Inside is the Caliber 8912, one of Omega’s coaxial movements with an independently set hour hand complication. It’s a nice dual barrel movement which in my ownership (of both the Globemaster and Ploprof) have never had any issues with. It looks nice and performs well, I do feel like the independently set hour hand is another kind of weird addition of like, “We have this complication, lets just use this movement as value added!” kind of mentality. It doesn’t make too much sense in the context of the watch, but it’s a nice complication to have which makes setting time slightly easier. My belief is that it’s a holdover from a GMT complication, so it makes changing the time convenient if you travel a lot. The movement is something that I wont comment much on, as Omega can serve you those details. It has good machine finishing, the overall design makes for a good look (I like the large jewels for the barrels), the magnetic resistance and silicon hairsprings make for great updates in everyday use. My only reservations would be with the black plated components and the traveling hour hand as additions that present points of failure. If any of the plated components start to fail or rub with other components, you’ll quickly have a lot of movement contamination necessitating a swift service. The hour hand, I can see the wheel that provides the hour jump failing prematurely if someone uses the complication in an excited or excessive fashion. Personally, I’ve not had such issues and the movements have only ever been reliable and accurate for me.
SUMMARY
The Ploprof is a standout watch and despite its handful of design and manufacturing oversights it achieves something, for better or for worse, that very few watches can achieve. It elicits emotions. Love it or hate it, it’s a watch that begs to be investigated and whether you’re reveling in the bizarre watch or lambasting it, it’s a watch that makes you stop and feel something. Which, to me, this is really the core of what watches are about, enjoying something and feeling some kind of excitement. There is something undeniable about its presence, and that undeniability is worth investigating and learning how to apply to other things.
How does it wear though? I have very small wrists and it’s definitely a big watch, but despite its chonkiness, it wears very well. Since it sits so high off your wrist, it does tend to smash into more walls, knobs and countertops, but my watch seems to not accumulate any meaningful scratches or dings, surprisingly. The left sided crown does reveal that they essentially rotated the movement and flipped a dial around, I find myself rotating the watch 180º to wind and set time since the crown functions are inverted when you operate it on the left, moving it so it’s oriented to the right makes it operable like a normal watch (perhaps another oversight? Should the movement have been redesigned to have an intuitive winding and setting train for LHD?). It’s a watch that certainly announces its presence, to you as you wear it and to others. With Orion, part of the design goal is to make watches that are ergonomic and don’t bother or nag your wrist, the Ploprof is the opposite of this. After a day of wearing it, it certainly lets you know that it’s time to take it off, whereas with an Orion you may forget that you’re wearing it (I do at least). The Seamaster is a strange watch and it certainly has its quirks, which as you know I’d revise, but it’s a watch that’s so unique and weird that is captures some kind of odd lightning in a bottle. I don’t think it makes a compelling argument at MSRP, but pre-owned or significantly discounted it’s easier to forgive some of the aforementioned quirks and oversights. It may be easier to hate than love, but it is a watch that nearly all watch-literati are familiar with and that’s saying something.
