The Omega Constellation Gents Collection

The global marketing division of Omega, one of the watch industry’s most consistent and powerful machines, has a wrench thrown into its spokes. The release date for the next James Bond film No Time to Die, in which the spy wears a new Seamaster 300M, looks uncertain once again. The 2020 Olympic Games, for which the Swiss brand creates a line of special-edition pieces, will now be held in 2021. Maybe.

By comparison, promoting the Omega Constellation Gents’ collection should be a cinch.

Pedigree will only make it easier. The Constellation launched in 1952, but came into its own during the 1980s, when a cosmopolitan redesign laid the groundwork for the current collection. Those new fifth-generation watches arrived earlier this year, sized at 39 mm, available in various configurations to offer a diverse selection of 26 total models. Omega quietly added a 41 mm version in mid-July, but this stealth update is fully deserving of your consideration. The increased size underscores the four “claws” on the side of the case—arguably the collection’s most celebrated design feature, introduced by the Constellation Manhattan in 1982.

These refreshed 41 mm pieces keep other aesthetic signatures alive, too—namely the mono-link bracelet and bezel indexes. But the case (available in 18K yellow gold, proprietary 18K Sedna red gold, stainless steel, or a combination thereof) is both reshaped and slimmed down. Redesigned hands and hour markers draw inspiration from New York City, their angular shapes based on the graceful slope of One World Trade Center. With the exception of the entry-level model, all the new 41 mm models also feature slick-looking polished ceramic bezels, a reference to the sapphire glass bezel used on the original 1982 Constellation Manhattan.

Clearly, the collection’s downtown looks are adaptable, not only across time but across the model range. To emphasize this, the strap system on the 41 mm model has a quick-release function, allowing the wearer to easily switch out the standard-issue leather or rubber strap for any metal bracelet from the 39 mm collection. It’s a neat detail, as is the optional silk embossed dial, a particularly attractive face with a rippled surface that produces a beautiful, wavy, textured effect to catch the light—and, in turn, the eye.

There’s plenty to see when you flip the watch over, too. The domed scratch-resistant sapphire crystal caseback reveals Omega’s self-winding Master Co-Axial Calibre 8900/8901 movement, a certified master chronometer. Inside, free-sprung balance with silicon balance spring, two mounted in series, provides automatic winding in both directions, allowing a 60-hour power reserve. The movement is finished with a rhodium-plated rotor and bridges with swirling Geneva waves in arabesque. The watch is also approved by Switzerland’s federal metrology agency, METAS, and resistant to magnetic fields reaching 15,000 gauss.

Serious credentials. Omega has signed on Eddie Redmayne as the collection’s ambassador, but since James Bond has some unexpected downtime, perhaps they should consider swapping? The spy might wear a Seamaster, but Bond loves making it look easy. The Constellation Gents’ collection would suit him just fine.