Omega

Every watch in this Summer Blue capsule collection is a timely tribute to the Omega Seamaster 75th anniversary

Omega

Every watch in this Summer Blue capsule collection is a timely tribute to the Omega Seamaster 75th anniversary

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For town, sea and country! Since its birth in 1948, the Omega Seamaster has proven itself a worthy instrument at any and all depths
As Omega’s longest running product line and its first family of watches, the Seamaster is, in many ways, the watch that defined the manufacture as we know it today. Its birth in 1948 set Omega on a trajectory that consistently married two facets of watchmaking that were often diametrically opposed: Sporty robustness and sophisticated elegance. As we mark the Omega Seamaster 75th anniversary this year, it’s worth remembering that this watch predates all of today’s iconic luxury sports watches, many of which were made in the 70s with the exception of the Rolex Daytona which arrived in 1953.
It was one of the first timepieces introduced during the post-war years when Omega, flush with an incredible wealth of newly developed technical prowess, sought to create a modern watch for a modern era. According to this Revolution archival article on the Seamaster by Ken Kessler: To ensure that this point hits home, Omega itself describes the Seamaster 1948 as “A tribute to OMEGA’s peaceful use of wartime technology.”
The 1948 Seamaster thus blended battle-proven technology with an elegant exterior that’s better suited to everyday life while proffering 60 meters water resistance. But Omega’s pursuit of aquatic excellence had actually begun more than 10 years prior. In 1932 the company launched the world’s first commercially available diver’s watch, the Omega Marine. Collectors and Omegamaniacs will quickly recall that this was the legendary one with a square shaped patented double case sealed with cork to keep the case watertight and protect its movement from the elements. Tested to 73 meters underwater (and pressure-tested to 135 meters), it also had an adjustable clasp with a diver’s extension so wearers could make microadjustments for a better fit to the wrist.
Bearing in mind that wristwatches were just on the cusp of normalization in the 1930s, the Omega Marine opened up a world of new possibilities for civilian timekeeping – and the pioneering years of scuba diving as well, even though most historians prefer to regard the 1950s as the watershed decade for scuba since that was when it became popularized as a leisure activity. More importantly for watch enthusiasts, this was the point when the Omega Seamaster got swole and toughened up its classical aesthetic to a more robust build quality that we immediately recognize today.

 

So, in celebrating the Omega Seamaster 75th anniversary, the company introduced a capsule collection of seven new Seamasters, each of which pays tribute to the momentous triumphs of this oceangoing icon.

Seamaster 300

After introducing the first Seamaster in 1948, Omega spent the following years buried deep in R&D, with the aim to build an even more robust diver’s watch. That came in the form of the Seamaster 300, presented in 1957 as part of the company’s “professional” trilogy which includes the Speedmaster and the Railmaster. With its narrow bezel made of Bakelite, straight-lugged case sans crown guards, easy to read dial, exceptional water resistance, and absolutely stunning broad arrow hour hand, the Seamaster 300 reference CK2913 heralded a bold new era for Omega. From this point, the company would persist in its quest to conquer the oceanic depths, a commitment expressed by the presence of the Naiad star set within the logo on the crown.

Omega Seamaster 300 in Summer Blue.

Omega Seamaster 300

As such, the Omega Seamaster 75th anniversary celebrations cannot begin without this landmark timepiece. The latest version is dressed in an alluring blue colourway. While blue watches have been trending in the luxury watch space for years, Omega has christened this specific tone Summer Blue, recalling shimmering waters of the Greek isles as a subtle nod to naiads, the water spirits of Greek mythology.

 

This 41mm novelty in stainless steel has a symmetrical case and crown featuring polished and brushed surfaces, along with a matching bracelet. But it would be the varnished dial in gradient tones that take up most of the limelight, as well as that delightful lollipop seconds hand that all Omega collectors adore. Its hour hand, seconds hand, recessed hour markers and open numerals are filled with light blue SuperLuminova, while the minute hand and and dot at 12 o’clock are filled with green SuperLuminova.

Omega Seamaster 300

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8912; 60-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Case: 41mm; stainless steel; water resistant to 300m
Dial: Summer Blue varnished with gradient finish
Strap: Bracelet in stainless steel
Price: SGD 10,400

Seamaster Ploprof

Sometimes known as the world’s most distinctive dive watch, the Seamaster Professional 600 (affectionately called the Ploprof) introduced in 1971 arrived during the boom years of offshore exploration and engineering. In this Revolution archival article on the Ploprof by The Watch Club’s Justin Koullapis: Omega worked with specialist dive engineering firm COMEX, the oil company Elf, and the French Centre National pour l’Exploitation des Océans in testing a watch that could withstand the deadly forces encountered by divers working at depth. Three prototype Ploprofs accompanied divers on the undersea Janus II expedition, spending four hours a day diving at 255m.

Omega Seamaster Ploprof

During this eight-day excursion, the men lived on the ocean floor in a dry, pressurised undersea habitat, not surfacing for over a week. Later the same year, the watch was successfully tested to nearly double that pressure, on the wrist of Jacques Cousteau, l’Homme Poisson himself.
The article continues: the aim of these tests was ostensibly to secure contracts to supply dive watches to COMEX, however, the contract ended up being awarded to Rolex instead. Unlike the Sea-Dweller, the Ploprof has no helium escape valve. Indeed, it doesn’t need one. Its unique construction does away with the necessity to vent pressurized gas from inside the case. Omega’s novel method of fixing the crystal to the tough monobloc case eliminated the need for a helium escape valve.

Omega Seamaster Ploprof

Marking the Omega Seamaster’s 75th anniversary is a new Ploprof model updated to Omega’s latest technical specifications, with all the trappings of a state-of-the-art modern professional diver’s watch. Crafted in O-MEGASTEEL, its bezel ring is topped with a sapphire crystal with light blue varnish, mirroring the chemically reinforced monolithic crystal used in the early Ploprofs. Its sun-brushed dial offers a deeper version of Summer Blue alluding to the great depths to which this watch is capable of exploring, 1,200 meters or 4,000 feet.

Omega Seamaster Ploprof

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8912; 60-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Case: 55 x 45mm; O-MEGASTEEL; water resistant to 1,200m
Dial: Sun-brushed Summer Blue varnished with gradient finish
Strap: Blue rubber with pin buckle
Price: SGD 20,000

Seamaster Diver 300M

Always remembering its civilian customers, Omega conscientiously worked on improving its range of dive-worthy watches for deep-sea adventurers of the leisure kind. In 1993 the company released the Seamaster Diver 300M, a stylish timepiece with the ability to keep track of time on land as well as underwater. With its distinctive diving scale, skeleton hands, bold raised indexes and for the first time a helium release valve, it is an oceanic icon par excellence and the very model worn by Pierce Brosnan in his first appearance in a James Bond movie, 1995’s GoldenEye. Other highly distinctive features include the unique five-link bracelet and a wave-pattern dial.

Omega Seamaster Diver 300M

Omega Seamaster Diver 300M

The 75th anniversary commemorative model is cased in 42mm stainless steel. Its blue ceramic bezel comes with Summer Blue grand feu enamel diving scale, its dial a Summer Blue ceramic varnished with a gradient finish. Light blue SuperLuminova fills the skeleton hour hand and raised indexes, while green SuperLuminova marks out the dot at 12 and the minute hand which is also skeletonized.

Omega Seamaster Diver 300M

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8800; 55-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date
Case: 42mm; stainless steel with blue ceramic bezel; water resistant to 300m
Dial: Summer Blue wave-pattern ceramic varnished with gradient finish
Strap: Bracelet in stainless steel or blue rubber strap
Price: SGD 8,800 (bracelet) 8,300 (rubber strap)

Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M

For town, sea and country. This was the motto of Omega’s Seamaster and the Seamaster Aqua Terra proves to be as stylish as it is seaworthy. Released in 2002 it boasts a restrained display recalling the clean lines of the original Seamaster 300 of 1957 while proffering a host of modern fixes that yachting enthusiasts would definitely appreciate. These include ocean-inspired design touches such as indexes that recall the silhouette of a sailboat and teak pattern dials reminescent of luxury yacht decks.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M in 41mm

Underscoring the Seamaster’s knack for unifying technology with elegance, the latest Aqua Terra 150M line features three new references with symmetrical cases and crowns, all in 38mm or 41mm stainless steel. The latter with its teak-pattern dial can be worn on either steel bracelet or blue rubber strap, but all Aqua Terra 150M models have a beautiful sun-kissed Summer Blue dial that’s the perfect color of crystal blue shallow waters.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M in 38mm

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8800; 55-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date
Case: 41mm or 38mm; stainless steel; water resistant to 150m
Dial: Sun-brushed Summer Blue varnished with gradient finish
Strap: Bracelet in stainless steel or blue textured rubber strap
Price: SGD 9,750 (38mm) 9,250 (41mm on bracelet) 8,950 (41mm on rubber strap)

Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M

Also drawing inspiration from the 1957 Seamaster 300, the Seamaster Planet Ocean first arrived in 2005 sporting a bright orange bezel as well as that distinctive helium escape valve. More significantly, it debuted Omega’s famous Co-Axial escapement which premiered in the Caliber 2500. Another James Bond timepiece of choice – this time Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace and SkyFall – Planet Ocean pays homage to Omega’s renowned ocean heritage, performing brilliantly at 600 meters beneath sea level.

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M

This 75th anniversary commemorative model is, like all the aforementioned ones so far, dressed in Summer Blue but ups the ante with Omega sports watch hot favorite features. These include the blue ceramic bezel with light blue diving scale and a vertically brushed Summer Blue ceramic dial indicated by the ZrO2 inscription varnished with a gradient finish. This 39.5mm model has a case and bracelet in stainless steel, in addition to light blue and green SuperLuminova for the hands and markers.

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8800; 55-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date
Case: 39.5mm; stainless steel with blue ceramic bezel; water resistant to 600m
Dial: Sun-brushed Summer Blue ceramic varnished with gradient finish
Strap: Bracelet in stainless steel or blue textured rubber strap
Price: SGD 10,400

Seamaster Aqua Terra WorldTimer

Offering the ideal balance of sport elegance and state-of-the-art fine watchmaking, the arrival of the Seamaster Aqua Terra WorldTimer introduced a new dimension into the Seamaster world. Not only was it the first world time complication in the collection, it adopted laser technology to achieve dials of extraordinary texture and color.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra WorldTimer

In addition to the 24 time zones, we get a beautiful depiction of our planet Earth as viewed from afar set against a dreamy backdrop accentuated by grooves reminiscent of the lines of longitude. This image of Earth is done using a laser-ablation technique applied on grade 5 titanium. Around the dial we find a circle of silvery printed global destinations and a 24-hour ring marked in day and night segments, all sitting under a hesalite glass crystal.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra WorldTimer

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra WorldTimer

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8938; 60-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, world time
Case: 43mm; stainless steel; water resistant to 150m
Dial: Laser-ablated grade 5 titanium vision of Earth in sun-brushed Summer Blue with gradient finish
Strap: Bracelet in stainless steel or blue textured rubber strap
Price: SGD 13,900 (rubber strap) 14,250 (bracelet)

Seamaster Ultra Deep

Representing Omega’s deepest, most water resistant diver’s watch purpose-built to explore extreme depths of our ocean, the Seamaster Ultra Deep has a mind-blowing water resistance rating of 6,000 incredible meters, or 20,000 feet. If Jules Verne were alive today and interested in updating his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, there is absolutely no doubt as to which extreme diver’s watch should be included in the plot. This is a watch that made history, in 2019, by accompanying American private equity investor, retired naval officer and undersea explorer Victor Vescovo on his journey to the bottom of the ocean. Reaching all five of the world’s deepest trenches in a self-piloted submersible, the Seamaster Ultra Deep was therefore tested in real ocean conditions before being made available to the public.

Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep

Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep

This is why its dial bears a representation of Challenger Deep mapped by Vescovo’s Five Deeps team using almost one million sonar points. Its lacquered finish produced by letting an ocean of lacquer flow across the dial has a beautiful sense of depth. Yet this 45.5mm watch in O-MEGASTEEL also has a playful side, one that is instantly revealed when it is placed under UV light. You’ll find the words ‘Omega was here’ along with the world record dive of 10,950 meters, and a sketch of Challenger Deep’s Western, Central and Eastern pools. An absolutely astounding timepiece with a most inspirational backstory.

Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep

Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8912; 60-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Case: 45.5mm; O-MEGASTEEL; water resistant to 6,000m
Dial: Summer Blue with lacquer finish and exact representation of Challenger Deep
Strap: Bracelet in O-MEGASTEEL
Price: SGD 18,200
All seven models in the Seamaster Summer Blue collection are fitted with Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer movements and feature a unique 75th anniversary case back engraved or imprinted with a sculptural representation of Greek god of the ocean Poseidon and two seahorses. This was Omega’s 1956 original design representing the Seamaster collection. Accompanying the watches is a selection of accessories and collectible merchandise espousing the collection’s vibrant spirit and summer blue palette.