Like a lot of other men my age, I was introduced to watches by Pierce Brosnan and the Goldeneye Bond movie. The thought of having a laser beam on our wrists and travelling the world to exotic locations with beautiful women left a permanent mark. Of course back in the real world, the Omega Seamaster 300M was a simple dive watch with date function, that didn’t quell my desire to own one one day.

Fast forward 15 odd years to 2010, I had grown up a bit and made some money, so decided to buy my first Swiss watch. I poured over sites like watchuseek and ablogtowatch for at least 6 months, when I happened upon an Omega Seamaster that everyone was calling the “Great White”. This was a different take on the regular Seamaster, as it included the GMT function, and also removed the controversial helium release valve. I instantly fell in love and had to have one.

By this stage they were discontinued, so it took another several months to track one down from a seller willing to ship to Australia. It became my daily watch for at least 5 years, which is why it is far from pristine in the photos. After owning it for so long there are many small details that I appreciate, like the stack of discs at the base of each hand that decrease in diameter from GMT to seconds hand. The lume is also starting to develop a lovely creamy colour which will only get better with age.

There are downsides though, the scalloped bezel is difficult to turn at the best of times, and the calibre 1182 is notorious for breaking the hour wheel due to the quick set hour hand. My watch recently succumbed to this problem so it is due for a much needed service and repair. 15+ years of faithful service though means I still love it even with this latest setback.