Feature

Omega’s Magnum Opus

by Jeremiah Chan . Mar 6, 2023

During October last year, I received the surprise of a lifetime when Wei told me that due to a conflict in his schedules, he wouldn’t be able to attend an Omega press trip and that I would be going in his stead. To be handed such an opportunity not even a year into my fledgling journalistic career is quite an honor indeed so I have to thank the bossman right off the bat. The excitement of attending my very first overseas press trip, organized by one of my absolute favorite watch brands in the world was quickly eclipsed during my first meeting with my would-be chaperone, the lovely Ms Pauline Tang, head of Marketing and Communications for Omega at Swatch Group Southeast Asia. Prior to our departure, she had stirred up my expectations to a fever pitch by being suitably cryptic about what lay ahead: “We are going to unveil a complication that no one has ever done before.”

The event was held at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, widely acclaimed for its acoustics and architecture – a structure of undulating waves wrapped in stainless steel. Funded in large part by the Disney family and company as a contribution to the arts, the concert hall has been the home of the city’s philharmonic orchestra and chorale for almost two decades, and was designed by none other than Frank Gehry, one of the 20th century’s most celebrated architects. Just like Gehry’s revolutionary, deconstructivist body of work, Omega had picked a perfect location to reveal what would turn out to be a pivotal moment in its history and the beginning of a new era for the brand.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Frank Gehry

At this point, all the clues pointed directly to one logical conclusion: Omega was about to unveil a chiming watch of some sort, something they have not done since producing the first minute repeater wristwatch in 1892 – 130 years ago – when the company was still named after its founder Louis Brandt. The presentation kicked off with Hodinkee alum Stephen Pulvirent on stage as master of ceremonies and Omega CEO, the effervescent Raynald Aeschlimann delivering his opening address. A glorious performance of sight and sound culminated in two beams of light rising from the stage as the two Omega Chrono Chimes made their debut. To give a complete and detailed breakdown of the two references and the revolutionary caliber 1932 powering them was Omega’s incredible Vice-President of Product, Gregory Kissling. The hall fell silent as everyone took in the magnitude of the moment.

An orchestral performance heralded the arrival of Omega's Magnum Opus

For those of you who may not have the time to sit through a 5,000-word article, here’s the full presentation of the Chrono Chime for your viewing pleasure (please excuse the quality of the phone recording!):

There is another significant reason why LA was the perfect city for the unveiling. Omega’s history as the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games stretches back almost a century, with 2022 marking the 90th anniversary of the brand taking up that honorable mantle. It was at the 1932 Games held in LA that the brand used 30 split-seconds chronograph pocket watches to time the various sporting events, demonstrating its excellence in timekeeping accuracy and beginning an enduring partnership with the Games. It is thus only fitting that Omega’s most complicated caliber to date has a numerical designation taken from this historic year.

The Olympic torch was lit at the LA Memorial Coliseum during the last stop of the press trip

The opening ceremony of the 1932 Summer Olympics was held at the LA Memorial Coliseum which had a seating capacity of 105,574 at the time (photo: IOC)

A timing board with eight Omega split-seconds pocket chronographs that was used to time track & field events

One of the thirty Omega split-seconds pocket chronographs that saw action at the 1932 LA Summer Olympics

The caliber 1932 is a full ground up creation from Omega’s skunkworks, also known as Atelier d’Excellence, in conjunction with fellow Swatch Group brand Blancpain. Blancpain’s expertise in high complications is unquestionable, having mastered every form of the discipline including the perpetual calendar, tourbillon and its variation the carrousel, split-seconds chronograph and minute repeater, both with and without automatons. Having such a partner during the development phase is clearly invaluable as we shall soon discover the innovations in the ground-breaking movement they have both created. The Atelier d’Excellence, which I personally visited after Geneva Watch Days, sits at the top floor of Omega’s manufacture in Bienne and at first glance, it looks very much the same as the other departments involved with industrial scale production. However, it is here that watches like the Central Tourbillon, Omega’s previous most complicated watch for 28 years, and the latest caliber 321 reissue Speedmasters are made. It is also where vintage, out of production models arrive for restoration. The watchmakers here are given a mandate to push the envelope and what they have created with the Chrono Chime is nothing short of perfection.

Atelier d’Excellence is Omega's premier watchmaking department

In creating this caliber, Omega’s master watchmakers had to overcome significant challenges to meet their ambitious goals. Firstly, the caliber had to be a split-seconds chronograph, capable of recording multiple timed events that start at the same time but do not end concurrently, just like the 1932 pocket chronographs. As those pocket watches were accurate to 1/10th of a second, the oscillator would have to beat at a frequency of 5Hz or 36,000 vibrations an hour, a much higher number of vibrations than the co-axial escapement’s recommended operating frequency: 25,200 vibrations per hour. But Omega did not stop there. They wanted to prove that the brand still had the expertise to produce the most complex of complications: repeaters that produce an audible indication of the time.

Dial side of the Caliber 1932

Movement side of the Caliber 1932

What had hitherto never been done before was having a repeater integrated with a chronograph’s function, that would be able to chime the elapsed time, instead of the standard hours, quarters and minutes. To do that, three snail cams for the chimes had to be incorporated into the chronograph wheel train, instead of the motion work, as is traditionally the case. More specifically, one cam was attached to the minute counter wheel and two more to the central chronograph split-seconds wheel. Why two cams? Because in order to present the information of the elapsed time in a manner that would be easily understood, the number of minutes and seconds could not exceed a certain number. If the minute counter was to mirror that of the original 1932 pocket chronographs, could you imagine the time it would take to chime a maximum elapsed time of 30 minutes and 59 seconds? That’s 89 separate notes! Omega solved this problem in two ways, first by reducing the minute counter to 15 minutes as a nod to its first chronograph for the wrist from 1913 that contained the superb 18 CHRO caliber. Secondly, Omega divided the 60 seconds of a single minute into 6 divisions or tens of seconds. In this way, and very much like a decimal minute repeater, the caliber 1932 chimes a low note for the minutes, a double note for the tens of seconds (between one and five double notes or no double note if the seconds is between zero and nine) and finally the seconds (between zero and nine of a particular segment of tens). Perfectly simple.

Here's a look at the inner workings of the repeater mechanism: The pair of tweezers is holding the chronograph seconds wheel with its two snail cams; the minute counter wheel is hidden underneath the bridge with the large jewel; the rack gathering mechanism which reduces "dead time" is to the right of the chronograph seconds wheel

The repeater mechanism has a few neat tricks up its sleeve and to understand what they are, we should talk about how the mechanism actually works. When the repeater pusher is pressed, a separate mainspring which provides energy solely to the repeater mechanism is wound up. Sensing levers or arms contact the respective steps of the minute snail cam, and the arms experience a certain amount of resistance that releases the cool-sounding all-or-nothing-mechanism, which if you know your repeater components, acts as a blocking lever that prevents the whole mechanism from functioning unless the slide or in this case the pusher, is fully depressed. Once released, the racks for the tens of seconds and individual seconds drop down on their respective snail cams and transmit that corresponding information from the central chronograph hands to the hammers that strike the gongs. When the pusher is released, the hammers then strike the gongs producing the series of chimes.

So far pretty standard repeater architecture. What sets this repeater apart from others out there is its use of a governor that utilises magnetic levitation – a quiet and frictionless method of controlling the chiming speed without introducing other sounds to muddy the notes of the chimes or create energy loss like the traditional anchor design (essentially an escapement for the repeater). This magnetic governor design can also be found in repeaters from the most haute horlogerie brand in Swatch’s portfolio, Breguet. This governor is made up of a silver centrifugal flywheel attached to a rotating platform between a series of disc-shaped magnets housed in a separate barrel. The two halves of the flywheel are conjoined when not in operation but pull apart when activated by the energy transmitted from the barrel’s wheel train, spinning at a smooth constant rate and act as an eddy current brake, regulating the flow of energy from the mainspring to the rest of the repeater mechanism. What is an eddy current brake? It employs the principles of electromagnetism to create a frictionless braking force by having a non-ferrous but highly electrically conductive disc spin perpendicularly in a magnetic field, which creates eddy currents, or a magnetic field that has an inverse direction to the source magnetic field.

The dial side of the movement reveals the chronograph wheel train, the exposed repeater hammers and the repeater wheel train that links the small secondary barrel to the magnetic governor

Another cool feature is the rack gathering mechanism that reduces the interval between the chiming of the minutes and the tens of seconds. In a standard minute repeater, the interval between chiming the hours and the quarters, also known as the dead time, varies. That’s because the longer the time indication, the more notes are required to be chimed, and it takes the teeth of the racks longer to sample their respective steps of the snail cams and thereafter trip the hammers to chime. To shorten and make constant the dead time interval, Omega has developed a nifty hook mechanism that as soon as the minutes are chimed, it hooks the tens-pinion and readies the tens-rack to engage with its snail almost immediately. This fixes the interval at a standard 1.5 seconds regardless of the length of the elapsed time indication while in a traditional repeater architecture, the interval can be up to 10 seconds.

The split seconds chronograph mechanism contains a couple of innovations of its own but let’s start with the basics first. The standard chronograph functions of start, stop and reset are operated by a single pusher to mimic that of the 1932 pocket chronographs. A further nod to historical design is the use of column wheels to control both the standard chronograph and split seconds functions and the inclusion of a vertical clutch elevates the movement’s usability. The split-seconds mechanism is of a patented design that incorporates a clamp and isolator system that eliminates unnecessary friction when only the standard chronograph wheel is running. When the standard chronograph is activated, the clamps holding the clutch plate of the chronograph seconds wheel are released and it engages with the drive wheel that is constantly in motion, being a part of the wheel train. The split-seconds wheel assembly, which is made up of two separate wheels stacked on top one another, moves in tandem with the standard chronograph seconds wheel. When the split function is activated, the column wheel moves the split-seconds clamps to grip the top wheel in the assembly and the isolator pulls and locks the bottom wheel, securing the whole assembly from further movement. At the same time, the spokes of the bottom wheel disengages the roller jewel and pulls it away from the heart-shaped reset cam.

Without an isolator system, there will be added friction between the clamps and the teeth of the split-seconds wheel as that is the only location where the braking force is applied and the oscillator will experience a drop in amplitude as the immobilised split-seconds wheel is not isolated from the wheel train. Think of the isolator as a separate clutch system for the split-seconds wheel. After one timed event is recorded and the split function is reset, the clamps and isolator are released, and the roller jewel pushes against the heart-shaped cam for the split-seconds hand to smoothly catch up with the chronograph seconds hand. Being at the top of the hand stack, the split-seconds hand is placed above the chronograph seconds hand for a cleaner layout, making it easier to read singular timed events as the chronograph seconds hand runs in the background timing the overall elapsed time.

To ensure that the operation of the two complications was completely foolproof, two security failsafe mechanisms or blocking levers were developed. Since the repeater’s function is to chime the elapsed time, it had to be prevented from being activated while the chronograph was in use, and vice versa. To complete the movement’s development, it had to achieve Master Chronometer status. This means it would have to meet the METAS standard pioneered by Omega in 2015: a set of tests that simulate real-life daily wear to certify the entire watch with industry leading capabilities. METAS-certified watches are able to withstand magnetic field strengths of 15,000 gauss (MRI machine levels). 50 movement components had to be replaced (10 times more than in standard movements) with a non-ferrous material and thanks to the advancements of fabricating silicon components through the LIGA process, this was made possible.

As there was no suitable existing caliber that could be modified to achieve these desired capabilities, the Atelier’s watchmakers had to develop the caliber from scratch, and in the process secured a total of 17 patents, 13 for the movement’s function and anti-magnetic technology and an additional four for the external components of the watches.

A complete view of all 575 components of the groundbreaking Caliber 1932

Traditional brass for the movement’s baseplate and bridges would have been too pedestrian for something this special. Mid-20th century Omega movements are famous for their rich copper tone obtained through a galvanic process. The calibre 1932 would achieve a similar aesthetic by having its mainplate and bridges hewn from solid 18K Sedna gold instead, Omega’s proprietary rose gold alloy that is highly resistant to discoloration or loss of lustre. The main flat surfaces feature a stippled finish that gives it a sand-blasted texture but is actually achieved through laser ablation that also forms the top bridge’s markings. The edges of the bridges are exquisitely straight-grained and the bevels mirror-polished, all done by hand. In total, the weight of gold used amounts to 46.44g and all decorative elements require 140 hours to finish.

Now that they had a movement that was a worthy tribute to the 1932 pocket chronographs, it only made sense to place it in a wristwatch with similar pocket watch design touches of course. The Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime has a case in sizable 45 x 16.9mm dimensions with a white dial in classic “Grand Feu” enamel. The dial starts off as a disc of solid white gold before the layers of enamel are added and heated to a temperature higher than 800°C. The Breguet numerals and minute track are not simply pad printed with ink, but applied in black “Petit Feu” enamel, heated at a temperature lower than 800°C, hence the “small fire” moniker which is still pretty hot if you ask me. As you can see, there are four lines within each interval of the track which corresponds to 10 divisions to indicate 1/10th of a second either on the line or between two lines. To add striking visual contrast, the inner bezel and subdials are made of solid 925 silver decorated by hand with an intersecting, radial guilloché pattern unique to Omega called “acoustic waves”, meant to visually represent the sound waves of the chimes.

Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime

Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime caseback

Applying white enamel to the solid white gold dial plate. Multiple layers of enamel are required to give the dial its rich milky color.

Any imperfections or cracks that appear in the enamel during firing would mean restarting the whole process from the beginning. Enamel dial production is laborious and known for its high failure rate.

Pad printing of the Breguet numerals and minute track in black "Petit Feu" enamel. The dial cutouts for the hammers and the subdials are done after the printing process.

The guilloché pattern on the rehaut and subdials is extremely refined and meant to resemble sound waves

The repeater’s double hammers, exposed on the dial through precise cut-outs made by a waterjet, are also made in Sedna gold but reinforced with an insert of hardened steel. The top surface of the hammers and bevels are mirror polished by hand until no distortions can be seen under 10x magnification. They not only look good but sound incredible as well. To achieve a chime with a warm tone and maximum clarity, the hammers, gongs, movement and case are made of the same material to create a consistent acoustic environment. An interesting quality of Sedna gold is that it hardens over time and does not dampen sound compared to other precious metals like platinum. Each Sedna gold gong is customized and tuned to the frequency of that particular environment. Tuning of the gongs are done in an anechoic chamber, thereafter the lengths of the gongs are adjusted and attached to the case as one piece, allowing the vibrations of the gongs to reverberate through the case and out of the watch, a construction similar to bells that are rung to signal the final lap at sporting events.

The repeater gong is made of a single piece and its length customised to a particular case after testing

The 18K Sedna gold repeater hammers are reinforced with an insert of hardened stainless steel

The anechoic (meaning non-reflective or non-echoic) chamber where the Chrono Chime's repeater is tested

The shielding surrounding the anechoic chamber prevents reflections and intrusions of sound or electromagnetic waves so that the mic only picks up sound directly from the source

A curious deviation from tradition is the finishing of the hands. Instead of blued stainless steel, the hour and minute hands as well as the subdial hands are shaped from 18K Sedna gold but coated with blue PVD to mimic the traditional aesthetic with a subtle sheen. This method of finishing will likely ensure the hands remain looking as new for a long time to come. The central chronograph seconds hand is coated with a more matte, lighter shade of blue CVD and the split-seconds hand painted in contrasting red.

The hands are blue PVD-coated to mimic the aesthetic of blued steel but will not tarnish over time. The chronograph seconds hand is CVD-coated and the split-seconds hand painted with a red varnish.

A Sedna gold movement in a Sedna gold case is a pairing that simply fits

Since the 1932 Chrono Chime is meant to look like a pocket watch for the wrist, the crown is positioned at 12 o’clock with the monopusher integrated into the crown. The repeater and split-seconds functions are operated by two additional pushers at 5 and 11 o’clock. Each pusher carries a visual reminder of their function with a debossed musical note for the repeater and a red ceramic ring for the split-seconds that matches the colored hand it controls. For those inclined to go for the full pocket/stopwatch vibe, Omega has generously included two leather cords that replaces a pocket watch’s chain, so the watch can be carried discreetly in a pocket or worn around the neck like an Olympic sporting official. This watch would certainly not look out of place at an equestrian event attended by royalty.

The pusher that activates the repeater features a debossed musical note

The leather strap of the Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime can be easily removed by twisting the two prongs at the lug end

The Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime can be placed in the provided leather case and worn around the neck as a stopwatch

If you prefer to wear your Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime as a pocket watch, simply switch to the included braided leather cord with Sedna gold hardware

Finally, the watch comes packaged in a presentation box made of walnut designed with a resonance plate made of spruce from the Risoud Forest in the Vallée de Joux. Only one in 10,000 trees are possible candidates as the wood needs to be of a certain age and violin makers from the time of Antonio Stradivari also used this special wood with unique acoustic properties to create their instruments. Craftsmen work with wooden planks that are 3 – 400 years old to shape the resonance plate and carefully adjust the supports to ensure the watch is placed in the ideal position for the best transmission of the chimes. Whether it is being appreciated solely by its owner, or shown off to friends and fellow enthusiasts – this watch definitely deserves the airtime.

The Chrono Chime's handmade wooden boxes with different resonance plate designs and the acoustic wave pattern carved into the pull-out tray

Sheets of spruce from the Risoud Forest are handpicked by craftsmen for their unique acoustic properties to fashion the resonance plate

Fitting the wooden anchors that will hold the Chrono Chime in place on the resonance plate

Ensuring the wooden anchors are perfectly level

While we might all have been perfectly happy with just one historical tribute model of the Chrono Chime, Omega smartly applied a key principle of collecting: one to stock and one to rock. If you find the Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime looks more at home in its presentation box or to be brought out only at special sporting events, then the Chrono Chime in Speedmaster form could be the minute repeater for everyday wear. Omega has chosen the straight lug, sans crown guard-style of the first Omega wristwatch in space from 1962, or the CK2998 if you’re an anorak, as the first Speedmaster to house the soon-to-be legendary caliber 1932. The Speedmaster Chrono Chime’s 18K Sedna gold case is upsized to 45 x 17.3mm, a necessary increase from the original’s 39.7mm diameter. To fit the dial layout of the Speedmaster (minus the 12-hour chronograph counter), the movement was rotated 90°, where the crown with the chronograph’s monopusher could remain at 3 o’clock while you’ll now find the repeater and split-seconds pushers at 8 and 2 o’clock.

Speedmaster Chrono Chime

Speedmaster Chrono Chime caseback

The dial has also been given the “Grand Feu” enamel treatment but in polished aventurine glass, the flecks of copper sparkling like stars in the night sky for that positively spacey vibe. The process of applying the aventurine to the solid Sedna gold dial has been patented by Omega. The glass is first ground into a powder, mixed with a painting medium and then applied wet onto the dial plate. Finally the dial is fired in a kiln using the “Grand Feu” technique. Aventurine can be found not only on the dial but in the DON bezel insert with the tachymeter markings in gold, and as a backdrop for the Sedna gold Omega logo on the crown. Here the aventurine is applied using the champlevé technique where the bezel and crown are laser engraved with the required pattern as empty cells and then filled with aventurine.

Grinding Aventurine glass into a powdered mixture

Grooves are cut into the solid 18K Sedna gold dial plate before application of the Aventurine mixture for better adhesion

The hour indices are made of 18K Sedna gold, diamond-polished and then filled with Super-LumiNova

Aventurine is but one component of this multi-layered, multi-textured dial. The SuperLumiNova-filled applied hour markers are diamond-polished Sedna gold, as are the time-telling and central chronograph hands. The split-seconds hand has a painted red tip in concert with the red ceramic ring of the split-seconds pusher. The subdial hands are differentiated by their blue CVD coating and sit on recessed Sedna gold subdials decorated with the “acoustic wave” pattern, also seen on the Sedna gold inner bezel. The hours are also clearly marked on the inner bezel with blue metallic dots. The exposed Sedna gold repeater hammers curve perfectly around the running seconds subdial at 9 o’clock. Despite the various many elements on the dial, it still manages to be harmonious, legible, and therefore functional.

The acoustic wave pattern on the Speedmaster Chrono Chime's subdials is carved using a traditional rose engine

Carving the guilloché pattern onto the inner flange is particularly challenging due to small surface area available

Setting the red-tipped split-seconds hand onto the top of the hand stack

Sealing up the dial with the 18K Sedna gold bezel with Aventurine glass insert

The only way to wear a watch with that much Sedna gold is to put it on a Sedna gold bracelet. In for a penny, in for a pound. Omega is offering its updated three-link Speedmaster bracelet with alternating brushed and polished finishing. It nicely breaks up the amount of polish that is on the case and the dial. As proof that Omega intends for you to wear this CHF 450,000 masterpiece as often as possible, the bracelet clasp comes with the patented comfort release adjustment system for those extra hot days or if you want it all to just hang loose.

The Speedmaster Chrono Chime comes with Omega's three-link brushed and polished bracelet in solid 18K Sedna gold

Despite its 45mm width, the Speedmaster Chrono Chime looks great even on a 7-inch wrist. Must be all that Sedna gold talking.

We’ve talked at length about the ingenuity of the caliber 1932 mechanics and the incredible beauty of the aesthetics of both designs, but having the actual watches in hand can say more than pages of words ever could. Check out some of the hands-on footage we managed to capture at the launch event:

Put aside for a moment the radical creativity required to produce something completely novel in watchmaking: no short order when you are contending with centuries’ worth of innovation. The Chrono Chime is Omega’s magnum opus for more reasons than that. Innovation is the very lifeblood of the brand. Earlier in the year when the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep was launched, I wrote in an introductory piece that it represented industry-leading innovation that you can buy at retail and that is a value proposition that can’t be beat. The Ultra Deep may have recently lost the crown of the deepest diving commercially-available watch, but I’m confident Omega will come back swinging eventually. The Chrono Chime is a similar technical marvel which can also be had at RRP but only for a select few as the caliber 1932 is limited by the production capacity of five movements across the two references per year. Not to mention the limiting factor of price – CHF 420,000 for the 1932 Chrono Chime and CHF 450,000 for the Speedmaster variant.

To understand the Chrono Chime’s significance beyond the scope of its mechanical ingenuity, we have to examine Omega’s position within the Swatch Group’s hierarchy of brands. Within this structure, Omega sits somewhere in the middle with high watchmaking big brothers Breguet and Blancpain above, and more accessibly priced juniors Longines, Rado, Tissot, Mido, and Hamilton below it. While this may not be the Group’s crown jewel in absolute watchmaking terms, it is more akin to a do-it-all performance brand that still manages to achieve success in every area of its portfolio, contributing the most to the Group’s overall bottom line.

It is within this context that this “flex” by Omega made me wonder if it might alter its position within the established order of the Swatch Group’s brands. Was Omega moving up the pecking order? Was it preparing itself for a higher form of watchmaking, to position itself further upmarket or to leverage its massive industrial production capabilities and maybe bring high complication watchmaking to a wider audience? At the group press interview, I posed those questions to CEO Raynald Aeschlimann. In his response, he explained that the Chrono Chime with its limited production represents a small, exclusive part of Omega’s portfolio, which has always been multi-product. It is not the brand’s intention to disrupt the established order, or to intrude into the market space of sister brands Breguet and Blancpain. Instead, the intention is to remind audiences of Omega’s rich history in professional sports timekeeping, and create a product that is in-keeping with its DNA and in particular a certain minute repeater from its history. If you think about it, Omega could have only developed the Chrono Chime with the expressed approval from on high, from Nick Hayek Jr. himself. For now, it will remain firmly in the haute horlogerie segment and while we may see some trickle down effects where technologies developed from this project find their way into other product lines, there are no plans to expand high complication-level watchmaking at a more affordable price segment.

Watch the full group press interview with CEO Raynald Aeshlimann here:

As much as the Chrono Chime is revoIutionary, Omega’s high watchmaking abilities have historically been underappreciated because that hasn’t been the focus of the brand in the post-Swatch era. It is a travesty that Omega’s other highly complicated watch, the Central Tourbillon doesn’t receive as much love as it should. Any tourbillon is pretty hard to make. To place it in the center of the movement presents a whole set of challenges such as reimagining the layout of both the wheel train and the motion work. And to do that in the context in the 1990s was kind of a bold move. The industry was still trying to rebuild at that time and not many brands were focused on the fine art of mechanical watchmaking. Watches were being developed more as consumer goods, not as refined luxury products, in an effort to compete with quartz watches. Companies that were most notably betting and innovating on mechanical watchmaking were, Audemars Piguet with its Star Wheel in 1991, IWC with its double chronograph and Il Destriero Scafusia grand complication in 1992 and 1993, the revived A. Lange & Söhne with the Lange 1 in 1994 and Datograph in 1999, and not forgetting Patek Philippe with its annual calendar invention in 1996. Independent artisanal watchmakers were still establishing themselves and consumers would take years to appreciate mechanical watchmaking again. The Central Tourbillon launched in 1994 is often overlooked for its significance in that era and would not gain widespread appeal in the years after.

The original Omega De Ville Central Tourbillon from 1994

The updated 2020 Omega De Ville Central Tourbillon

It is through this historical lens that I fear the Chrono Chime might suffer the same fate. Mr Aeschlimann was buoyant about the response during the launch with waitlists potentially extending to the next five to 10 years. However, in this current climate of demand saturation for all things watches, consumers are spoilt for choice with the sheer variety available at all price points. Based on Morgan Stanley’s 2022 annual report on the industry, the top 10 watch brands by sales during both the pre- and post-pandemic years have seen the same names in play, just reshuffled slightly. Consumers seem to appreciate what the top 10 have been producing all this while. Impressively, Omega has consistently remained in the top three. Yet it has not been able to push beyond a seemingly impenetrable ceiling occupied by the undisputed number one brand so I’ll just go right out and say it: the wider, non-enthusiast watch consumer market does not value objective, intrinsic watchmaking value. Oftentimes, a watch on the wrist has to signal a myriad of other qualities other than technical proficiency. Most buyers don’t even know the movement that powers their watch, and therein lies the heart of the problem. Watches are generally purchased with an emotionally-driven motivation.

Top 20 watch brands by retail sales from 2017 to 2021 (image: Morgan Stanley)

With recent economic fluctuations, we have seen a paring back of the runaway and frankly unsustainable market trends of hype watches, many from the number one watch brand in the world. We are entering a period where true authenticity in a brand is needed to ride out this slump. Looking at the top 10 list and with the exception of IWC, none of Omega’s contemporaries competing in the same price segment have displayed the same level of technical prowess at the highest levels of watchmaking. The Chrono Chime shows yet again why Omega is both a jack of all trades, and a master of many. While communicating objective value toward a largely emotional purchase is an uphill task, I will remain a passionate advocate for this brand which I truly believe deserves to be number one in the world.

I’ll leave you guys with highlights from the final day of the press trip and the mesmerizing drone show that closed this unforgettable event!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE