge-shaped hour markers and open 9 and 6 numerals (on the original generation). It used those features but created a new identity all its own with its double broad arrow hands, big legible bezel numerals and 600m depth rating. Instead of a slavish redesign to satiate those chasing nostalgia, it’s a brand new product that uses design elements that are what evoke that nostalgia in the first place, but in a whole new way to pave the way forward.
Omega’s reputation as a watchmaker is widely considered one of innovation. They industrialized George Daniel’s groundbreaking co-axial escapement and placed it inside every single watch they sell; they push the state of the art forward in materials science, with the new highly anti-corrosive (and hilariously named) O-MEGASTEEL for its new UltraDeep model (which is itself an envelope-pushing watch with its wild 6,000m depth rating); they pushed to create the industry-standard METAS certification, (an accuracy and resilience standard significantly tougher than the default COSC certification) which is available to all watch manufacturers. Omega themselves puts its own timepieces through the rigors of METAS certification as standard course.
And so while it’s neat that the heritage Seamaster 300 has those modern attributes, too, the design language that leans so heavily old just creates a rift in my brain and makes it feel out of place.
If you really prefer those vintage feels in the form of straight lugs and more simplistic design, I felt the 1957 Trilogy Seamaster 300—which is a more direct copy of the original Seamaster 300 at 39mm with a modern movement and other superior materials—has much better overall proportions and its design feels far more coherent.
But as for me, I like the forward moving modern innovation Omega does best. If Omega updates the Seamaster 300 heritage in 2027 to be a re-issue of the 165.024, I’ll be first in line to order. In the meantime, I recently got a 42mm original Planet Ocean, which strongly evokes that classic Seamaster, while maintaining its own modern identity.
(Have you seen the limited edition in-between generation 42mm Planet Ocean 222.30.42.20.01.001 with the original design but upgraded with ceramic, liquid metal and applied marker on the dial throughout? That would be an even better option, though for a significantly higher price).
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