Omega Seamaster Professional Plo-Prof 1000m is extremely rare watch. The first series of about 150 pieces with the Caliber 1002 movement was made in 1972, and the next series of about 300 pieces was manufactured in 1976. In addition to these 450 pieces, Omega is known to have manufactured a few dozen prototype models. This would bring the total number to just under 500 pieces, including all different versions.
50 pieces from the first series of Seamaster 1000m watches were delivered to the Monaco Oceanographic Research Institute. The leader of the institute at the time, Jacques Cousteau, gave the first of these watches as a gift to Rainier III, the Prince of Monaco.
For some reason quite a few of these models have ended up in Finland, which brings me to this review.
It was lent to me by Watch Service Finland. They are very professional company that offers all kinds of service for watches in Helsinki, Finland and Hyvinkää, Finland. They even have a Omega-licenced watchmaker with the golden Omega certificate their payroll. Visit their website here.
They also lent me the better known PloProf 600 version, which was reviewed here:
Review of Omega Seamaster PloProf Ref.166.077
There is a very comprehensive guide to this watch in detail by OmegaPassion. I’m not attempting to duplicate all the technical details in this writeup. I’m just trying to keep it simple and just bring out the basics and most important aspects of this watch.
Collector’s Guide to Omega Seamaster 1000 “The Grand”
“The Grand” is extremely thick watch and as you can see it absolutely dwars even the large PloProf 600 in comparison.
According to the comprehensive guide that is linked above, the Seamaster 1000 is the most waterproof watch ever made by Omega. Even when tested at depths considerably deeper than it’s rating it’s water resistance never failed.
And just like the PloProf 600, Omega never used the helium escape valve on The Grand, either.
Rolex was among the first watch companies that linked people like Cousteau to their aggressive advertising. They weren’t the first watch company that came up with extremely watertight diver watches. Nor do their watches have any special diving merits compared to Omega and Doxa, either. But they were the first ones who realized how to build their brand image with genius marketing. Omega probably uses even more for marketing today (Bond movies, celebrity endorsement) but in the 70’s and 80’s things were probably the other way around.
When I think of Rolex marketing I think back to the 80’s and 90’s when most of their printed ads were focusing on adventurers and explorers. They were like “If you were going to (insert something cool and exciting here), you would be wearing a Rolex. And because of those ads, Rolex watches managed to build some kind of mystique around them. Sure the product was good too.
Review of ROLEX Submariner 16610
Review of ROLEX Sea-Dweller 16600
“The Grand” has actual credibility as a genuine diver’s tool as it was regularly used by Jacques Cousteau and his diver team during the 1970’s. It has been seen on the wrist of Cousteau and his team member Albert Falco on many occasions.
The Cousteau Calypso diving team also used Doxa Sub 300 (which debuted in 1967), Seiko 6309 and the initial version of Rolex Sea-Dweller Submariner regularly. I have no idea if the watch companies already used the “product placement” and donated their dive watches to the Calypso team – or did the divers test the different watches spontaneously. But it would have been amazing opportunity for Omega to capitalize from this – and maximize the visibility of their products by simply buying the exclusive rights for the “official Cousteau diving team watch”. Of course the PloProf watches weren’t even designed for big sales figures but this kind of publicity was certainly a unique opportunity to polish the brand’s image as a whole.
The crystal is insanely thick, half a centimeter. Accoring to the guide again, The Seamaster 1000 was tested alongside the Seamaster 600 and was attached to the International Underwater Contractors submarine “Beaver Mark IV” (the yellow one in the review title photo) to measure the effects on the crystal at a depth of 1000 meters and more. The case easily exceeded the 1000 meters mark and it was the submarine that had to give up before The Grand.
All PloProf 1000’s came with the “right hand” winding crown.
The case and crystal thickness make it look absolutely bonkers, even on a 18.5 cm wrist.
The dial is identical with the PloProf 600, besides the depth rating text of course. The readability is excellent and the luminous areas are large and clear.
The monocoque case was made so tight that it could withstand insane amounts of pressure. Omega took great pride of this engineering.
But this extremely air/watertight case led to the same issues with the dial as the regular PloProf. The airlessness aged the dials very quickly. The base paint of the dials went sour and the surfaces started to bubble. The “bubble effect” was caused by corrosion because the moist air couldn’t escape the case due to extreme tightness.
This means most of the earlier dials have been destroyed or damaged and have been regularly replaced with the luminova service dials.
The initial movement was the same as on PloProf 600, the Caliber 1002 but was later changed to better Caliber 1012. Both have power reserve of 42 hours.
The Grand came with the bracelet that we know as the “Mesh bracelet”. But it was originally called “Omega Shark”. The rubber part was an extension which was designed to be used with a thick wetsuit.
The dial is among the most legible diver watch dials I’ve seen. The dark visibility is excellent. And in typical Omega fashion from this era, also the bezel markers have luminous numbers. The bezels often suffer from wear and tear, and thus have parts of their lume disappeared. The bezel of this review watch has also some patina and the surface has started to crack from the edges. But these kind of things just make the vintage pieces even more appealing for many. If you’re not a vintage watch person, you’re probably not going to see the attraction.
What is the usability of a watch like this? Surely it doesn’t go under my tuxedo sleeve, right? Does it make any sense?
In my opinion, this kind of hardcore tool watch is a pure collector’s item. Of course you could use it as a diving tool as it’s one of the most robust diver watches ever made. It’s certainly not suitable to be an “all occasion” watch due to its size and thickness. And nothing about watch collecting (or collecting anything actually) makes sense. If everything had to “make sense”, it would be pretty boring life, right?
It’s the craziest watch I’ve ever reviewed. It’s just so huge and it looks borderline ridiculous on the wrist. These best diver watches rarely win any beauty contests and compared to the The Grand, even PloProf 600 looks “dressy”.
The appeal of this watch comes from its insane diving abilities, its history, it’s rareness and from its genuine diver watch heritage. It has been used as a real diving tool by the most famous deepsea divers in history.
The Grand is actually more water tight than a submarine. That’s no joke. Nobody really knows what is the correct depth rating of this watch because the test team’s submarine couldn’t take it any deeper.
I knew this model but I had no idea how valuable it was when I took it for a review. PloProf 1000 “The Grand” is one of the most collectible Omega diver watches out there. Examples in good condition was recently auctioned for 25.000 dollars and they generally sell for over 8.000 dollars, even without papers and with replacement dials and movements.
I’ve been into this hobby for so long. Back in the early 2000’s nobody even talked about watches being “investments”. I never quite understood this current watch scene and all that talk and Youtube videos about price hikes, speculations, profits and “flipping”. What is going on? Personally, I’ve always bought the watches that I wanted and couldn’t care LESS whether their value goes up or down. It’s a crazy world.
But because of the rarity and speciality of The Grand, I’m pretty sure it would actually be a good investment piece (if any watch ever is).
It certainly was an unique chance to see and wear this legendary watch, read and learn about its history and photograph it. People are into watches for different reasons. For some people the excitement comes from buying new watches and flipping them. For me it’s just constant learning and researching about the models I haven’t previously experienced. Thanks again Watch Service Finland for this opportunity.
Luxury Watch Reviews 
I own a Seamaster 1000. It was given to me when I worked for IUC. It has the mesh bracelet.
neppe21@gmail.com
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