Heritage Revolution
Omega CEO and president Raynald Aeschlimann gives us his take on why the newest Seamaster is a celebration of its many milestones.
THE OMEGA SEAMASTER means many things. It refers to the iconic tool watch line that has been emblematic of Omega since 1948. But more specifically, it also refers to a range of subcollections that cast a wide net. There is the sportydressy Aqua Terra 150M, the tried-and-tested Diver 300M, the rugged Planet Ocean 600M, and a slew of vintage-inspired heritage models.
“We have so much of a history,” says Omega CEO and president Raynald Aeschlimann, referring to the Seamaster and its progenitors. He could talk about countless examples in the Omega Museum at the manufacture’s headquarters in Biel – such as Marine, the first industrialised waterproof watch, or SHOM, named for France’s Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine that specialises in undersea cartography.
Much of that history travels with the Seamaster 300, which is part of the heritage line-up. The original model first appeared in 1957 as Omega’s first professional diver’s watch and now, over 60 years later, is expressed as a new generation with a touch of refinement. It is slightly slimmer thanks to the new domed sapphire crystal, and its thinner aluminium bezel gives it old-school polish. “Seamaster 300 has a very strong identity from the old days, but nevertheless has a timeless orientation,” Aeschlimann says.
He sees the new 300 as not so strictly bound by vintage designs. “The new watch is the same size,
by the way. It’s incredible to see that this 41mm is still the same size as the old 300, but it’s less of a vintage-looking watch,” he says. “It’s probably one of the most elegant Seamasters that we have.”
The dials have been revamped as a sandwich concept, involving a base layer holding the luminous material and a top layer with cutouts, resulting in markers that are recessed for added three-dimensionality. The Arabic numeral typeface is inspired by Seamasters from the 1960s.
The central seconds hand is reintroduced with a lollipop style for the stainless-steel models, which come with blue or black dials on a bracelet (S$9,300) or leather strap (S$8,800). Omega has also debuted an all-new alloy, Bronze Gold, for one other leather-strapped execution (S$16,550). Consisting of 37.5 per cent gold, the material boasts of the warm tone and desirable patination of bronze, but will not suffer from any unpleasant green oxidation. Aeschlimann notes that some other bronze-based watches needed casebacks of different materials, or would have continuing problems, but this is not the case for Omega’s Bronze Gold. “It had to be Omega level. That’s why we searched for about two years for which kind of alloy we can make, to make it fabulous,” he says.
“That new alloy deserved a special piece and that’s when we took the Seamaster 300,” he adds. “So it’s a celebration of our history, a celebration of the future, because this alloy is very much of a revolution in the watch industry.”
The Arabic numeral typeface is inspired by Seamasters from the 1960s.