![]() The self-winding movement’s top-notch decorative elements, including blackened screws and balance wheel, Geneva wave pattern in Arabesque on the bridges, and rhodium plating on the rotor, are hidden behind the wave-edged solid caseback, which attests to Omega’s attention to detail even when such detail work isn’t readily evident. The watches are mounted on either a rubber strap with what Omega terms a “technical dive suit structure” or an O-Megasteel bracelet, outfitted with Omega’s patented extendable foldover clasp and diver’s extension mechanism.Įnsconced inside all the Planet Ocean Ultra Deep watches, behind titanium casebacks graced with a laser-engraved Sonar emblem, is Omega’s Master Chronometer Caliber 8912, with its hallmark co-axial escapement, METAS-certified chronometer accuracy and antimagnetic resistance (up to 15,000 gauss) and offering a power reserve of 60 hours. ![]() The hands and indices are white-gold, and the sapphire crystals are doomed and beveled to resist maximum underwater pressure. (It is, however, not nearly as lightweight as titanium.) The O-Megasteel watches all feature ceramic dive-scale bezels in a variety of bright colors and either white or gradient effect dials (the latter in either gray-to-black or blue-to-black). In contrast to the 316L and 904L grades of steel used widely throughout watchmaking, O-Megasteel uses only a smattering of nickel (0.5 percent) in the mixture, making it uncommonly hypo-allergenic, as well as corrosion resistant and impressively shiny. Joining the titanium watch are the half-dozen Ultra Deep models with cases made of O-megasteel, a new alloy developed by Omega that has been engineered for not only optimum strength and hardness but also elasticity. ![]() Ceramized titanium is used for the dial, whose hands and markers are coated with blue-emission white Super-LumiNova. Its rotating bezel is made of the same black titanium as the casebody, with a black ceramic dive-scale insert. The titanium model is entirely satin-finished to avoid glare underwater and like its non-commercial predecessor, it has the distinctive openworked “Manta lugs” to lighten its overall load and connect it to a sturdy NATO strap - in this new iteration, made of polyamide yarn sourced from 100 percent recycled fishing nets, a nod to ocean conservation. The watch’s water-resistance is a very robust 6,000 meters, though Omega says each watch has actually been tested to 7,500 meters - again, not as punishing a level of pressure as the more than 10,000 meters the prototype endured on its voyage with Vescovo that secured Omega its dive-watch bragging rights, but certainly at the upper echelon of underwater toughness for a watch the Rolex Deepsea tops out at a rating of 3,900 meters. As one would expect, the cases have been downsized for easier wrist wear - still large, at 45.5 mm and still thick, at 18.2 mm, but more wrist-friendly than its titanic (no pun intended) predecessor. The clear flagship launch for Omega thus far in 2022, the new Planet Ocean Ultra Deep collection is comprised of seven watches - one in a case of grade 5 titanium like the prototype, and six additional in a newly developed alloy called O-megasteel. Somewhat surprisingly, Omega has answered that question in the affirmative just three years later. The prototype, made of titanium and measuring a hulking 55 mm in diameter and 28 mm thick, was not really made to be wearable as a wristwatch, and it was unclear at the time whether the Ultra Deep model would ever be incorporated into the regular Omega lineup. That feat bested the previous record of 35,787 feet, set in 2012 by the Rolex Deepsea model that accompanied director James Cameron in his Challenger Deep expedition, and thus bestowed upon Omega the badge of maker of the world’s most water-resistant watch. Omega made history (and scored a win in its ongoing battle with rival Rolex for dive-watch record supremacy) in 2019 when the prototype watch it created, called the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep, descended more than 10,928 meters (or 35,853 feet) into the Marianas Trench on an undersea expedition headed by ocean explorer Victor Vescovo. Here’s a rundown of the new Omega watches launched in Sunny Florida this week (all photos are Teddy's own).įROM PROTOTYPE TO PILLAR: SEAMASTER PLANET OCEAN ULTRA-DEEP Omega Days 2022 wrapped up and Teddy and I were on site to cover the new releases. With the year’s biggest watch launch event, Watches & Wonders 2022, set to kick off in Geneva at the end of this month and virtually guaranteed to command the attention of the watch media community over its weeklong run, one major luxury watchmaker that won’t be at the mega-event in Switzerland hosted its own event in Miami earlier this week. ![]() 0% interest for up to 24 months available on select brands.
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