Omega
Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as Louis Brandt et Fils until incorporating the name Omega in 1903, becoming Louis Brandt et Frère-Omega Watch & Co. In 1984, the company officially changed its name to Omega SA and opened its museum in Biel/Bienne to the public. Omega is a subsidiary of the Swatch Group. Britain's Royal Flying Corps used Omega watches in 1917 for its combat units, followed by the U.S. Army in 1918, and NASA in 1969 for Apollo 11. The Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch is marketed as the first watch worn on the Moon, becoming one of the watchmaker's most iconic models. Omega is the current official timekeeper of the Olympics, having first done so in 1932, in addition to being the timekeeper of the America's Cup yacht race. In 1848, Louis Brandt founded the company that would become Omega in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He assembled key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen. He sold his watches from Italy to Scandinavia by way of England, his chief market. In 1877, his sons Louis-Paul and César joined him, and the company name was changed to Louis Brandt & Fils. In 1894, his two sons Louis-Paul and César developed their own in-house manufacturing and total production control system that allowed component parts to be interchangeable. Watches developed with these techniques were marketed under the Omega brand of Louis Brandt & Frere. By 1903, the success of the Omega brand led Louis Brandt & Frere to rename their company to the Omega Watch Co. Louis-Paul and César Brandt both died in 1903, leaving one of Switzerland's largest watch companies — with 240,000 watches produced annually and employing 800 people — in the hands of four young people, the oldest of whom, Paul-Emile Brandt, was not yet 24. The economic difficulties brought on by the First World War led Paul-Emile Brandt to work in 1925 towards
Collections
Constellation
Omega's flagship dress watch collection, introduced in 1952. Known for precision and the iconic 'claws' on the case.
De Ville
Elegant, thin dress watches featuring Omega's most refined movements including the Co-Axial escapement.
Aqua Terra
Seamaster Diver 300M
Seamaster Planet Ocean
Speedmaster (Non-Moonwatch)
Trésor
LadyMatic
Museum Collection
Speedmaster Reduced
Speedmaster Broad Arrow
Railmaster
Seamaster 120M
Seamaster 300
Speedmaster '57
Globemaster
Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon
X-33 / Z-33
Dynamic
Speedmaster Chronoscope
Seamaster PloProf
Speedmaster First Omega in Space
Seamaster Bullhead
Miscellaneous
Speedmaster Pilot
Speedmaster Moonwatch
Omega Speedmaster is a line of luxury chronograph wristwatches produced by Omega SA. While chronographs have existed since the late 1800s, Omega first introduced this line of chronographs in 1957. Since then, many different chronograph movements have been marketed under the Speedmaster name. Astronaut Walter Schirra was the first person to wear one in space in 1962 during his Mercury-Atlas 8 mission. The manual winding Speedmaster Professional or "Moonwatch" is the best-known and longest-produced; it was worn during the first American spacewalk as part of NASA's Gemini 4 mission, and was the first watch worn by an astronaut walking on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. The Speedmaster Professional remains one of several watches qualified by NASA for spaceflight, and is still the only one so qualified for EVA. The Speedmaster line also includes other models, including analog-digital and automatic mechanical watches. The Speedmaster was not originally designed for space exploration. Instead, it was introduced in 1957 as a sport and racing chronograph following on from the early chronographs of the 1920s and 1930s, including the Omega 28.9 chronograph, which was Omega's first small wrist chronograph, complementing Omega's position as the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games. The first Speedmaster model, the reference CK 2915, was powered by the Omega Calibre 321 movement. This movement was developed in 1946 by Albert Piguet of Lemania, which had been acquired in 1932 by Omega's parent company, Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère, (SSIH). The "Speedmaster" name was coined from the model's novel tachymeter scale bezel (in brushed stainless steel) and by the convention set by prior Omega brands Seamaster and Railmaster. The model established the series's hallmark 12-hour, triple-register chronograph layout, domed Plexiglas crystal (named Hésalite), and simple, high-contrast index markers; but, unlike most subsequent Speedmaster models, it used Omega's
Seamaster
The Omega Seamaster is a line of automatic winding mechanical diving watches from Omega with a history that can be traced back to the original water-resistant dress-style watch released in 1948. The Seamaster collection is perhaps best known today for the Seamaster Diver Professional 300m model that has been worn in the James Bond movie franchise since 1995. Originally conceived as a dressy, water-resistant timepiece, the Omega Seamaster has evolved to a robust sports watch line, typically with a stainless steel case, robust water resistance, and an official chronometer-certified movement within. The Diver Professional 300m is most famous for its "train-track" five link steel bracelet, its helium release valve at the 10:00 position, the wave pattern dial on certain model generations, and the skeletonized handset. The current model range is split into separate lines of Seamaster models: the Aqua Terra line serves as the everyday sports watch model, the Diver Professional 300m line is the successor to the 1995 James Bond watch, the Planet Ocean line serves as the heavier duty dive watch line, and the Seamaster 300 (not to be confused with the Diver 300m) and Railmaster lines are modern versions of those iconic models from Omega's past. In 2019, three specially made experimental watches dubbed Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professionals survived a 10,928 meter dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench affixed to the bathyscaphe Limiting Factor, setting a new world record at the time as deepest dive watch by 12 meters. Omega produces several models of Seamaster watches, with numerous variations of case materials, bracelet, water resistance, and case diameter. The current offerings among the Seamaster line are below: The Seamaster line also includes the below Heritage Models: The Seamaster is the longest-running product line still produced by Omega. It was introduced in 1948, and was based upon designs made for the British Royal Navy towards the end of Worl