Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The watch that got me into watches was the perfect replica Omega Seamaster Diver worn by Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond in 1995’s Goldeneye. The quintessential ’90s watch, with its blue wave dial, skeletonized hands, scalloped bezel and other oddities, is arguably the model most responsible for getting millennials like me hooked on watches.
Still referred to today as “the Bond Watch,” Brosnan’s luxury fake Omega Seamaster in Goldeneye was a quartz-powered 41mm Seamaster 300M, ref. 2541.80. For Brosnan’s three subsequent 007 films, Bond upgraded to the automatic version of the super clone watch, the immortal ref. 2531.80.
Down to size
When it came time for me to purchase my first luxury watch several years back, there was never any doubt in my mind about which watch I was going to get. It had to be the Bond Watch. But there was just one problem with the 1:1 replica Omega ref. 2531.80: its 41mm case was simply too big for me to wear comfortably.
My wrists are on the smaller side at 6.25 inches around, and after trying on the full-sized aaa quality replica Omega UK, I just didn’t like the feeling of wearing such a large watch. But luckily, there was an alternative. During the entire run of the 2531.80, Swiss movement copy Omega also produced a smaller version of the Bond watch in the 36.25mm reference 2551.80.
The 2551.80, better known as the high quality fake Omega Seamaster Midsize, was exactly the same as the larger diver, just scaled down. It had the same materials and design as the Bond watch, the same 300m depth rating and was powered by the same COSC-certified ETA 2892-derived automatic movement.
The only differences were its smaller case size of 36.25mm and a slight visual change due to its lack of a half-index at 3 o’clock, which in my opinion actually makes the dial more balanced. So more than five years ago, I bought a used UK Swiss movement copy Omega Seamaster 300M ref. 2551.80 from around 2004, and it’s been my favorite watch ever since.
