Omega Seamaster Black Black Diver 300

The Low-Down

“The Darkside of the Moon has been one of the most successful modern interpretations of the Speedmaster,” explains Omega’s CEO Raynald Aeschlimann. He continues, “So the idea behind the Seamaster Black Black Diver 300 is to create a kind of cousin to that watch in the Seamaster family.” But one look at Omega’s latest blacked out diving watch and you can see that Aeschlimann and his team including Gregory Kissling and Jean Claude Monachon have capitalized on material innovation and in particular advanced techniques in surface decoration to an unprecedented level. The result is a watch, which is in principal black and yet exhibits an incredible variety in tones of black to create truly remarkable visibility and legibility despite its ultra-stealth, dark ops, Ninja-cool appearance.

Says Kissling Omega’s head of product development, “The idea is that by treating the surfaces with different decorative techniques we are able to have a dial and bezel that are super easy to read which is critical for a diving watch, yet is all made of the same material which is black ceramic. For example the dial starts off as a disc of high polished ceramic and each of the matt finishes are laser engraved onto the surface to create a negative relief effect.” Kissling continues, “The key is Laser Ablation which both removes material and changes the remaining surface texture through irradiating it with a laser beam. As a result the entire dial, the signature Seamaster waves and almost all its markers including the Omega logo and the “swiss made” hallmark are all made using a laser. The only elements that are added are the applied hour indexes which are filled with black Super Luminova.”

Similarly the bezel starts off as a polished ceramic disc and has all its minute markers, as well as the inverted triangle for the start of the elapsed dive time etched by laser ablation in negative relief. The matt surface is decorated with a unique pattern that resembles as Kissling puts it, “dinosaur skin.” He adds, “This pattern has the added advantage of not showing fingerprints. If you sandblast ceramic the resulting surface will show every finger print.”

IMHO

The case of the watch also in ceramic receives lovely brushed and polished surface treatments. Even the caseback is replete with Niad Lock technology, a type of bayonet mounting system which allows it to be positioned so it is perfectly aligned and receives a special circular brushed finish.

The message with the Black Black Diver 300 is clear. It might be a black watch but it is not a fashion watch where design and execution is superficial. It is a symbol of all the badass technology that Omega and Swatch group have invested in and have at their disposal. When asked about this Aeschlimann replied, “Look this is simply the way we do things at Omega. If we make a black watch we want to make it with a certain integrity. If it’s going to be ceramic than every part of the dial, the crowns, the bezel, the case and the caseback should be ceramic. And if we can use laser technology to decorate the entire watch including the dial then we are going to do it because ultimately it is the customer who has something that represents real authenticity.”

At 43.5 mm the Black Black Diver 300 is a bit on the large side but by virtue of being blacked out to the max it feels slightly smaller and sits very well on the wrist. The result is one of the coolest diving watches in recent memory.

Omega Seamaster 300 Bronze Gold

The Low-Down

Says Jean-Claude Monachon, “As a demonstration of Omega’s integrity we recognized that bronze is a material that is very trendy in the watch industry but we have not yet made a bronze watch because we feel the material is compromised.” Says Kissling, “It’s simple. Bronze is not totally hypoallergenic. And as such if it touches your skin it discolors it. That is why every single bronze watch has a caseback and a buckle in a different material such as steel or titanium. This is often PVD coated to look bronze. But it is not bronze. And this was not good enough for Omega. So when we looked into bronze the first objective was to create an alloy that was hypoallergenic so that the entire watch including the caseback and the buckle could all be made of the same material.”

Following in the precious metal material innovation expressed by Sedna Gold and Moonshine Gold, Omega has seriously elevated the status of traditional bronze. It’s new proprietary alloy features 50 percent copper but a whopping 37 percent gold. Says Kissling, “Strictly speaking this is classified as nine carat gold. We also add palladium to enhance the hue of the material to make it much more luminous. As well as gallium and silver.” The result is a bronze gold with a strikingly beautiful look and that in terms of color sits between Sedna Gold and Moonshine Gold.

IMHO

The first use of this material is featured in an all new Seamaster 300 that takes its design codes from the 1962 Seamaster 300 but at the same time is an altogether new animal. Says Aeschlimann, “We have taken some design inspiration from the past, but at the same time this is an altogether new design that is a contemporary watch. I sometimes feel that there is an over reliance on vintage codes in our industry and while it is important to connect to your heritage you must continue to innovate technically and in terms of design.”

Omega is very good at this as demonstrated by the new Speedmaster Moonwatch which dropped in the beginning of this year. These watches certainly invoke certain classic codes, the stepped dial, the dot over 90 bezel, the flatish link bracelet, but they are massively elevated in quality in comparison to the previous generation Speedies and definitely over the vintage watches. Take for example the dials. These are laser engraved to create much deeper voids so that the luminous material can be many times brighter and last here times longer.

The new Seamaster features a sandwich construction dial. The dial starts as a raw German Silver disc which is laser engraved with the minute markers and signature Arabic hour indexes. These are filled with colored Super Luminova. A cover plate is fixed over this to create an enhanced sense of depth. One of my favorite details for the Bronze Gold Seamaster 300 is that the cover plate is made of bronze. Its dark brown color is achieved by intentionally oxidizing this traditional bronze. This is a subtle but important detail. Why? When Omega launched the BA 145.022-69 to celebrate the moon landing it did so with a yellow gold watch featuring a solid yellow gold dial. When Omega under Aeschlimann launched the 50th Anniversary Apollo 11 watch it did so with the proprietary Moonshine gold for the case but also the dial. When Omega launched the grail status Speedmaster Silver Snoopy 50th Anniversary watch it featured a solid Silver dial. So for Omega using dials that match the case is an important tradition. Says Kissling, “What is nice is that as a result of the dial color coming from oxidation each dial is unique.” The watch features the Seamaster 300’s iconic Broad Arrow hands. The seconds hand also features this famous motif.

Omega Seamaster 300 Steel Black and Blue dials

The Low-Down

The new Seamaster is of course offered in a steel case with both black and blue dials. These watches also feature the sandwich style dial. Says Kissling, “We were able to enlarge the opening of the dial by an additional 1 mm and this gives a completely different feeling to the watch. The bezel is made of aluminum and features a special anodized treatment that we used for the first time in the Bond Seamaster 300 from last year.”

Omega has changed the bracelet to give it an increased taper from 21mm to 16mm to be more in alignment with the older style unit and the watch also features the iconic lollipop hand that began to appear in Seamasters in 1962 with reference 1475-61 (as with Speedmasters watches were usually delivered the following year) as well as the stunning and distinct Broad Arrow Hands.

IMHO

It should be noted that the lume on vintage Speedmasters tends to age even more aggressively than the lume on Seamasters probably because they were subjected to sun and moisture so much more. Omega has followed the burnt caramel color with the lume of this watch. But like all the watches here, this steel timepiece is thoroughly modern in its performance capabilities. It is Master Chronometer certified and features Omega’s famous Co-Axial escapement. What is clear is that with the incredible success of the Speedmaster line, Aeschlimann is also now lifting up the Seamaster family with these three new watches which together form an impressive second act for Omega in 2021 following the massively successful new Speedmaster launch.

Tech Specs

Movement: Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8806; 3.5 Hz frequency; power reserve of 55 hours; rhodium-plated rotor and bridges.
Case & Dial: 43.5 mm black ceramic case; unidirectional rotating bezel with laser ablated black ceramic ring and polished diving scale in positive relief; dot at 12H with anthracite Super-LuminNova
Black ceramic [ZrO2] dial laser engraved pattern with waves on top; black PVD indexes with anthracite Super-LumiNova ; polished faceted black PVD skeleton hands, anthracite Super-LumiNova
Strap: Integrated black rubber on polished-brushed black ceramic [ZrO ]
Price: CHF 8,600

Movement: Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8912; 3.5 Hz frequency; power reserve of 60 hours; rhodium-plated rotor and bridges.
Case & Dial: 41 mm Bronze-Au 375 gold case with ceramic bezel ring; water resistant up to 300m; unidirectional rotating bezel; polished brown ceramic ring filled with ” vintage ” Super-LumiNova diving scale ; dot at 12H with ” vintage ” Super-LumiNova Oxidized bronze [CuSn8] dial with patina; polished faceted PVD bronze-gold coloured hour-minute and seconds hands with ” vintage “Super-LumiNova.
Strap: Brown leather strap
Price: CHF 11,500

Movement: Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8912; 3.5 Hz frequency; power reserve of 60 hours; rhodium-plated rotor and bridges.
Case & Dial: Stainless steel 41 mm case; water resistant up to 300m; unidirectional rotating bezel, with an anodised aluminum ring filled with ” vintage ” Super-LumiNova diving scale, dot at 12H with ” vintage ” Super-LumiNova; screw-in caseback, polished- brushed, wave-edged design engraved with ” CO-AXIAL MASTER CHRONOMETER “. Blue or black dial with ” vintage ” Super-LumiNova (blue emission); polished faceted rhodium-plated hour-minute hands and lollipop seconds hands with ” vintage “Super-LumiNova.
Bracelet: Brown leather strap or polished-brushed Omega’s patented screw-and-pin bracelet with new integration to the case.
Price: CHF 6,150 for black dial and CHF 6,450 for blue dial