It was 1970, in the midst of an era that delighted in unusual shapes and bright colors, when Cheap Omega Replica first released the attention-getting Seamaster Professional 600m, nicknamed the Ploprof. The watch, designed in collaboration with the French industrial diving company Comex, was conceived for professional use: the name “Ploprof” stands for plongeurs professionels, or professional divers. While Omega emphasized its functions, the model perfectly suited the styles of the 1970s, with a gigantic and unusually shaped case, a red button to unlock the divers’ bezel, a bright orange strap and a minute hand of the same color.
The Ploprof achieved fame in the wake of the spectacular underwater missions in which it participated. The most important of these was the Janus Program, with which Comex tested saturation diving for the Elf petroleum company. Three divers manned a pressured chamber 200 meters below the surface of the Gulf of Ajaccio, off Corsica, for eight consecutive days, during which they worked on the seafloor at 250 meters’ depth for up to six hours each day, setting a new depth record. Rolex at this time was experimenting with the helium valve, which it used for the first time in the Sea-Dweller in 1971, but Omega Replica Watches pursued a different strategy with its Ploprof: the case was constructed and insulated so that helium atoms couldn’t penetrate it during the saturation dive, preventing the danger of explosion during the subsequent decompression.
The new Ploprof, which debuted in 2009, looks very similar to its predecessor, but several differences become apparent at a second glance. The original had a one-piece case with a crystal applied under extremely high pressure and secured by a screwed ring, while the new model’s case has a separate caseback. An applied, pressure-fit cover is affixed to the case by a screwed-on ring. The old caseback was adorned only with a striped pattern, but the new one has both stripes and the Omega Replica Seamaster line’s seahorse icon in raised relief.Minor changes have also been made on the dial. The date is no longer located at the 3 o’clock position but has been shifted to 4:30. A luminous index now occupies that space at 3 o’clock, adding to the dial’s very symmetrical appearance. The luminous indices on the new model are applied and polished, which makes the dial look much more valuable than it had looked with the old lacquered indices. The same is true for the stainless-steel button that unlocks the bezel. It is surrounded by an orange, anodized aluminum ring, which replaces the old model’s rubber ring. The combination not only looks better, but it’s also significantly harder.
The result is very attractive, indeed. The time display and the divers’ bezel are both legible day and night. The dive scale, with numerals and a triangle, glows just as brightly as the hour hand, the minute hand and the indices on the dial. Even the seconds hand has a luminous rectangle so that its motion can be seen underwater to confirm that the Cheap Omega Replica is still running. Because of this combination of features, the Ploprof satisfies industrial diver’s watch standards DIN 8306 and ISO 6425, which many other so-called divers’ watches do not.
Another alteration simplifies the operation. The rectangular crown on the original Ploprof had been set flush with its protector; the wearer had to turn a screw in front of the protector to operate the crown. Also, the crown’s shape made it somewhat difficult to turn when resetting the hands. The Omega Replica Watches modern system is much more user-friendly: when screwed outward, the front part of the closed protector moves along with the crown, which is easy to grasp and to turn.
