Watches | OMEGA
OMEGA’s attention to detail - leads to exceptional Precision
| 2024-03-24 |     |
This insight into OMEGA’s cutting-edge components, bespoke materials, and design elements, reveals the many ways OMEGA’s uncompromising approach to watchmaking has secured its decades-long reputation for excellence.
At OMEGA, there are no trivial tasks. It’s perfection or rejection all the way, from the first sketch to the final timepiece.
Watchmaking
Essential to the precise working of OMEGA’s mechanical timepieces are key components: often invisible, always vital.
The Co-Axial Escapement
When it was launched in 1999, nothing like it had been invented in some 250 years. Conceived by inventor and master watchmaker George Daniels and developed by OMEGA. The escapement has smaller contact surfaces, which meant less friction, less lubrication and greater reliability. A revolution in watchmaking, yet to be matched.
The Silicon Si14 balance spring
Three times finer than a human hair, shock resistant and completely unaffected by magnetic fields, OMEGA’s famous hairspring first used in 2008 remains an OMEGA movement essential.
The Master Chronometer Certification
OMEGA never takes the tech for granted. It must prove its worth. OMEGA’s Master Chronometer certification guarantees outstanding performance, resistance to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss, and of course, exceptional precision. The eight rigorous tests over ten days are overseen by the fiercely independent Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS).
Materials
When OMEGA needs a material with certain characteristics, and it doesn’t currently exist, OMEGA makes its own. OMEGA’s range of exclusive alloys enrich the brand’s timepiece designs with distinctive new colours and improved longevity. Each alloy is innovatively composed to offer its own special advantages, while also giving customers a look and quality that is totally unique in the watchmaking world.
OMEGA’s list of in-house alloys is impressive
SednaTM Gold - OMEGA’s own fiery red gold alloy, in use since 2012, offers high resistance to the fading of colour and lustre over time along with all the standard characteristics of other 18K golds. Canopus GoldTM - OMEGA has been using this 18K white gold alloy since 2015. 100% noble, its high brilliance, whiteness, and longevity, make it an ideal material for high-end or diamond set timepieces. MoonshineTM Gold - OMEGA created the exclusive MoonshineTM Gold, an 18K yellow gold alloy, in 2019. Inspired by the shining moonlight in a dark blue sky, it offers a distinctive paler hue than traditional 18K yellow gold and a high resistance to fading. Bronze Gold - Developed to produce a pleasing aesthetic and hue, Bronze Gold could be worn with direct contact on the skin, thanks to its distinctive composition. This one-of-a-kind alloy is enriched with noble elements such as 37.5% gold, hallmarked as 9K, as well as palladium and silver, to create a unique colour which sits exactly between the brand’s 18K MoonshineTM gold and 18K SednaTM gold. As well as featuring a soft pink hue during wear, it offers incomparable corrosion resistance without verdigris-oxidation, and will therefore age slowly and retain its natural and beautiful patina over a longer period.
Components
A focus on the finer points reveals OMEGA’s attention to detail, evident in everything the brand produces, from the link of a bracelet to the logo on the dial.
Dial - Beauty and legibility - Only the most deserving of dials receives the famous logo. This is the Sandstone dial of the 34 mm Seamaster Aqua Terra Shades. Which is fashioned from brass, sun-brushed from the centre and then lacquered. The OMEGA logo is diamond-polished 18K white gold to match the distinctive indexes. Bracelet - Fixtures with finesse - OMEGA’s design principles extend to the most practical of components. This is the bracelet of the 34 mm Seamaster Aqua Terra Shades. Polished and brushed with beautifully rounded links, it is the perfect blend of form and function. Even the clasp is a work of art. Hands - Pointers of distinction - The designers at OMEGA like to ensure every spinning component is stylish enough to turn heads. This is the distinctive hour hand of the Seamaster 300. Shaped for easy-readability and finished with a pleasing hue to match the case of the watch, which is fashioned from OMEGA’s own Bronze Gold. Bezel - Perfectly matched - At OMEGA, every component must fit perfectly and align with the overall design. This polished blue ceramic bezel with CeragoldTM Roman numerals is destined to circle a famous star. The one featured on the sun-brushed blue dial of the 41 mm Constellation in steel and 18K SednaTM Gold.
Enduring Excellence
Given its irrepressible pioneering spirit, OMEGA is certain to keep pushing at the boundaries of what’s possible in watchmaking. To coast along or take refuge in past glories is not the OMEGA way. Fans of the brand can expect new technologies, materials, and designs. Level of excellence achieved by investing time and obsessing over the details. That’s OMEGA’s uncompromising approach. That’s OMEGA precision.