The OMEGA Automatic Seamaster 300 released in 1957 was, in the words of an advertisement for the watch, “specially designed for professional and amateur divers.” Its water resistance was guaranteed to a depth of 200 metres. The watch was known as the 300 because its performance was far beyond the capacities of the testing devices of the time, a result of the high resistance of the crystal and the crown. It was equipped with OMEGA’s calibre 28 SC-501 and had a matt black oxidised dial. It had Arabic numerals at the quarters, luminous triangular hour markers and highly visible arrowhead hands treated with radium. The tip of its central seconds hand was also coated with radium for easy legibility in all light conditions. The OMEGA 300’s rotating bezel made it possible for divers to keep track of the exact time of the duration of their dives. The caseback featured the now-iconic Seahorse medallion – it has graced the backs of Seamasters and Speedmasters ever since. The OMEGA 300 was the perfect accessory for professional divers. No one was in a better position to describe the OMEGA Automatic Seamaster 300 at work then Alain Julien, a French commercial diver who wore his “300” on a daily basis in 1958 and 1959. Julien wrote “The Seamasters are of extraordinary solidarity and precision. No other watch competing with Omega has ever resisted the hardships linked to such underwater work as seabed prospecting, pipe laying, repair of works such as piers and dams, and recovery work on wrecks. The Seamaster 300s presented no defects. Despite the shocks of often extreme brutality, the cold water, and the great depths at which we work, they remained of an astonishing robustness and precision. By way of indication, each of us has dived more than 1,500 times.” Seamaster ref: 213.30.42.40.01.001
