The Evolving Designs of the Omega Constellation

The Constellation is often derided by the WIS (watch idiot savant) community as ‘dated’. This is particularly the case amongst tool watch devotees and others who favour more aggressive XL sized cases or those who hanker for the beautifully engineered and designed Constellations of the nine-fifties and sixties. But, despite the less than enthusiastic support amongst collectors of contemporary Omega watches, more high-end watch buyers purchase a Constellation than any other Omega series.

If the Omega Constellation collection was a brand in and of itself, it would be the fourth largest selling brand in the world!

The main supporters of the Constellation are women and buyers from the Orient: Japan, India, China and other Tiger economies just love ‘em. ....and it’s all because of the claws. (Click here for an essay on Carol Didisheim, the creator of this famous design)

The now ornamental claws or “griffes” on the Constellation case are one of the most recognisable watch design features on the globe. Unlike some western cultures, Oriental buyers appear to be more partial to dress and jewellery watches and are often more keenly attentive to the role brands play in communicating rank, wealth and position. In Asia, the distinctive claws of the Omega Constellation summon instant associations of brand eminence, sophistication and exclusivity, which suit the up-and-coming and younger demographics down to a tee.

So, don’t imagine that Omega will be departing from the classic Constellation design anytime soon. With such strong iconography, the Constellation with its unique claws and bezel is one of the most visible status watches in the oriental market, and its designs and positioning will remain static as long as it continues to enrich Omega’s coffers.

The Constellation design has been refreshed on a number of occasions since the advent of the original Manhattan models, the latest of which was just over a year ago. The case size of the mens model was increased to 38mm and the visible bridges and oscillating mass of the movement, decorated with Geneva waves in arabesque, can be seen through the crystal case-back.

Shown above is the mens model 123.20.38.21.13.001 in steel and red gold. An attractive and uncluttered brown dial - brushed in a radial fashion that emanates from the Constellation star - is complemented by truncated dagger minute and hour hands and chunky applied red gold hour markers. A larger rounded bezel with engraved roman numerals is anchored by the flatter and enlarged claws, giving the tonneau case a more aggressive and contemporary look. Under the dial is the exclusive Omega calibre 8500 co-axial movement which is proving to be one of the best series movements produced in the new millennium.

Priced at around $8000.00 USD or as little as $6300.00 at some on-line outlets, the new 38mm series Constellation offers a blend of excellent horology and a legendary design story.

New In-House Omega Chronograph Movement Launches at Baselworld 2011

Having alluded earlier this year to a production date of 2011, Steven Urquhart, Omega’s CEO, has confirmed  during a series of public statements this month that the long-awaited in-house chronograph movement will make its debut at Baselworld next year .

The new chronograph mechanism will not piggyback on top of a calibre 8500 series movement, and will be new from the bottom plate up. It will however copy the 8500's double-barrel power system, will incorporate three level coaxial technology and retain the now familiar column wheel configuration.

This new 14 lignes calibre with a power reserve of sixty hours – slated to be called the 9300 and 9301 - will replace the somewhat effete Piguet chronograph movements in all men’s watches. The Piguet 3313 will be enhanced with three-level co-axial technology and will find a home in women’s chronographs. Having once observed that weighing the mighty calibre 1861 against the Piguet chronographs was like comparing a builder’s labourer to a ballet dancer, I applaud the decision to build a more robust men’s chronograph movement.

Omega has acknowledged the need for a more sturdy chronograph movement with an emphasis on quality and reliability, the subtext of which is that the Piguet series did not live up to such benchmarks. The decision is yet another signal of Omega’s trajectory towards a manufacturing ethos that gave the brand such an unassailable reputation in production watchmaking in the nineteen-fifties and sixties.

I think that Omega aficionados will have much to anticipate at Baselworld next year.

Omega Coaxial Technology

Omega's introduction of the Co-Axial escapement in 1999 signaled the beginning of a revolution in innovation of escapement technology. Since this bold move by Omega, other watch companies have garnered the courage and resources to attempt their own improvements on the traditional Swiss lever escapement with varying degrees of success.

With the introduction of the exclusive Co-Axial calibre 8500 series in 2007, Omega can rightly claim to have achieved an impressive union of escapement design and watchmaking excellence that delivers better chronometric performance than any other 'production' watch movement in the world.

The short video below follows the production process of the formidable calibre 8500 series movements.

Omega Aqua Terra Jewellery Collection

These days there's no such thing, strictly, as an evening watch. The standards of formality have relaxed so markedly that the definition of formal wear has become tortuously ambiguous over the last three decades. It’s almost at the point where you could roll up at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester and bog into the tasting menu wearing little more than designer jeans and a Ploprof on your wrist!!

Wearing tool watches to black tie events and dress watches to work is commonplace…and in some ways more’s the pity. Men just don’t get as many opportunities anymore to climb into a penguin suit, don a precious metal watch, hang an elegant woman off their arm and mingle with polite society. Not that this new informality is particularly lamentable, but the joys of “dressing up” are few and far between these days.

To add to the ambiguity, watch companies have been transforming tool watches (watches designed and engineered to perform a particular function or in a designated environment) into dress watches and indeed dress watches into tool watches – witness the Omega Constellation Double-Eagle range (Talk about a design code identity crisis). And now the lines are to be blurred further with the release of the Aqua Terra jewellery range.

I’m a great fan of the Omega Aqua Terra collection, both from the aesthetic and horological viewpoint. Since I have waxed lyrically on the case lines and design elements of the AT previously, we will explore other features of this newly released series. To start with, Omega has taken a commonsense approach to case size. Discerning some movement in the market towards cases that do not rival the diameter of Dawn French’s backside, Omega has sized the case sensibly at 38.5mm. It’s hardly small by today's standards, but cleverly positioned in the dead middle of the size-fashion continuum.

The dial looks appealing with the Aqua-Terra’s signature teak design finished in black lacquer. The faceted arrow-head markers are dotted with eleven single cut diamonds and there is a brushed 18 Karat gold applied date window at 3 o'clock. The broad arrow minute hand, truncated Dauphine hour hand and arrowhead sweep draw deeply from Omega’s history and the overall effect of dial and hands is that of deliberately understated luxury.

The watch is presented on either a brushed 18 karat gold bracelet with Omega’s patented screw-and-pin system and a safety clasp or a black alligator leather strap with a fold-over clasp. A stainless steel version is also available.

The bezel is paved set with 52 full-cut diamonds and screams money or at least access to an excellent credit line. Overall, when comparing apples with apples, or jewellery watches with jewellery watches, the Aqua Terra has a timeless refinement about it and shapes up very well as an heirloom watch. Couple stylish design with the excellent calibre 8500 series under the dial and you have an aristocratic member of the montre bijoux class of watches.

The market niche for this collection? Women for sure, but I can also see half the Chinese Politburo salivating over these watches. A fair number of the more effete varieties of fashionisti would stab each other in the back for one and wealthy dudes with no sexual identity issues will wear them without self-consciousness. And if you add the usual suspects like gansta rappers, hip-hoppers, crack cocaine lords and Ryan Seacrest clones, there will be no shortages of takers.

Click on the pictures for magnified view

Omega Seamaster Ploprof 1200m White Dial - Another Great White?

The Omega "Great White" Seamaster GMT Chronometer Ref: 2538.20 was a popular model amongst dive watch aficionados, made more-so after Omega decided to discontinue the line. For those who suffered remorse over not acquiring a Great White while it was in production, the “Greater than Great White” version of the Ploprof 1200m should extinguish any such regrets……at more than double the investment!

Ploprof’s design code is undoubtedly the most distinctive of any dive watch on the market, and the polished, lacquered white dial with applied polished Omega symbol and logo will do much to establish it in the world of fad and fashion. The white Ploprof is still a serious bit of kit for the professional diver, however, its idiosyncratic lines, visual appeal and impressive dimensions of 55m x 48mm x 17.5mm have already ensured its migration to the emaciated wrists of androgynes who walk the catwalks of high fashion, as it has their more beefy brethren who insist time-telling accessories be at least the size of New Hampshire.

The watch, sporting a white bi-directional locking bezel with chrome-coated Arabic numerals, snow white dial with super-Lume polished indexes has an over-sized minute hand crafted from orange anodised aluminium and is coated with white Super-Lume for legibility, as are the varnished hour and seconds hands.

While the white dial softens some of its aggression, the raw, retro-industrial quality of the Ploprof case design means that the nearest to water many Ploprofs will ever get is a sudden downpour, and that’s fine. For the Ploprof “Greater than Great White” is an amazing piece of hardware that demands a wider audience.

For a review of the original re-released Ploprof, click here

Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz “35th Anniversary”

Above: Deke Slayton and Aleksey Leonov meet in space. © NASA

On July 17, 1975, the unimaginable happened: two Cold War-rivals met in space. The timing was propitious as both super-powers were suffering the debilitating effects of their belligerency down on planet earth. It was a perfect distraction for Americans reeling from the US military defeat in Vietnam, the worsening US economy and the unceremonious dumping of arch-villain Richard Nixon as President. It also provided a useful diversion to the Soviets, suffering under the crushing Brezhnev regime and the privations of a bleak and oppressive one-party state.

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project saw astronauts Tom Stafford, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton and Vance Brand in an Apollo command and service module docking with a Soyuz capsule manned by Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov. This historic ‘coupling’ ushered in a new era of cooperative ventures between two countries that once were fierce rivals in the "space race." As Tom Stafford remarked, the Apollo-Soyuz mission "showed the whole world that if the Soviet Union and America could work together in space, they could work together on the Earth." And so, while the effluxion of time has muted the significance of this important event, it was a very big deal at the time. Big enough indeed for Omega to mark the occasion with a limited edition Speedmaster release at Basel 2010.

The OMEGA Apollo-Soyuz “35th Anniversary” Speedmaster Professional is like any other Professional with the exception of its unusual dial. In a limited edition release of 500 pieces, it is powered by the indestructible hand-wind calibre 1861, a direct descendant of the Moon Watch. (click here for an excellent review of the 1861 by Jack Forster)

The dial was produced from a meteorite (Omega has not revealed where or when the object was found) that hurtled through the earth’s atmosphere and survived high-speed impact with the terrestrial surface. The meteorite’s unusual structure is the result of its very high temperature when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere, followed by a period of cooling. The dial is a single piece cut from the meteorite; accordingly, because no two pieces of the meteorite are exactly alike, each watch in this limited edition is absolutely unique.

The black colour of the meteorite dial is the result of a surface oxidation process. The silvery seconds hand and chronograph counters appear in the meteorite’s natural colour. In the flesh, this is a stunning looking piece and may well turn out to be eminently collectible because of its limited numbers and one-off dial treatment.

Click on the above pictures for high-res images and for an incredible resource on Speedmasters click here for jean-Michel's Speedmaster-Mission.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Annual Calendar

The new Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Annual Calendar is about the closest thing you will see to line breeding in horology, for this Seamaster is a living embodiment of the genetic material that made the House of Omega such an unassailable presence in the world of production watchmaking during the halcyon nineteen-fifties and sixties.

Precision, ingenuity, quality, durability and style were the foundations upon which Omega’s reputation was originally built, and it’s gratifying to see a strong selection of these genes combine with today’s technology and meticulous production processes to create the Seamaster genotype we see in the Aqua Terra today. This is not hyperbole, but recognition of the long and restorative journey undertaken by Omega towards its true origins.

While some horological petrol-heads (a complimentary term that describes lovers of mechanical watches) have slated Omega’s Basel offerings this year as somewhat pedestrian, another way to view the company’s 2010 Basel releases is that of a year of consolidation: a year of building on a solid base of real accomplishment and innovation over the last decade. Let’s not forget the U.S. financial debacle and its impact on many of the boutique and less honorable Swiss brands, and let’s not forget that crises of this nature have a way of influencing trends and preferences. And so, we see prudence and circumspection reflected in the Omega 2010 portfolio – rightly so for any responsible watch producer.

The Seamaster Aqua Terra Annual Calendar is a natural outcome of this period of consolidation. Firstly, Omega recognises that that the Aqua Terra collection is a favourite amongst those who know their watches and are impressed by good engineering, good design and thoughtful innovation. Secondly, the AT Annual Calendar is powered by the in house Co-Axial 8601/8611 series (see here for a review of this family of calibres). Thirdly, the classic design of this model means that, unlike some of the more grotesque tool watches on offer across the brands today, the Aqua Terra is a stayer, and a likely collectible of the future.

The AT Annual calendar has authentic and not faddish style. Let’s explore the aesthetics of the bi-colour stainless steel and 18k pink gold model. The matt black dial is machined to create the appearance of decking, described by Omega as a “teak concept”. The surface of the dial has been radially brushed and the pink gold dial furniture strongly etched in a linear adoucissage finish. Sculpted in a contemporary asymmetric fashion, the date surround compliments the blunted applied arrow head hour markers beautifully. The classic Omega symbol and logo are applied in pink gold and all lettering is expertly embossed. A faceted and blunted Dauphine hour hand is contrasted by arrow-headed minute hand and second sweep. This uncluttered but strong union of design features renders a pleasing, timeless and sophisticated effect.

The case is an understatement. The polished pink gold bezel is offset by a brushed finish on the case body with a classic black polish chamfer that curls around the lugs, referencing four decades of case design of the Seamaster marque. A semi-recessed crown completes this elegant and subtle case design.

As mentioned earlier, The AT Annual calendar is powered by the OMEGA Co-Axial calibre 8601/8611. It is a high-precision COSC-certified chronometer that features the additional functionality of an instantaneous jump annual calendar complication. The movement automatically recognises months with 30 and 31 days and needs to be manually corrected only once a year, on March 1st. It also features an exclusive Si 14 balance spring that eliminates issues of magnetism and results in minimal loss of recovery of oscillating performance of the balance wheel when subjected to disturbances or shocks.

Perhaps in hindsight the Aqua Terra Annual Calendar will be viewed by collectors as a milestone piece, a watch that represented the very DNA of a revived and revitalised Omega manufactory.