This isn't your typical "I bought an old watch and had it restored" thread - this is about the watch that came to me through three generations of my family and which started me down the slippery slope we all are on.

It was bought new by my father in the early 1970s (I am not sure precisely when), he wore it for a year before giving it to my mother's grandfather, who wore it for the final few years of his career as a coal mine's blacksmith.

It then went to his son, my mother's father, who wore it for about the next twenty years in his job as a painter at a shipyard, until he retired in the early 90s. It then came to me, aged 12, in 1993 and I wore it myself (in rotation with an original Tag F1) through six years of high school, camping, travel, fishing, sports, learning to fix my car… you name it.

During all this time the only maintenance it had received was a battery change every couple of years and the occasional cleaning with soapy water and a nail brush.

By 1999 it was in a very sorry state and when it stopped working I put it in my desk drawer and forgot about it. In 2007 I "found" it again and curiosity about the model is what brought me to the world of internet watch forums; some of the first posts I made here were concerning it, and looking for information on having it restored.

It went back into my desk until May 2011 when I fished it out and sent it to Omega in Bienne whose estimate to bring it back to life was almost more than the cost of buying a brand-new Seamaster. I declined. It went back in my desk again until the end of last year when I decided to send it to STS. For various reasons, it languished with them for another few months before I authorised the work. Today, at long last, I received it back.

For this restoration I paid several times what the watch itself is actually worth. I felt that it's a little piece of my own / my family history, so it was worth it to me. No, it's not very original any more, but this was done with a view to making it last another few decades, not selling it. I shan't be parted from this one, and it's now firmly back on my arm where it belongs. It's good to be reunited.

I'll let the photos do the talking. STS, as usual, did a sterling job. Gentlemen, I give you my old Seamaster:

BEFORE:

http://ams.dslr.it/~colin/tz/omega_s...300_before.jpg

AFTER:

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/963wve4ui38ejs0/I89coWCTBS