I have a Mares Seta dive mask that I bought for my wife about 20 years ago. She wore glasses and I got optical lenses for it. They included the plain lenses when they delivered it.
She had laser surgery and doesn’t need the optical lenses anymore. How do I replace the original plain lenses? Does it require special equipment?
They don’t make the same model anymore but they are very close to this.
Former optician here. I’ve seen two different ways to put prescription lenses in diving masks. Some of them used an insert to hold the Rx lenses, similar to the ones used in Bollé and Oakley sunglasses. There were also some that required lenses with flat fronts to be glued to the backside of the mask. The latter provided a better seal, but made reusing them an iffy proposition. The one you linked to looks like it uses an insert, so a competent optician should have no problem putting new lenses in it, providing it’s still in decent shape.
Usually, you can just pull the rubber away from the old lens. It might stick a bit after all these years, but if you’re gentle, you should be able to stretch the rubber enough to pop out the lens. You’ll then see a groove; slide the new lens into it.
I did this many times while I worked at a dive shop
1st remove the brow piece, It should slide forward. If you look at the clear mask in the photos in the link you will see that the lens retainer is held in place by 4 tabs. Using your finger nail or a small flathead screw driver remove the first tab (any one you find easiest) and repeat with the other tabs.
The lense can then be removed, clean the silicone skirt with a clean cloth or paper towel and replace with the plain lens
This is how it turned out, and also I found a YouTube video showing someone doing it. (I found another video that was for a different type of install that wasn’t relevant at all.) I removed the brow piece, which I never would have realized was removable without this hint. Then it was fairly straightforward to remove the lens retainers by sliding the corners of an old plastic card underneath and prying up (didn’t want to use metal). The lenses were sticking to the silicone liners a bit but peeled off easily and the plain lenses went right in the same way. I have not yet tested for good seals.
It is, though it has seen very little use. I’ll bet she hasn’t used it more than three times. The seals seem to be silicone. I think that holds up better than organic rubber, which I suppose would have dry-rotted long ago.