A Guide to Omega's Legacy

A downloadable version of the guide is available here.

At over 175 years old, Omega has achieved a well-earned position as one of the most prolific and consequential names in the watch world. In an industry that is too often accused of resting on its laurels, Omega has consistently pursued innovations in watchmaking, materials, and even design. In fact, the industrialization of George Daniels’ Co-Axial escapement has been a long- term play by Omega that began in 1999 and has since evolved and proliferated through the Master Chronometer certification by METAS. This commitment to reliability and accuracy throughout its collections is a great example of why Omega is so respected by enthusiasts, collectors, and casual fans alike.

Having legacy collections like the Speedmaster and Seamaster under one umbrella is no small feat to manage. The reality is that each of these collections could likely be a standalone brand with its own history and identity. It’s a testament to the strength and global reputation of the Omega marquee to have so much history cohesively housed under one name.

Culturally, Omega is everywhere from the moon landing and the Olympics to James Bond and just about every red carpet. However, it’s the personal connection to the brand that has kept it thriving this long. In fact, my first real luxury watch was a vintage Omega Constellation Ref. 14393/3 SC, a relatively simple piece that exemplifies the balance of utilitarian principles and luxury presentation the brand has consistently delivered.

This guide covers Omega’s legacy and history from the 1800s all the way through to its contemporary catalog. It’s a great read for longtime fans and collectors but, perhaps even more importantly, a fun and educational way for newer collectors to learn the history of one of the most important watch brands of all time.

The Swiss watch-producing giant the world now knows as Omega SA was founded in 1848 by 23-year-old watchmaker Louis Brandt in the Swiss village of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Originally called La Genérale Watch Company, and eventually renamed Louis Brandt et Fils after Brandt’s sons, Louis-Paul and Cesar, joined the business, it was headquartered in a workshop in the Brandt family’s villa. The firm initially produced key-wound pocket watches from parts supplied by local artisans and sold them to England and other European countries.

After the elder Brandt’s death in 1880, the growing company moved from La Chaux-de-Fonds to the more bustling town of Bienne, in the Canton of Bern. During its early years there, Louis Brandt et Fils pioneered a series of industrial watchmaking techniques and also began making its own in-house movements. The first one, called the Labrador, launched in 1885 in a now-legendary series of pocket watches. Nearly a decade later, in 1894, came the company’s chef d’oeuvre, the 19-ligne Omega Caliber, which was notable at the time for its enviable accuracy, its use of a crown rather than a key to wind the mainspring, and its construction using interchangeable components. The Omega caliber’s design enabled any watchmaker in the world to service it — an industrial practice that would become standard in the industry in years to come.

Naming the movement “Omega” was no fluke: it was regarded at the time as the pinnacle of the company’s horological expertise, and positioned as the ultimate watch movement the industry had yet seen — the endpoint of a years-long quest for excellence in timekeeping. Brandt watches outfitted with the caliber eventually were all marketed under the sub-brand “Omega,” and the entire company changed its name to Omega when it was reorganized in 1903. By that point, it was a world leader in watchmaking, employing more than 800 and making more than 200,000 watches annually. 

The reasons for Omega’s success were numerous, and undoubtedly connected to the string of milestones the newly renamed maison had achieved before the 20th Century had even dawned. These included, in addition to the Labrador and Omega movements, the first wrist-worn minute repeater in 1892. As if to finalize the passing of an era and the beginning of a new one, Louis-Paul and César Brandt both died in 1903, leaving Omega in the hands of their sons, the oldest of whom was 24-year-old Paul-Emile Brandt, Louis-Paul’s son. Paul-Emile continued the company’s innovative traditions, heading up the release of the first Seamaster watch in 1948 and establishing Omega’s role as the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games in 1932, a distinction it still holds today. During this era, Omega also made military-issue watches for Britain’s Royal Flying Corps and U.S. Army combat units during World Wars I and II. Probably unbeknownst to many, it was Omega that is credited with making the first tourbillon wristwatch in 1947, whose impressive level of accuracy was confirmed in Observatory Trials in Geneva and Neuchatel during that decade. 

The effects of two World Wars and a Great Depression forced many Swiss watchmakers, including Omega, to consolidate and share resources, starting with a merger with Tissot that formed the SSIH (Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère) in 1930. Nonetheless, the 1950s and ‘60s were among Omega’s most historic periods of creativity, giving rise to the Constellation in 1952, the Ladymatic (Omega’s first self-winding ladies’ watch) in 1955, and the legendary “Professional” trilogy in 1957, which included the revival of the Seamaster as a full-fledged diver’s watch, the debut of the antimagnetic Railmaster, and the first version of the Speedmaster. The “Speedy,” of course, would go on to transcend its original role as a motorsport drivers’ chronograph to become famous as the “Moonwatch,” certified by NASA in the 1960s as the only watch officially rated for space travel and, in 1969, becoming the first watch worn on the moon. The Seamaster would go on to achieve fame of its own, as the cinematic watch of James Bond, and would also spawn an entire family of products, from the dressy Aqua Terra to the extreme depth-resistant Planet Ocean Ultra Deep. 

Like many other Swiss watchmaking companies over the turbulent decades of the 20th century, Omega eventually drifted away from making its own movements, and the SSIH group that it had been a part of since the ‘30s merged with another major watch-industry conglomerate to form the Swatch Group in 1998. In the beginning of this period, Omega turned to specialists within that group, like ETA, to provide its movements. But as the 21st Century dawned, and high-end mechanical watches were re-emerging in the marketplace after decades of dominance by cheaper, quartz-powered competitors, Omega became one of several heritage Swiss firms to re-establish the vertical integration that it once claimed and the prestige that now came with it. The major catalyst for this initiative was an English watchmaker named George Daniels, whose 1974 invention, the co-axial escapement, became the foundation upon which Omega’s modern movements would be built. 

Daniels (1926 - 2011) had developed an interest in horology during his stint in the army during World War II, occasionally fixing timepieces for his fellow soldiers in the East Yorkshire Regiment. In 1947, he began his career in earnest as a watch repairer at Magill’s Jewelers in Edgware, a northwest London suburb, and eventually opened his own watch repair and cleaning shop in 1960, also in London. He completed his first self-made pocket watch in 1969 and followed it up five years later with a piece commissioned by American industrialist and watch collector Seth G. Atwood. The mandate from Atwood was that whatever timepiece Daniels came up with would “fundamentally improve” the performance of a traditional mechanical watch. 

An admirer of pioneering horological inventors like Abraham-Louis Breguet, Daniels took up the gauntlet focused on developing an alternative to the classic Swiss lever escapement that most watch movements had been using for more than a century. He envisioned a new type of escapement that would work free of the friction that had plagued various escapements throughout history. It used two wheels on one axis — an escape wheel and a co-axial wheel — stacked atop one another and rotating at the same speed in opposite directions. The smaller wheel interacts with a lever to deliver energy indirectly to the balance, via the larger wheel which delivers energy to the balance directly. To eliminate the sliding friction of the lever escapement, Daniels’ mechanism used three pallets to separate the impulse from the locking function. The balance wheel is thus allowed to oscillate freely at a precise rate and there is no need, at least theoretically, for lubrication, since the pallet stones aren’t sliding over the escapement gear. 

Daniels installed the co-axial escapement in one of his personal watches (an Omega Speedmaster, in fact) in 1976, and subsequently spent the next two decades pitching it to watchmaking companies including Rolex and Patek Philippe. It was Swatch Group’s visionary CEO, Nicolas G. Hayek, who eventually purchased the invention exclusively for Omega. After many years of equipping its watches with movements from ETA, its sister brand within the Group, Omega launched its own Omega co-axial Caliber 2500 (with an ETA base caliber) in 1999 — at the cusp of both a new millennium and a major renaissance for Omega and the rest of the luxury watch world. Omega continued to improve upon its signature horological technology, upgrading to a Frédéric Piguet base caliber for the second generation of co-axial movements and ultimately, in 2007, introducing the Omega Caliber 8500, the first in-house Omega movement built from the ground up to incorporate a co-axial escapement. That movement and its descendants remain the technical foundation of Omega’s current lineup. 

Omega took its movements to another level of technical excellence in 2015 with the introduction of the Master Chronometer certification. Omega had already expanded its repertoire of in-house co-axial movements throughout the majority of its collection, ensuring that George Daniels’ historical invention would play a key role in the brand’s identity going forward. In the decade that has followed, Omega movements have increasingly carried the designation “Co-Axial Master Chronometer” — incorporating all of the friction-free advantages of the co-axial escapement as well as a host of criteria demanded by METAS, the Swiss Institute of Metrology, which include an industry-leading magnetic resistance to 15,000 gauss and a daily accuracy between zero and 0.5 seconds, stricter than the COSC specifications adhered to by many other chronometer-certified timepieces. 

Most recently, Omega updated the one movement that it had barely changed since the 1960s — the manually wound Caliber 1861 beating inside the Speedmaster Professional "Moonwatch" — with a Co-Axial Master Chronometer version, called Caliber 3861. In 2021, after debuting in an anniversary limited edition, that movement became standard in the core Moonwatch line. Co-Axial Master Chronometer movements are now standard in many Omega watch models, speaking to the brand’s continued commitments to watchmaking innovation, and the pursuit of horological precision, that it has pursued since its founding. The core of the modern Omega collection remains rooted in iconic models of the early to mid-20th Century — the Seamaster and Speedmaster on the sporty side, the De Ville and Constellation in a dressier, more elegant vein — while the movements that drive them are unmistakably looking toward the future. 

The Seamaster is, along with the Speedmaster, one of Omega’s cornerstone collections and remains a seminal dive watch for the industry. These days, there are several iterations within the collection, ranging from the dressy Aqua Terra to divers like the Seamaster Professional 300M and Planet Ocean. First, let’s get into the history of this pioneering collection that has gone on to define the category.

The Seamaster was first introduced back in 1948, which also happened to mark Omega’s 100th anniversary (which puts into perspective just how long the brand has been producing timepieces). This first Seamaster was something of an evolution of Omega’s military watchmaking history at the time, with a focus on withstanding high altitudes and watery depths. Of course, the original Seamaster was decidedly a dress watch, so the “town, sea, and country” marketing was right on point here. It is also not a coincidence to observe how the ruggedness of a military-inspired watch has translated into an appealing package for the everyday consumer for quite some time now.

In many ways, the Seamaster as we know it today dates back to 1957, when Omega launched a trio of three “Master” tool watches. These were the Railmaster, which was antimagnetic and intended for scientists and engineers; the Speedmaster, which was a chronograph made for timing motorsports; and the Seamaster 300, which was the first “professional” model in the collection. Interestingly the watch was actually rated for 200 meters of water resistance but Omega was so confident in its assertion that it could withstand 300 meters that the company named it accordingly. The issue here was the limitations of the testing equipment at the time, which could only record to 200 meters.

The following decades of the 1960s and ‘70s continued to see the development of the Seamaster collection, with technical innovations pushing the boundaries of water resistance and accuracy. Perhaps no Seamaster is a better example here than the PloProf, which was developed in 1970 as part of a partnership with French commercial diving company COMEX. The PloProf, named such because it is an abbreviation of “plongeuers professionel” (“professional divers” in French), is an almost instantly recognizable watch, with that large asymmetrical case design that favors function over form. In fact, the first PloProf had a whopping 600 meters of water resistance which was followed up by a model called the PloProf “The Grand” with 1,000 meters of water resistance. 

In the 1990s, we saw the beginning of one of the most longstanding and truly iconic partnerships in modern watchmaking history when Omega became the official watch of James Bond. Since 1995’s GoldenEye, every single 007 movie has featured an Omega Seamaster on Bond’s wrist. The Seamaster Professional Diver 300M had just been introduced a few years earlier, in 1993, and this piece of ubiquitous neo-vintage design has gone on to become one of the most popular and recognized luxury divers out there. Indeed, Pierce Brosnan’s Bond wore the quartz iteration, Ref. 2541.80, in GoldenEye but would upgrade to the automatic Ref. 2531.80.00 for not one but three of the next 007 movies: 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, 1999’s The World is Not Enough, and 2002’s Die Another Day. Pierce Brosnan made the Seamaster the watch of choice for 007, a trend that would continue with the next actor to play Bond. 

Fast forward to 2006, and Daniel Craig’s 007 debut in Casino Royale, in which Bond actually wore two Omega Seamaster watches: a Seamaster 300M with blue dial (Ref. 2220.80.00) and a Planet Ocean (Ref. 2900.50.91) in a 45.5mm case. Craig would continue with the Planet Ocean in 2008’s Quantum of Solace in which he opted for the 42mm iteration Ref. 2201.50.00. In Skyfall he wore two Seamasters: the dressier Aqua Terra Ref. 231.10.39.21.03.001 alongside the newer Planet Ocean Ref. 232.30.42.21.01.001. Craig would double up again for his penultimate outing as 007 in 2015’s Spectre, with an Aqua Terra 150M Ref. 231.10.42.21.03.003 and a Seamaster 300 Ref. 233.32.41.21.01.001 on a NATO strap. Finally, there is No Time To Die, in which Bond wore the fan-favorite Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition with that warm tropical brown color on a titanium case and bracelet. 

The Bond association has been one of the great triumphs of watch and movie marketing. We don’t know who the new 007 will be (as of this writing in 2026) but watch enthusiasts are going to be keeping a close eye monitoring what’s on James Bond’s wrist. 

While the classic Seamaster Professional 300M is often seen as the most ubiquitous member of the family, the Aqua Terra, Planet Ocean, and “heritage” models have forged their own reputations as being some of the most robust watches out there. Let’s start with the Aqua Terra, which debuted back in 2003 as a dressier and cleaner take on the Seamaster that is reminiscent of the 1948 original. Rather than a rotating divers’ bezel or touches like a helium escape valve, the Aqua Terra has a smooth bezel and clean dial that is recognizable due to its triangular wedge-shaped hour markers, triangular hour hand, and arrow-tipped seconds hand. 

While it has a sailing-inspired design, the Aqua Terra emerged as one of Omega’s go-to watches for its pro golfer ambassadors. In fact, Omega’s lightest watch ever was the Aqua Terra “Ultra Light” which premiered in 2019 with a case and crown made from an innovative gamma titanium, a grade-5 titanium dial, and the Caliber 8928 Titanium movement with mainplate and bridges done in ceramized titanium. The watch and strap weigh in at a remarkably light 55 grams. 

The Aqua Terra collection also had the distinction of debuting Omega’s first world-time watch in 2017. While it debuted as a very limited edition of 87 pieces, the Aqua Terra Worldtimer is now a staple of the collection, with options in many case materials and colors. Currently the Aqua Terra is in its third generation, which comes in 41mm, 38mm, 34mm, and 30mm cases for the time-and-date iterations while the Aqua Terra Worldtimer is in a 43mm case. 

One of the other tentpole Seamaster collections is none other than the Planet Ocean, the seriously extra-rugged and water-resistant dive watch that never skimps on luxury. First debuting in 2005, the Planet Ocean has been a decidedly contemporary diver with 600 meters of water resistance. It was, however, none other than James Bond who gave the Planet Ocean its big moment in 2006 with Casino Royale, which is considered to be among the best of the modern 007 movies. The second generation came in 2011, followed by another update in 2016 along with the addition of chronograph, GMT, and world time models. 

A fourth-generation redesign in 2025 marked something of a fresh start for the Planet Ocean. This current iteration of the Planet Ocean is marked by a more faceted case that measures 42mm wide and 13.79mm thick, down from the 43.5mm wide and 16.5mm thick of the previous generation. Omega also removed the helium escape valve on the fourth-generation Planet Ocean due to the fact that innovations in case design have made it redundant to achieve saturation diving. The more compact and traditional design really does go a long way in making the Planet Ocean a bit more consumer-friendly. Of course, no discussion of the Planet Ocean would be complete without mentioning the Ultra Deep, which was worn by Victor Vescovo on his record-breaking dive down to 10,928 meters in the Mariana Trench. The Ultra Deep is a special version of the Planet Ocean that is rated to an astonishing 15,000 meters of water resistance. 

Finally, we have the Seamaster Heritage line, which draws from the collection’s history with pieces like the Seamaster 300, which hearkens back to the 1957 classic. Another more recent addition to the Heritage line is the Seamaster Railmaster, which reimagines the eponymous original Railmaster that also dates back to 1957.

The Omega Speedmaster is a watch defined by its history. Its connections to NASA’s manned missions to the moon through the late 1960s and early ‘70s are well documented, though its true origins are equally interesting. It’s a watch that has seen the world change a great deal around it, without changing all that much itself. The Speedmaster is the definition of a timeless design that never seems to age, and that, of course, begins with a strong foundation that dates to 1957, since which the watch has been in continuous production. 

It’s rare to find a watch that’s had as big an impact on the culture around it as it has had on the industry itself. Through time, the Speedmaster has achieved exactly this, and stands as a pillar of consistency within an ever-evolving industry. Today, the Speedmaster represents a diverse collection within Omega’s catalog, but the Speedmaster “Moonwatch” retains an unbroken lineage that serves as the heart and soul of the family, and in some ways, the brand itself. 

The Speedmaster was introduced in 1957 alongside the Seamaster and the Railmaster in what would prove to be a pivotal year for the legacy Swiss manufacture. The very first reference was the CK 2915, which featured a broad arrow handset and a steel tachymeter bezel mounted at its perimeter. The watch was powered by the brand’s manually winding Caliber 321 (the automatic chronograph was still 12 years away), and was initially positioned as a high-performance racing timer and engineering instrument. The name itself was oriented around the idea of speed within the trilogy of ‘master’ labeled watches (the others being Sea and Rail).

It’s important to note that this was not the first precision timer from the brand. In fact, Omega has been the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games since 1932, and the brand has a legacy of producing novel timing instruments as a result. That precision only works if it’s paired with an accurate movement, and this too has been something of an obsession for Omega. In fact, Omega was the first to place a tourbillon within the confines of a wristwatch (in 1947) for exactly this purpose. 

By the 1950s, Omega had accrued a deep knowledge base around building accurate and precise timing instruments. The 1957 trilogy exemplified that heritage in the form of three modern watches that would go on to define the coming generation of products from Omega. With the Speedmaster, the caliber 321 was a natural choice for its well understood and robust architecture, having been originally designed in the 1940s by Albert Piguet of Lemania as the caliber 2310. It was small, and it was accurate, making it a perfect choice for the original vision of the Speedmaster. 

By 1959, the Speedmaster had taken on a few notable changes with the Reference CK 2998, which used a larger 40mm case with a straight lug design. Additional changes, such as a black aluminum tachymeter bezel and dauphine-style hands would be an important step in the ultimate evolution of the watch, making for an all-around more legible and ergonomic design.

The CK 2998 would become the first Speedmaster to see space, on the wrist of NASA astronaut Wally Schirra, who brought it as his personal watch aboard Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7) on October 3, 1962, completing six orbits of the Earth. This was three years prior to the Speedmaster gaining official flight qualification from NASA. The early ‘60s would prove to be a pivotal time for the Speedmaster, with the reference ST 105.002 appearing in 1962, and the reference ST 105.012 appearing in 1964, the watch would take on a more familiar form, with a set of pencil hands, a stepped dial, and a larger 42mm case with a twisted lug design (and yes, the dot placed over the 90). This is the framework that the Moonwatch Professional still uses today.

In 1962, NASA procured a selection of commercially available chronograph wristwatches from the likes of Breitling, Rolex, Longines-Wittnauer, and Omega with the intent of evaluation for use in the Gemini and Apollo programs. The watches were subjected to a litany of tests under extreme conditions, from temperature to shock and vibration. According to Speedmaster lore, it was the sole watch to pass all tests while retaining the ability to keep time to within 5 seconds per day. A rather impressive feat, even by today’s standards. In 1965, the Omega Speedmaster would be officially selected and deemed officially flight-certified by NASA, ready for action in what would turn out to be an eventful decade of use. 

Just months after its official selection, the Speedmaster reference 105.003 would make its first trip to space on the wrists of astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young aboard Gemini 3, with Ed White using the watch on a spacewalk later that year. In order to be useful in these conditions, the watch was fitted to a long nylon strap secured with Velcro that allowed it to be worn on the outside of a space suit as well as against the skin. Thus, eight years after its official launch, the Speedmaster legend was well and truly born, but this would only be the beginning of its exploits in space. 

By 1966, the Speedmaster had gained the word ‘Professional’ on its dial and the Reference 145.012 would enter production, ready to serve the Apollo program. However, this wasn’t the end of the story for the reference 105.012. In July of 1969, Apollo 11 carried astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin toward the moon for humanity’s first appearance on the surface of another world. Aldrin and Armstrong would make the landing on July 20th (with Collins manning the Command Module in orbit), and with them were two Speedmaster references 105.012. 

While Armstrong was the first out of the Lunar Module, he left his Speedmaster inside as backup for a malfunctioning electronic timer. With this, Buzz Aldrin would be the first to wear a Speedmaster on the surface of the moon. The Speedmaster (both reference 105.012 and 145.012) would go on to be a part of every moon landing made by the Apollo program, a total of six times between 1969 and 1972, but its most consequential appearance would be in Apollo 13. 

Launched in April of 1970, Apollo 13 and its three-man crew was to be the program’s third moon landing. The landing would be aborted two days into the mission after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) exploded, disabling its electrical and life-support system. The crew, which consisted of astronauts James Lovell, John Swigert, and Fred Haise, would make their way back home after a series of improvisations to their living environment, and a slingshot maneuver around the moon. During the return, a precise 14-second engine burn was to be performed to ensure an appropriate trajectory, a period that Jack Swigert would use his Speedmaster to time. 

For its role in helping to return the Apollo 13 astronauts back to Earth safely, the Speedmaster would receive NASA’s Silver Snoopy award, a special honor given to employees and contractors for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success. This remarkable series of events would cement the Speedmaster’s place in history, and is undoubtedly the reason that Omega has gone to great lengths to preserve its identity over the generations without compromise. 

A quick note that the term ‘pre-moon’ Speedmaster refers to watches without the caseback markings denoting its status as the "First Watch Worn on the Moon." Ironically, Speedmaster references that were a big part of the program in the lead-up to Apollo, and even watches that appeared on the moon, fall into this category. 

Omega has celebrated its Silver Snoopy award in a trio of Speedmasters released in 2003, 2015, and 2020. These watches generally have an air of levity to them, highlighting the famous Peanuts character and his sidekick, Woodstock, in playful ways. The most recent example was released on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, and features a moving lunar module piloted by Snoopy on its caseback.

After being officially selected by NASA for use in its space programs, Omega spun up one of its own, called the Alaska Project. This was the code name for watches being developed for extreme conditions presented by, well, outer space and other worlds. Omega developed additional dial designs and layouts, and even protective shroudings that could be used over the case to protect it from the elements. Watches developed under this banner would ultimately not see use by NASA, as they were often deemed too expensive to develop, or just plain overkill for all intents and purposes. 

Concepts that were developed within the Alaska Project were not produced commercially, though some would eventually see the light of day in some form or another. In 2008, Omega released the Speedmaster Alaska Project, complete with white dial and red anodized aluminum housing, and in 2017, the ‘Speedy Tuesday’ released in collaboration with the enthusiast website Fratello Watches, served as a nod to the Alaska Project III concept. 

From the ‘70s onward, the Moonwatch would carry the weight of its achievement as the first watch worn on the moon, and its official flight qualification from NASA on its caseback around the historic hippocampus. The collection itself may have grown in size and diversity, but the Moonwatch remains singularly focused, and its appearance has changed relatively little over the subsequent generations. Because of these exploits, and Omega’s careful preservation of the design, the Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional is one of very few watches that can legitimately be labeled an “icon.” 

Today, the Speedmaster boasts an impressive array of diversity, with heritage designs well represented alongside modern iterations on the concept that welcome a range of materials, sizes, and complications. The FOIS, or First Omega In Space, for instance, is a modern but faithful interpretation of the reference CK 2998 worn by Wally Schirra, featuring a straight-lug 39.7mm case with Alpha hands and a flat link bracelet. Watches like this help to preserve the stories not only of historic watches, but of the people and events that made them special. Omega has proven especially effective at managing the Speedmaster’s illustrious history in this manner. 

Further, Omega has even returned the Speedmaster to its roots with the likes of a Racing collection that exists today within the Two Counters subset, embracing its original intent with a wonderfully colorful design. This is a side of the Speedmaster that Omega has embraced in recent generations, and signals a desire to retain agency of the watch’s story, which is not exclusively tied to its space-faring exploits. 

It’s a similar story with the smaller Speedmaster 38 collection, which explores a different side of the famous chronograph that displays a formal tendency without abandoning the sporty core of its identity. The base design of the Speedmaster is strong enough that it can be pushed in unexpected directions and remain intact, which is a testament to the original vision of the watch. This is true of the Dark Side of the Moon references, to the wild Chronoscope designs, all the way to the smaller Speedmaster 38. 

Through it all, the Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional remains the template. This is the collection that, whether rendered in steel or precious metals, must retain a manually winding chronograph movement. With the most recent generation, the watch gained a co-axial escapement with the caliber 3861, and it is now more accurate than ever, featuring Master Chronometer Certification. It may be more refined than ever, but it’s still true to its core goals, and on that note, it can still be had with an old-school acrylic crystal over the dial.

Before professional, tool-oriented watches became Omega’s bread and butter, like many historic watchmakers, the brand produced small, more refined pieces in the early 20th century as watches were moving from the pocket to the wrist. Starting in the 1910s and throughout the pre-Seamaster era, Omega’s early wristwatches channeled the turn of the century and Art Deco design that defined those eras stylistically. Packed with manually-wound movements, this chapter in the brand’s early history frequently relied on slim and compact cases (remember, this is when 33mm was considered to be quite large), often in precious metals, enamel, or silvered dials with minimal decoration, and you’ll find many square and rectangular case designs, as Art Deco was fully underway. 

All of these early watches were made before the Omega catalog was organized in the collection-oriented way that we’re familiar with today. Instead, Omega, like most other brands, advertised and sold its pieces based on the caliber, case reference, materials, or retailer co-branding, when applicable, rather than being categorized into a collection with its own name. The introduction of the Seamaster line in 1948 kicked off the big shift into collections and cohesive model-family identities that we still see today from Omega. Just a few short years later, the second bona fide collection would join the ranks, launching the line that continues to be one of Omega’s most easily recognizable dress watch families today. 

Where the Seamaster was touted for its underwater performance, the Omega Constellation was the brand’s answer to precision timekeeping. In the greater landscape of watches, this shift wasn’t coincidental by any means. In the early 1950s, we’re well within the fiercest era of the race to chronometer accuracy, with all of the major watchmakers of the time competing to stand out as mechanical movement technology advanced. Observatory trials were already well underway in the late 19th century, with Neuchâtel, Geneva in Switzerland, and Kew-Teddington in the U.K., becoming battlegrounds for watchmakers to prove their accuracy chops. These punishing precision tests were largely limited to pocketwatches until the 1940s, when wristwatches entered the competition with fervor. At the time of its launch, chronometer-certified accuracy was baked right into the Constellation’s appeal. 

At its debut, the first Constellation models also introduced many of the hallmark design details that are still a staple of the collection's identity today. The dimensional “pie-pan” dial, applied hour markers, and chronometer-certified status signified by the medallion adorned with an observatory tower motif were all at play from the earliest Constellations, and continue to be utilized in the contemporary collection. The overall ethos of the Constellation leaned on sophistication, both in terms of aesthetics and timekeeping accuracy, and its dressy, more formal design language was a stark contrast to the iconic professional collections that would follow in Omega’s lineup. 

Though the key ingredients were synthesized from the jump, the Constellation has undergone some refinement and reimagining in the 70+ years since it hit the scene. The middle of the 1960s saw Omega begin to modernize the collection, bringing it up to speed with the changing styles of the time. The case architecture got bolder and more dramatic. The lugs became more “lyre-shaped” and angular compared with the classic straight lugs of early models. Stainless steel started to be relied upon more, though the gold options still remained. As with all of the big names in Swiss watchmaking, the quartz era brought along its own challenges. The 1970s and 1980s would prove to be among the most significant eras in the design lifecycle of the Constellation, shaped not only by the panic brought on by quartz, but also by the introduction of integrated-bracelet watches, à la Gérald Genta. The Constellation was adapted to reflect these landmark shifts in the watch industry, with the first quartz-powered Constellation watches released in the mid-70s. 

In 1982, the Constellation Manhattan represented arguably the most significant design overhaul in the collection’s history. This was the moment that the Constellation joined the extended universe of integrated-bracelet-style watches, and is the blueprint for many of the models produced today. Models had been offered with bracelet pairings, yes, but the Constellation Manhattan leaned all the way in, with its flat-link bracelet that flowed seamlessly from the case. This was the Constellation at its boldest yet, and is where the distinct, Griffes bezel was officially introduced. Adapting to the times and appealing to a younger generation of consumers, the bold visual identity of the Constellation Manhattan helped save the collection from a slow death and continues to be the blueprint of the line. 

From the 1990s through the early 2000s, Omega focused on rounding out its Constellation lineup, positioning it as its everyday luxury offering. Size options expanded, more automatic movements were offered, and the Co-Axial escapement was worked into the mix as the brand really took a “something for everybody” approach to the collection. The 2010s and beyond have been an era of streamlining the Constellation, most notably working the Griffes claws to integrate seamlessly with the bezel. Quartz options are still being produced; the collection has been revamped to utilize METAS-Certified Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibers across all sizing options, emphasizing both everyday-carry-friendly luxury and technological prowess. Though the post-Manhattan Constellation collection of today has evolved beyond what we typically think of as a classic dress watch, its defining sophistication and elegance still make it stand out as dressy within Omega’s own design universe.

Our next collection stop in Omega’s history is its most quintessentially dressy collection. But the De Ville didn’t begin as a standalone collection family in its own right. First debuting in 1960, the name “De Ville” (meaning “of the city” in English) was first used as a sub-group within the larger Seamaster collection. Early Seamaster De Ville models followed typical mid-century dress watch design codes. Think slim, rounded cases with straight lugs, sleek hands and applied hour markers, and very minimal dial decoration. Though these watches had the Seamaster title right on the dial, the pieces themselves exuded a more refined, metropolitan elegance, rather than dive watch toughness. Early models were separated from the larger Seamaster universe both aesthetically and functionally, only achieving about 30 meters of water resistance – safe for rain or accidental splashes, but not for a swim. 

The De Ville would officially part ways with the larger Seamaster family in 1967. Now standing on its own, both spiritually and by the script on its dial, the De Ville became its own collection. The guiding design principles of the De Ville weren’t fussed with too much, but rather, Omega was separating its conservative, dress-oriented line from the pack. In the late 1960s-70s, we also see Omega experimenting with case architecture, adding tonneau, rectangular, oval, and square cases, among others, to its repertoire. Though the De Ville was Omega’s staple dress line, the ‘70s were boisterous and experimental, and the brand joined other watchmakers in embracing the shifting styles of the time. The advent of quartz could be argued to have even worked in the De Ville’s favor at this time. Once Omega began utilizing quartz, the brand notably collaborated with renowned jewellery designer Andrew Grima on several truly “out there” designs as the De Ville subcollection, which remain among the boldest and most architectural models ever produced. Though the classic, formal model remained, the 1970s were the era where the restraint of the De Ville was turned on its head. Stone dials, crazy bracelets, and faceted crystal were all fair game. Not being tied to the necessary performance constraints that tool watches face, the De Ville became a canvas for experimentation. 

With the wildness of the 1970s winding down and the pressures of the Quartz Crisis mounting, the De Ville collection in the ‘80s began to cool down on some of its crazy design experimentation. Because the collection embraced quartz, it also served to stabilize the brand while it weathered the trying times in the watch industry. You could say the De Ville was “quiet luxury” before the term existed in the cultural and marketing zeitgeist. The collection acted as an entryway into the Omega catalog, focusing on classic, understated design at a more affordable price point. 

1999 was a revolutionary year for the relatively unassuming De Ville, and for Omega at large. This was the year that Omega equipped one of its watches with a Co-Axial escapement, and the De Ville was chosen as the vehicle for this technological innovation. A far cry from the no-fuss quartz-powered gateways into the collection, the first De Ville Co-Axial Escapement Chronometer models implemented George Daniels’ groundbreaking advancement (Omega bought the patent in the 1990s) for the Caliber 2500, which was based on the ETA 2892. Now, the De Ville encapsulated both classic refinement and technological prowess. 

Spoiler alert: We’ll be diving deeper into the mechanical innovations of the De Ville in the following section. But as the collection stands in its most contemporary identity, it remains Omega’s destination for classic dress watch style. The De Ville has been expanded to include various sub-collections, many of which are more explicitly catering to a female consumer (like the Tresor and the modern revival of its original women’s watch, the Ladymatic, as its own line).

Omega's De Ville and Constellation collections have both undergone some dramatic technological advancements in the brand’s more recent history. 

Two-thousand-seven was a milestone year for the De Ville, with the debut of the De Ville Hour Vision becoming the launching pad for Omega’s groundbreaking Caliber 8500. A definitive move well beyond the early ETA-based movements that began Omega’s transition into its Co-Axial escapement era, the Caliber 8500 was built in-house from the ground up. With the Caliber 8500, the Co-Axial Escapement was no longer retrofitted to an existing movement, but foundational and fully integrated from the start. With the launch of the Hour Vision, Omega was asserting its independence on the mechanical front – and making the Co-Axial technology scalable. 

The Globemaster moniker is a historically significant one in the Omega universe and the Constellation collection at large. Early editions of the Constellation utilized the Globemaster name during the 1950s, specifically on the U.S. market. But the name was ultimately lost to time, until 2015, that is. More than just a heritage revival, the launch of the Constellation Globemaster harkened back to the obsession with accuracy and precision that was foundational to the collection. At its launch, the Constellation Globemaster ushered in the era of Master Chronometer certification by Switzerland’s METAS institute. Though METAS operated independently, Omega worked closely alongside them to develop this accuracy standard, which notably tested not only the movement but the watches themselves in accuracy trials. Powered by the Caliber 8900 (or 8901 for models in precious metals), the Constellation Globemaster marked the beginning of Omega’s Master Chronometer Certification evolution. Though the Hour Vision sub-collection seems to be on its way out in the De Ville collection, the subsequent editions of the Globemaster remain a staple in the Constellation family. 

It’s hard to imagine that five years ago we lived in a pre-MoonSwatch reality. Nowadays, a walk down the streets of any major city – in the world, mind you – results in a shocking sight: Besides the Apple Watch, the MoonSwatch has become one of the most ubiquitous pieces of wrist tech. It’s hype culture meets horology meets watch nerd meets affordability meets iconography. It’s quintessential. 

But the question is, what is it? In order to answer that question we must go back to March, 2022, the year and the month that Swatch and Omega teased a mystery collaboration (the premise of which was unfathomable at the time) before unveiling a game-changing array of battery-powered chronographs.

People clamored to be part of what quickly shaped up to be an event of epic cultural proportions, not solely of the watch kind. In New York City, a line grew from the door of the Times Square Swatch store and stretched nearly five city blocks in length. Thousands of people queued up for the MoonSwatch. Walking that line would find you face to face with everyone from a hardcore watch nerd to a commerce opportunist to kids who knew better than to pass up the next cool thing worth waiting for be it a shoe or a space age-inspired wristwatch collab. 

The MoonSwatch is the brainchild of Swatch Group CEO Nicholas Hayek, Jr., whose father brilliantly saw Swatch as a key component in saving the Swiss watch industry from ruin in the face of Japanese quartz watches some four decades ago. The brand remains a crown jewel of the group’s portfolio which includes Omega and Breguet. So while it might have utterly shocked some to have seen this collaboration come to life, others understood once they thought about it for a few moments. Hayek is the sort of maverick executive who isn’t afraid to shake up an entire industry, and with the MoonSwatch he did just that. 

At its most fundamental level, the MoonSwatch is a Swatchified take on the original Omega Moonwatch, a watch and subject more than adequately covered in this book. The case is made from bioceramic, which is an elegant way of saying recycled plastic (though it is a proprietary compound). The dimensions mirror those of the Speedmaster at 42mm in diameter and a 3D-printed execution which ensures every curve and angle matches that of a Speedy. From the lugs to the crown guards to the bezel – it’s pure Speedmaster.

The MoonSwatch collection launched in 10 varieties, meant to represent 10 different celestial bodies from planets to the Moon, the Sun, and Pluto. Each came in a different case and dial color affixed to a NASA-inspired nylon strap attached to the wrist by Velcro. And the whole offering would only set a customer back $260. 

While dial layout may differ from that classic Moonwatch due to the battery-powered quartz movement within, the price made that easy to overlook because for under $300 you could wear a watch that looked like the one Neil Armstrong wore on the Moon! And that’s just cool. The MoonSwatch soon began to represent a democratization of watches writ large, allowing more people to enter the hobby at a friendly price point that afforded them the opportunity to purchase something of an icon. 

But of course there are two sides to every coin. While the general public took to the MoonSwatch with open arms, it wasn’t completely free of detraction. The hardcore watch scene was skeptical of the watch, afraid it might somehow damage the reputation of the Omega Speedmaster through devaluation — that somehow the ability for a new generation to get in on the ground level of watch history at $260 would bring irreparable harm to the original. 

This brings things right back to Nicholas Hayek. Change is difficult, and when you shock an enthusiast base, you’re going to hear about it. But in the end, there are just as many watch lovers, and Speedmaster lovers, who ended up becoming MoonSwatch owners – often a few times over.

And that’s sort of the point of the MoonSwatch. As inflation has continued to push luxury watch prices higher, the MoonSwatch stands as a representation of the way things used to be – when watches could be had after saving up a few hundred dollars. Sure it doesn’t offer the mechanical intrigue of a 3861 manual-wound movement. It does, conversely, make you feel like the coolest non-astronaut astronaut that ever lived when you tear that Velcro back and affix it to the wrist. That alone is worth the cost of entry.

In the years since the first 10 MoonSwatch models were released, Omega and Swatch have released a bevy of special and limited additions to the line. Some featured Omega’s proprietary Moonshine gold material, others brought the iconic Snoopy motif into the fray. The year 2025 even saw the release of the MoonSwatch 1965, which featured retro Omega branding with a grey case and white dial.

The point is, whether you think the MoonSwatch has flooded the market or jumped the shark, there’s a MoonSwatch for everyone. And that’s a good thing. Omega has some of the most iconic watch models on the planet. Heck, the Speedmaster could be its own watch brand if it wanted to be. But watches are still mechanical relics of the past dependent on a continuing passionate enthusiast base. As the share of attention gets more and more competitive, leave it to Nicholas Hayek, Jr. to have found a way to make non-digital wristwatches as relevant as ever. And the MoonSwatch is the reason why. 

SEAMASTER

Seamaster Diver 300M

The Seamaster Diver 300M is arguably the flagship of the modern Seamaster fleet. Still the go-to watch of James Bond, it bears several elements from its 1993 reboot, including the wave-pattern dial and skeleton hands, but also includes several modern upgrades, including the use of ceramic for the unidirectional dive-scale bezel, an enlarged case size of 42mm (and an even larger 43.5mm for some models), and most significantly an Omega in-house automatic movement, the Master Chronometer certified, co-axial Caliber 8800. Both the dial and the insert of the dive-scale bezel are executed in ceramic, and laser engraving is now used for the dial’s wave motif. The casebacks of most modern models feature sapphire windows to display the movement, a rarity in previous versions of the Seamaster Diver. The newest models include a green-dialed watch with a green ceramic bezel and the "Great White" model, with white ceramic dial and black dive-scale bezel. 

Seamaster Diver 300M Chronograph

The Seamaster Diver 300M comes in two distinctive chronograph iterations, one with a two-register dial layout powered by the automatic Caliber 9900, the other with a three-register dial containing the automatic co-axial Caliber 3330. Both feature a date window at 6 o’clock, a helium release valve at 10 o’clock, and screw-down chronograph pushers positioned outside the shoulder-like protectors of the screw-down crown. The cases are larger than those of the core three-handed models, at 44mm, and offering options in steel, Omega’s proprietary Sedna gold, and two-tone steel-and-gold combinations, plus one exceptional piece that combines titanium and Sedna gold with tantalum, a blue-gray-toned metal rarely found in watchmaking. 

Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M

The Seamaster Aqua Terra offers the largest variety within the Seamaster universe in terms of sizes, materials, and colorways, and even includes a handful of complications, ranging from a small seconds display to a GMT and chronograph to Omega’s first world-time watch. The core three-hand-date models are 41mm in steel, water-resistant to 150 meters, with hands and indexes inspired by sails, and packing the automatic Caliber 8900. Even more diversity came to the line in 2022, when five new Aqua Terra models in 38mm cases and five in 34mm cases, all in polished stainless steel and mounted on bracelets, debuted, all with dials that eschew the customary teakwood textured look in favor of a sunburst finish in a variety of dazzling new colors, including saffron, terracotta, sandstone, and sea blue. On the more sober end of the spectrum, Omega unveiled an Aqua Terra with a black lacquer dial in 2024.

Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M

Introduced in 2005, the Planet Ocean was positioned from the start as a modern dive watch that embraced both sporty utility and luxury. Drawing some of its influences from a 1960s Seamaster model, it is distinguished from the Diver models in several respects: the coin-edged, unidirectional bezel with an aluminum (later ceramic) insert, the dial design with Arabic numerals at 12, 6, and 9 and arrowhead hour and minute hands, the helium-release valve at 10 o’clock (abandoned on the most recent models), and, most significantly from a diving standpoint, a water resistance of 600 meters, double the rating of the Seamaster Diver. Today, the Planet Ocean series encompasses a wide swath of choices, for men and women, avid divers and “desk divers” alike. The Planet Ocean is the first Seamaster model to incorporate an Omega co-axial caliber and today contains the even-further-optimized Master Chronometer movement in all but the smallest versions. Among the highlights of the collection are the Planet Ocean “Deep Black” models introduced in 2016, noteworthy as the first ceramic-cased dive watches tested to be water resistant to 600 meters, and the blue-dialed 75th Anniversary model. The Chronograph version of the Planet Ocean is powered by Master Chronometer co-axial Caliber 9900, which drives a two-register display in which the 60-minute and 12-hour counters are combined on a single subdial for intuitive reading of elapsed times at a glance.

Seamaster 300

Omega brought a more vintage-accurate version of the Seamaster, called the Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial, to market in 2014. The most substantive differences between the modern Seamaster 300 and its 1957 ancestor are technical rather than aesthetic: the former’s water resistance is rated to the 300 meters alluded to in its name; the bezel turns in one direction rather than two, a safety measure to prevent accidental resetting of the time underwater that is now common in dive watches; and the movement is both COSC- and Master Chronometer-certified. The dial design, with the Broad Arrow hands and wedge-shaped markers, is very faithful to the original’s. Today, the once-humble tool watch, sized at 41mm, offers options in bronze, titanium, and Omega’s proprietary Sedna gold as well as numerous models in steel. 

Seamaster 1948

With the vintage revival in full swing and the 1957 reissue carving out its own successful niche, Omega went even further back into the archives to resurrect the very first “non-diver” Seamaster in 2018. The dressiest and most retro in style of the Seamaster family, the Seamaster 1948 is a range of limited editions, all in modest 38mm cases made of steel or platinum, often with gold details on the dials, and equipped with Master Chronometer movements. Distinguishing these exclusive models from the rest of the collection, as well as from their historical predecessors, are the flat sapphire casebacks that have been laser-engraved and lacquered by hand with a 70th Anniversary logo and two images paying tribute to Omega’s history as a watch provider to the military: a Chris-Craft boat, and a Gloster Meteor aircraft.

SPEEDMASTER

Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch Chronograph 42mm

At the core of the expanded Speedmaster family is the one that most resembles the original 1969 “Moonwatch” that Buzz Aldrin rocked on the Apollo 11 mission more than 50 years ago. The contemporary version is among the most accessible “icon” watches out there from a pricing standpoint and often serves as the first “serious watch” in a budding connoisseur’s collection. It still has a 42mm steel case, with a Hesalite crystal over the dial (though Omega does also offer a version with a sapphire crystal for a small upcharge) and the trendsetting tachymeter-scale bezel that speaks to the Speedy’s motorsport origins. The dial’s hands and hour markers are luminous-treated, and the subdials at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock measure elapsed minutes, elapsed hours, and running seconds, respectively. It’s even equipped with a modern version of the hand-wound movement that powered the original, Omega Caliber 1861, or its successor, the Master Chronometer-certified Caliber 3861, with a 3Hz frequency and a 48-hour power reserve. With this reference, Omega takes the adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” to heart.

Speedmaster Calibre 321

One of Omega’s many major projects in 2019, the 50th anniversary year of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, was the launch of a painstakingly recreated version of the original Caliber 321 that powered the first Speedmasters, including the one that went to the Moon. The platinum-cased special edition with moon-meteorite subdials that ushered in the reconstituted movement, which dropped precisely fifty years after Apollo 11 landed, was followed up the following year by an all-steel version, which takes its primary aesthetic inspiration not from the Reference ST 105.012 model that Buzz Aldrin famously wore on the 1969 mission but from the earlier Reference ST 105.003, which Ed White wore on his 1965 spacewalk. Its steel case is 39.7mm in diameter, with the familiar tachymeter-scale bezel ring made of polished black ceramic (Zr02), accented by markings in white enamel. Collectors of vintage Speedies will also appreciate details like the “dot over 90” on the bezel, a subtle detail that identifies a Speedmaster model as being from pre-1970. Behind a sapphire caseback is the Caliber 321 movement, whose distinctive copper-finished bridges and monobloc column wheel have been painstakingly duplicated by Omega’s engineers through the use of digital scanning technology.

Speedmaster '57

In 2013, Omega returned to the Speedmaster’s auto-racing roots, and to an earlier bicompax dial, releasing the retro-cool Speedmaster ‘57, a contemporary reissue of the 1957 original. The watch’s streamlined design includes the vintage “Broad Arrow” hands, the original steel tachymeter bezel with blackened scale, and two subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock, for chronograph readout and running seconds, respectively, along with a date window at 6 o’clock. The chronograph subdial is notably upgraded from its 1957 predecessor, with an unusual two-handed design that allows both the elapsed minutes (60) and elapsed hours (12) to be read simultaneously and intuitively on one subdial. All the models in the Speedmaster ‘57 series have 40.5mm stainless steel cases and contain Omega’s manually wound, Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 9906. The dial options include a sandwich-style version in black, with recessed hour markers and vintage-look Super-LumiNova, and blue, green, and varnished burgundy versions in PVD.

Speedmaster Racing

The dial of the first Speedmaster in 1957 was designed to resemble the dashboard of that era’s Italian sports cars, but in 1968, on the cusp of the watch’s elevation from the racetrack to the rocketship, Omega doubled down on the automotive DNA by adding a motorsport-inspired “checkered flag” minute track on the dial’s periphery to complement the subdials and the tachymeter bezel. The Speedmaster Racing, launched in 2012, resurrects that vintage design, sporting a 44.25mm steel case with a matte black aluminum tachymeter ring on the bezel. The beveled hands and arrowhead hour markers also echo the 1968 watch’s design, alongside the well-placed orange details on the dial and bezel. The movement, displayed behind a sapphire caseback, is Omega’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 9900, an automatic with a column-wheel chronograph function and a power reserve of 60 hours.

Speedmaster 38

The Speedmaster 38 sub-family joined the OG 42mm models in 2017. While many of these “Mini Moonwatches” are designed with ladies in mind (especially the models set with precious stones), many others are very appealing to gents as well in this era of increasingly modest case dimensions. The slightly downsized models feature the same curving lugs, pump-style chronograph pushers, and tachymeter-scale bezel ring (here in aluminum) as the 42mm originals, but their subtle differences include the oval-bordered subdials for chronograph minutes and hours and running seconds as well as a circular window at 6 o’clock for the date. Driving all these functions, behind the solid caseback adorned with a seahorse medallion, is Omega’s self-winding co-axial Caliber 3300, based on the ETA-built Longines L688.2 and offering a 52-hour power reserve.

Speedmaster "First Omega in Space"

Another model from Omega’s Speedmaster Heritage collection resurrects the “First Omega in Space,” aka the model worn by Wally Schirra when he orbited the Earth in the 1962 “Sigma 7” mission. Launched in 2016, the watch stays faithful to its ancestor’s 39.7mm dimensions (more modest than those of the standard modern Moonwatch), its straight lugs with thin bevels, lack of crown guards, and its use of the relief-engraved seahorse emblem (a holdover from the early Seamaster watches from which it derives its DNA, and a testament to its water resistance) on the caseback. The Alpha-shaped hands and applied Omega logo at 12 o’clock are also features drawn from pre-1969 Speedmasters. The manually wound Caliber 3861 beats inside, as in the current-production Moonwatch, representing the most up-to-date evolution of the Lemania-based Caliber 321 that powered the vintage models. In 2024, Omega introduced the latest version of the "FOIS," distinguished by a blue-gray dial that approximates the aged look of the black dials on vintage models.

Speedmaster Moonwatch "Dark Side of the Moon"

The Speedmaster Moonwatch “Dark Side of the Moon” derives its name from the monochromatic, ebony aesthetic of its case and dial, both made from black zirconium oxide ceramic. The 44.25mm case has both brushed and polished finishes, and the dial features applied indexes made of 18k white gold, and two blackened subdials at 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock — a bicompax subdial arrangement that speaks to the watch’s movement, Omega’s in-house, automatic Caliber 9300. As on other Speedmasters with that movement, the subdial at 3 o’clock serves as both the 12-hour and 60-minute counter, with two hands to display the elapsed time intuitively, while the running seconds occupy the subdial at 9 o’clock and the date appears in a window at 6 o’clock. The bezel’s traditional tachymeter scale is inscribed in matte chromium nitride on the polished black ceramic surface. The chronograph pushers are also in polished ceramic. Despite straying far beyond the purist’s version of an Omega moonwatch, the Dark Side of the Moon has become a successful sub-family in its own right, offered in several executions, including models outfitted with the manually wound, three-register Caliber 1861 rather than the self-winding, two-register 9300; in skeletonized versions, as in 2018's Apollo 8 limited edition; and in other ceramic executions, like the Gray Side of the Moon and Blue Side of the Moon editions. 

Speedmaster Chronoscope

Launched in 2021, the Speedmaster Chronoscope pulls off a rare horological trifecta, combining three chronograph-related scales on its vintage-inspired dial and bezel: a tachymeter, telemeter, and pulsometer. Deriving its name from the Greek words “chronos,” meaning time, and “scope,” meaning to observe, the model pays tribute to vintage Omega chronograph watches from the 1940s with its spiral track patterns, snailed subdials, and leaf-shaped hands. The Chronoscope is available in seven total references, six that use stainless steel for their 43-mm cases and another in Omega’s exclusive bronze gold, a corrosion-resistant alloy made up of copper, gold, and a handful of other precious metals. Inside the watches beats the manually wound Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 9908, whose noteworthy features include Geneva waves in Arabesque that radiate outward from the balance wheel rather than from the center of the bridge — the first time that Omega has executed this distinctive finish, a visual hallmark of its in-house movements, in this manner. 

Speedmaster Moon-Phase

While nearly all Speedmaster “Moonwatches” are chronographs, relatively few of them are also equipped with that most on-theme of additional complications, a moon-phase display. In 2016, Omega released the most noteworthy example, a blue-on-blue timepiece (with a sunburst dial and a tachymeter bezel insert cast in the brand’s proprietary “LiquidMetal”) that was also the first Speedy with a movement that achieved Omega’s Master Chronometer certification, attesting not only to the movement’s accuracy and robustness but also to its extreme antimagnetic properties. Joining the hours-and-minutes chronograph subdial at 3 o’clock, and the dual small seconds/analog date subdial at 9 o’clock, a moon-phase at 6 o’clock is distinguished by a photorealistic moon disk with a subtle historical detail that is worth viewing under a loupe: the minuscule imprint of Buzz Aldrin’s astronaut boot on the surface. 

Speedmaster Pilot

In 1969, the same year the Speedmaster became the “Moonwatch,” Omega debuted the short-lived, cult-classic Flightmaster pilots’ watch, which was revived, after a fashion, as the Speedmaster Pilot in 2024. The new watch has the tachymeter-scale bezel long associated with the Moonwatch, but sports a grained matte dial with a distinctive pair of colorful subdials: at 3 o’clock, a two-handed register in the style of an aircraft instrument panel’s burn rate indicator to tally elapsed hours and minutes; and at 9 o’clock, a small seconds counter in the style of a target/sight indicator with horizon line. The date at 6 o’clock, orange airplane-tipped chronograph seconds hand, and the inscription “Flight Qualified” in bright yellow all contribute to the watch’s cockpit-ready aesthetic.

CONSTELLATION

Constellation Gent

The Omega Constellation traces its history all the way back to 1952 and received a refresh a few years ago. Omega launched a slew of new Constellation watches in 2020 in a range of sizes, case materials and colorways. The 41-mm Gent models are in stainless steel, steel and yellow gold, and steel and Omega-proprietary Sedna Gold. All the watches feature colorful, polished ceramic bezels in blue, black, or brown, and the hallmark Roman-numeral-bedecked bezels with side-mounted “claws,” a design element that hearkens back to the Constellation’s most enduring revamp in 1982. The watches are equipped with the automatic Master Chronometer Caliber 8900 and mounted on leather straps with rubber lining in colors that echo the dials and bezels. 

Constellation Globemaster

The Constellation Globemaster, the first watch to receive Omega’s “Master Chronometer” certification, takes its design cues from earlier models in the Constellation collection: the “pie pan” dial echoes that of a vintage Omega Constellation from 1952; and the fluted bezel is derived from that of another model from 1968. The 39mm, brushed-finish case is available in stainless steel, yellow gold, two-tone steel and yellow gold, and full Sedna gold, with two polished bevels connecting the edges of the lugs to the bezel. It’s within the small Globemaster collection that you’ll also find Omega’s sole annual calendar watch, whose clever design incorporates a central hand to point to the current month on the outer calendar ring, with the date displayed in a window at 6 o’clock. The Globemaster Annual Calendar has a 41mm case containing the automatic Caliber 8922, which features a rotor with an embossed illustration of an observatory.

De Ville

Omega introduced the De Ville initially as part of the Seamaster line in 1960, and by 1967 had spun it off as its own collection, characterized by its more streamlined design and elegant character. In 1999, a De Ville became the first Omega watch equipped with a co-axial movement and, in 2007, the De Ville Hour Vision model ushered in a new era of in-house calibers for Omega, showcasing the new automatic Caliber 8500. The modern-day De Ville family encompasses models for both men and ladies. The most entry-level models in the entire Omega collection hail from the De Ville Prestige family, which offers options in several case sizes, with quartz or automatic movements, aimed at men and ladies. Prestige models are identified by their dials’ leaf-shaped hands and combination of Roman numerals and dot hour markers. The Ladymatic collection, as its name implies, combines feminine-targeted elements (like mother-of-pearl dials, diamond settings, 34mm sizing, and steel-and-gold designs) with automatic Co-Axial movements, specifically the Omega Caliber 8520 with a 50-hour power reserve. De Ville Tresor models (the name is derived from the French for “treasure”) are distinguished by their ultra-thin cases, radiating Roman-numeral dials and the diamond pavings on the bezel curves of many smaller versions. Case sizes range from a petite 26mm to a more traditionally masculine 40mm, in materials ranging from steel to Sedna gold to various two-tone combos. The smallest models contain the quartz Omega Caliber 4061, while the larger models are equipped with a manually wound Master Chronometer movement, Caliber 8929.