zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: I visited a local AD today (Jared - a chain
: store) and they had one new Bond Seamaster
: 2220.80 in stock. While I saw some posts on
: other forums about them being the same
: thickness, I can tell you they're not. The
: 2220.80 is actually a bit thicker in the
: caseback area. When I held it up next to my
: 2531.80 and looked at their thicknesses, I
: could clearly tell that the 2220.80 was
: thicker. Since the co-axial 2500 movement is
: thicker than the 1120 used in model 2531.80,
: I had always suspected that the case would
: have to be a bit thicker. I should have
: asked to measure them while I was at the AD
: that I went to, but I didn't.

: My first impression of the new model was that
: it looks more elegant than the 2531.80. The
: longer hands and the applied markers and
: logo add a nice, classy touch to the watch.
: I also noticed two subtle differences that I
: had never noticed before: 1) The luminous
: dot inside the bezel's triangle is a bit
: larger on the new 2220.80. It still sits
: completely within the triangle, but the dot
: itself is definitely larger.

: 2) The bracelet on the new model was noticeably
: shinier than the one on the brand new
: 2531.80 sitting next to it in the case. At
: first I thought that my Bond bracelet was
: just more dull from wear, but this was not
: the case. Frankly, the new bracelet just
: felt different to me, and, unfortunately, I
: don't mean that in a good way. It didn't
: seem like there was as much play in the
: links. One of the things I love about my
: Bond bracelet is that it drapes over my
: wrist so perfectly. This one just felt
: tighter. Maybe it was new and needed to be
: worn a bit, but between the extra shine and
: less play in the links, I wasn't happy with
: it.

: I saw on other forums that some people had
: posted about the new model having a
: different look to its dial. I put the
: 2220.80 and 2531.80 side-by-side in the same
: lighting and they looked identical in color
: (both the bezel and the dial). Also, the red
: "Seamaster" lettering actually
: made reading the word "Seamaster"
: more difficult. White stands out better on a
: dark blue dial, so I really didn't like the
: red lettering.

: Since you have to be right on top of the
: watches to really distinguish the old one
: from the new one, I can't see any reason to
: "upgrade" to the 2220.80. Just my
: 2 cents...

John, Thanks for your insights. I saw the new Bond LE watch at the Tourneau here in NYC about a week and a half ago but not the regular version. I certainly liked the applied markers on the new version but not sure its worth $1K more.