Initially released in 1948 and based on watches used by airmen in WWII, the Omega Seamaster has become one of Omega’s best-known collections. Initially, a dress-style watch with thick lugs, the Seamaster was designed to promote daily wear while remaining functional for use in water with 62.5 meters of water resistance. However, the modern Seamaster that we know and love today was born nine years later, in 1957. This was when the Seamaster 300 was released after Omega was inspired to upgrade the Seamaster after they had 50 Seamaster cases with rubber O-ring gaskets tested in 1955, which led them to work with new materials and push their boundaries. As a result, they created the Seamaster 300, which featured a heavily luminescent dial and handset, a rotating bezel, a thick domed hesalite crystal, and double crown seals. Interestingly, while named the Seamaster 300, the watch was originally only rated for 200m of water resistance, with Omega insisting the watch could outperform the testing equipment. Offered here, we have the Seamaster 120 ref. 166.073 “Deep Blue”, a quirky piece of 1970s watch design that combined the Seamaster’s utilitarian design language with a more casual twist. Boasting a cushion-shaped case, as was popular at the time, and only capable of 120m of water resistance (compared to the 300m of its sibling models), the ref. 166.073 is a quirky piece of Omega history. Boasting a blue acrylic bezel insert and an interesting blue dial with sword hands and applied indices atop a tritium layer, the Deep Blue is a bright example of how unique some watches from the 1970s were.

Physically unique from other Seamasters given the shape of its case and design of its dial, the ref. 166.073 was an unusual watch for Omega at the time, and today it lives on as a fun and quirky piece of the brand's dive watch heritage.