THE ESSENTIALS

MAKE: OMEGA
MODEL: 166.077
YEAR: 1973
BOX/PAPERS: NO/NO
CASE DIAMETER: 45mm
CASE MATERIAL: STAINLESS STEEL
BRACELET MATERIAL: RUBBER
MOVEMENT: AUTOMATIC 

In the late 1960s, underwater exploration, offshore oil construction and maintenance, as well as activities such as scuba diving, water sports, and sub-aqua military and naval special forces, saw an increased demand for underwater watches.

The issue at the time was that when subsurface workers returned to “decompress” or to saturation, helium would sometimes build up inside the watch. With nowhere to escape, the pressure often caused the glass to crack or even explode.

Omega decided to tackle this problem by building a sealed monobloc case that wouldn’t allow any air to get in or out. This led to the creation of the Omega Seamaster 600 “PloProf,” a portmanteau of Plongeur Professionnel, meaning “Professional Diver” in French.

Omega beat Rolex and COMEX to the ultra-deep dive watch race. Today, helium escape valves are commonplace, but this was cutting-edge innovation 50 years ago. The watch was released in early 1971, and several alterations were made to the dial and bezel over the following six years.

This particular example is from 1973. It features a service acrylic bezel insert, Type D2 tritium hands, and a Mk3 tritium dial. The watch comes on a black Omega Isofrane rubber strap with an Omega buckle.

It arrived to us in excellent condition, running at +3 s/d, with 270 amplitude and a beat error of 0.3 ms. Vintage PloProfs are becoming increasingly hard to find—nothing wears quite like the original. This is the watch that started it all for our founder, Stef - and this example is now ready for its new adventure.