Omega Eyes Paris Olympics with New 2024 Bronze Gold Edition

Omega has been the official timekeeping partner of the Olympic Games since 1932, and the partnership has seen a prodigious shift in the timing technology allowing for greater and greater precision. Omega’s museum in Switzerland is a testament to this relationship, with many of the devices developed over the generations for more precise measuring of specific events on display. In recent years, Omega has taken to honoring this long-standing partnership with special edition watches released going into the Olympic Games, and as we prepare to witness the opening of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, Omega has done just that. Its newest creation is the 2024 Bronze Gold Edition, and in classic Olympic fashion it incorporates gold, silver, and bronze. 

The 2024 Bronze Gold Edition is based on the CK 859, released in 2022 (itself based on a watch released in the late ‘30s) and sporting the same 30T manual-winding small seconds caliber inside. The old-school railroad-style watch takes the details to 11 in this Bronze Gold Edition, thanks in large part to the Ag 925 silver dial. At the center of this dial we find a beautiful Clous de Paris texture that’s echoed within the center of the subsidiary seconds register at 6 o’clock. The Arabic numerals at 3, 9, and 12 o’clock get a throwback design, and the 1930s-style Omega logo is placed at the top of the dial to drive the theme home. 

At the dial’s perimeter we find a split railroad track indexing the minutes, with each five-minute segment labeled around the dial. Hour markers transition to the inner portion of the dial, unifying both elements. The silver and black are broken up only by a set of dauphine hands coated in 18K Sedna Gold. The result is just as handsome as the CK 859, made even more compelling by the material used, and the additional finishing details incorporated. 

The 39mm case is rendered in Omega’s own Bronze Gold alloy, which is 37.5% gold and is enriched with other noble elements such as palladium and silver. Bronze itself is an alloy consisting mostly of copper, which has presumably made its way into the case, labeled BG 859, as well. The frosted caseback has been stamped with the Olympic Games Paris 2024 medallion, which is the only reference to the watch’s connection with the Games. Mercifully, there are no flames or rings hidden within the dial here.

Inside, you’ll find Omega’s manually winding co-axial Caliber 8926, which is hidden behind the closed caseback noted above. The movement is a Master Chronometer, and has been independently certified as such by METAS (the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology). Each watch will come with its own certification card verifying its accuracy. METAS verifies that accuracy will be within 0/+5 seconds per day, and Omega’s movements generally find themselves well within that window, in my experience. 

While the theme is obvious on paper, and its incorporation of gold, silver, and bronze makes the Olympics connection clear, this watch transcends the usual myopic execution of such exercises. There is plenty to appreciate and enjoy in this watch independently of its release around the Olympics, and Omega made that possible by restraining the literal nods to the Games to a single location on the back of the watch. Setting that connection aside, this is a remarkably beautiful execution of a classic Omega design, and the use of proprietary materials heightens each of the details in a special way.

The Omega Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition is priced from $12,000, and will be available exclusively from Omega boutiques worldwide.