A gentleman's steel Omega Seamaster 300 Edition wristwatch

A gentleman's steel Omega Seamaster 300 Edition wristwatch

The round black dial with luminous applied tritium indices, large triangle at 12 position, Arabic 3/6/9, surmounted with an encircled 'T', sweep seconds hand
Bi-directional rotating bezel, black inlaid luminous 10 minute increments, stainless steel case, 40mm diameter, automatic winding
Case-back engraved W/10/6645-99-923-7697 A/153/67
Assessed as model 165. 024, c.1967
Total weight 61.70g, no strap

Accompanied by two army diving log books, the first from the initial qualification (1974-1979) the second enhanced log book issued in line with the new health & safety legislation (1979 - 2012), with two fabric MOD service-issued diving badges (supervisor grade).

Provenance: owned and submitted for auction by Mr M. Burton who joined the Royal Engineers in May 1970 as a Sapper and left August 1995 as a Warrant Officer class 1 (WO1), Engineer Diver. Amongst his diving achievements were helping to raise the hull of King Henry VIII's favourite ship, The Mary Rose in 1982, which sank in the Solent in 1545. Regimental Sergeant Major Burton also served in Belize, Hong Kong, Norway, Northern Ireland, Oman, Cyprus, Germany and Kenya where his extraordinary diving skills were deployed throughout.

Omega introduced the Seamaster 300 in 1957 as part of a line of "Professional" watches. A very small quantity were made for military use from 1967 until approximately 1970. These were custom designed by Omega to meet the needs of members of the British Army and Royal Navy.

A number of distinct features set these military-issued watches apart from Omega's regular production units. Their cases have distinctive curved and beveled lugs and were delivered with fixed spring bars. The dials feature an encircled "T" signifying the use of tritium for the luminous hour markers and hands. Their case backs were engraved by the Ministry of Defense with the military branch code, issue number, and year of issue. The "W10" designation indicates that this Seamaster 300 was one of a small number issued to the British Army.