Back in June, Omega dedicated a steel version of the Aqua Terra 150M to the exceptional athlete. This version featured a blue dial and a matching strap with yellow accents, representing the colors of Sweden. The newly introduced titanium version emphasizes the lightweight topic–the watch only weighs 55 grams!–and also embraces these primary colors but does so more prominently celebrating the new world record. The 41mm case, with a height of 13.5mm and a water-resistance of 150 meters, is made of sandblasted gamma titanium, complemented by a sandblasted silicon nitride bezel and a recessed crown.

For the blue anodized dial, Omega used sand-blasted Grade 5 titanium with an engraved horizontal stripe pattern in Aqua Terra fashion. In addition to blackened indexes and hour-minute hands coated with Superluminova, there is a yellow lacquered 3D laser-shaped cylindrical central seconds hand inspired by a pole vault.

At the heart of the watch is the manual-winding Caliber 8928 Ti, premiered in 2019 as the first movement produced by the company with its mainplate and bridges made of ceramized titanium. The use of this material minimizes the friction between moving parts and gives the movement, which is on display through a sapphire exhibition caseback, a distinctive dark gray color.

The movement is outfitted with a co-axial escapement and boasts all the attributes of a METAS-certified Master Chronometer, including magnetic field resistance to an impressive 15,000 gauss. Fully wound, Caliber 8928 holds a power reserve of 72 hours, or three days, thanks to two main barrels.

In keeping with the color scheme, the watch is presented on an integrated blue and yellow rubber and nylon strap and comes in a special box.

Pricing is marked at $51,300.

To learn more, visit Omega, here.

Daniel Craig– aka watch enthusiast James Bond– was able to see this for himself. The British actor has been Omega’s international brand ambassador since the release of Casino Royale in 2006.

During his time in the host city, Craig watched the show-jumping at the Palace of Versailles and the skateboarding competitions at the Place de la Concorde, before stopping by the Omega House Paris to witness the brand celebrate its role as Official Timekeeper. On his wrist was a new watch model that will be officially launched later this year. The pictures are likely to cause much speculation among Omega fans.

At first glance, one might think that Craig was wearing the 60th Anniversary James Bond Seamaster. Although the watch in Paris has the matching mesh strap, white hands and indices, no date and what appears to be a steel case, it has a black dial in contrast to the blue shade of the above mentioned. Other subtle features hint at a new, long-awaited variant: a standard Seamaster without a date, which Omega has teased with previous Bond special editions.

To learn more, visit Omega, here.

For many collectors, the history of the dive watch starts in 1953 with the introduction of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and Rolex Submariner. Divers, however, already had to rely on water-resistant watches, decades before the commercialization of two of the category’s most iconic models. We take a deep dive into how the history of underwater exploration and the evolution of the wristwatch are connected.

In 1942, German trade publication Uhrmacher-Woche (Watchmaker’s Week) began an extensive article about water-resistant watches with the following opening paragraph: “15 years ago, when the water resistant watch hit the market, many expected it to be an advertising gimmick or a fashion fad, because it isn’t really necessary to wear a watch when swimming.” The author then quickly went on to conclude that “the development of the air-tight watch became a technical necessity and important for the outcome of the war, because in rooms with lead storage batteries, in factories, on board submarines the air is filled with acid fumes.”

From the Pocket to the Wrist and Into the Waters of WWII 

What makes this article from 80 years ago remarkable is the combination of several misconceptions about the development of the waterproof or water-resistant wristwatch that ultimately culminated in the invention of the dive watch. First, Rolex clearly did manage to create an impact “15 years ago” by placing its famous full-page advertisement on the front of London’s Daily Mail on Nov. 24, 1927, proclaiming the success of the first waterproof wristwatch and chronicling “the debut of the Rolex Oyster and its triumphant march worldwide” after then-26-year-old British professional swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swam the English Channel wearing a Rolex Oyster, thus spending more than 10 hours in the chilly waters between France and Great Britain. Second, not a single word mentions divers or diving, even though helmet diving had already become an established industry by then. Other fields of application seemed much more important than diving or “swimming,” which ironically was also the case with many of the innovations that helped establish diving itself. It was, for example, the idea for a smoke helmet by Charles Deane in 1823 that led to the development of the first successful diving helmet (which consequently resulted in Augustus Siebe, an engineer and former watchmaker, working on a helmet fitted to a full length watertight canvas diving suit in 1830). The same was true of the oxygen rebreather, which was as much intended to be an emergency escape apparatus for submarine crews, mine workers or firefighters, as it finally allowed helmet divers to work more independently without surface-supplied air via a diver’s umbilical.

Ironically, those early helmet divers came up with a rather pragmatic way to know how much time they had already spent underwater: the first dive watches were simply regular pocketwatches, mounted on the inside of a diving helmet. One reason for this solution: back then, the “bracelet watch” was “looked upon by Americans as more or less of a joke,” according to the New York Times from July 9, 1916. But, like the German Uhrmacher-Woche, the paper also concluded in the same article that “the telephone and signal service, which play important parts in modern warfare, have made the wearing of watches by soldiers obligatory.” Looking at those early field watches, wearing one underwater, over a thick dive suit and thus completely exposed to both water, pressure and potential bumps would have been much riskier (and more expensive) than simply mounting a pocket watch on the (hopefully) dry inside of a helmet.

Two years after the New York Times piece on trench watches, on June 11, 1918, New York based “manufacturers of high class specialties for Waltham watches” Jacques Depollier & Son was granted a patent in the U.S. for a “waterproof and dust-proof watch.” In an ad from the same year, Depollier also came to a similar conclusion as the New York Times. “With the general use of wrist watches for soldiers, sailors, aviators and others engaged in the open, the demand for waterproof watches has become much more insistent, and the fact that the demand still exists unsatisfied is an indication that a reliable waterproof watch has not until now been produced.” Depollier’s “D-D” field and marine watch was equipped with a double clinched bezel that promised to keep out “water, dust and gas.” Again, Depollier, like the New York Times, did not mention the diver as its intended target audience, even though their watch “might be completely submerged in water” and was advertised using a picture of it being placed in a fish bowl.

Rolex, on the other hand, brought out its first attempt at a waterproof and dustproof watch, the Submarine, in 1922. It turned out to be an impractical design, according to Rolex, since the watch was “relying on a second outer case to protect the main watch body. The outer shell had to be opened every day in order to wind the watch, thereby also weakening the metal gasket that sealed the opening.” Four years later, two major technical innovations of the company had made the single-case wristwatch watertight: a screw-down back and bezel, as well as a newly patented winding crown, which could be screwed down to seal the case. Rolex advertised the Oyster as the “wonder watch.” Mercedes Gleitze provided the proof (and also became the brand’s first testimonial).

Like Rolex before, Omega came up with a similar idea of a double-case construction for a watch that was targeted specially at “sportifs, marins et coloniaux” (athletes, sailors and soldiers). In 1932, the “élégante” Omega Marine utilized a patented case sealed with cork to “keep water and the elements away from the heart of the watch.” The rectangular watch even featured an adjustable clasp and was tested in Lake Geneva at a depth of 73 meters (later conducted laboratory tests found the watch to be waterproof to a depth of 135 meters).

A New Type of Watch, Robust Enough to be Worn Underwater 

In 1935, the paths of the watch industry and underwater operations finally became fully intertwined, when the director of G. Panerai e Figlio in Florence, Giuseppe Panerai, was approached by the Italian Navy to develop a water-resistant compass and a watch for operators of its newly developed manned torpedo. While Panerai had already been a supplier of special navy equipment, the company had never produced wristwatches. On Oct. 24, 1935, Rolex therefore sent Panerai a Ref. 2533 with a large 9k gold cushion case for tests, the very same watch that should later evolve into the Radiomir, used by Italian special forces (and later by the Germans after having seized some of these watches during the German occupation of Italy that lasted until May 2, 1945).

While members of the Decima Flottiglia MAS commando frogman unit were initially equipped with Panerai-supplied Rolex watches, the American Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), predecessors of the U.S. Navy’s current SEAL teams, were equipped with “canteen watches” from the likes of Hamilton and Elgin (featuring a screw-on cover for the crown that was held in place with a small chain). Like the watches supplied by Panerai, these significantly smaller canteen watches were not equipped with a bezel, but simply indicated time with their luminous hands.

For the rotating bezel, clearly the visually most distinctive element on a dive watch, the watch industry first looked to the sky. On July 31, 1929, Philip Van Horn Weems applied for a patent for a “method of and apparatus for navigator’s time keeping” using a rotating bezel. The patent was granted in 1935 and soon found its way on to many pilots’ watches, the most important one being the legendary Weems watch from Longines. It would take a few more years until the watch industry began to recognize the potential for its diving customer. More precisely, with the rise of autonomous diving, based on open-circuit, compressed-air devices, like Yves Le Prieur’s invention from 1925, and, more importantly, Émile Gagnan’s and Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s regulator that was first patented in 1943 (and mass produced by La Spirotechnique after the war), the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) revolutionized diving, and consequently increased demand for a reliable underwater timing device.

Blancpain started in the early 1950s with the development and testing of the brand’s first wristwatch intended exclusively for divers. The Fifty Fathoms (a reference to the depth rating of 300 feet or 91.4 meters) was the brainchild of Jean-Jacques Fiechter, then CEO of Blancpain, who also happened to be an avid diver. In an interview conducted in 2018, Fiechter recalled that he was diving off the coast of France when he lost track of time and ended up running out of air, prompting an immediate ascent to the surface without stopping for decompression, and thus leaving him at the risk of the bends. His solution, and ultimately Blancpain’s “first modern dive watch,” was commercialized in 1953 and came with a new positioning for the caseback and crown gasket that would better protect the case and movement from water, resulting in a patent for both designs. More importantly, Fiechter had also introduced a unidirectional bezel with the Fifty Fathoms that would allow the watch’s wearer to better track how much time was spent submerged. In short, Blancpain had both improved the water-resistant case and added a bezel that was exclusively aimed at keeping track of time spent underwater.

Rolex, on the other hand, already had implemented a bezel on a watch with the Zerographe and was now working on the most waterresistant watch case of that time with an experimental watch, the Deep-Sea Special, which was attached to the exterior of Piccard’s Trieste during its first deep-sea trials down to 3,150 meters (10,245 feet) off the island of Ponza in 1953 (Jacques Piccard himself was seen wearing a Longines Chronograph 13ZN when diving outside the submarine). In 1960, Don Walsh, Jacques Piccard and another Rolex watch would reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench (10,916 meters, 35,814 feet). Almost simultaneous with testing the Deep-Sea Special, the company introduced the Submariner in 1953, a diving watch equipped with a rotating bezel. In 1954, the watch industry’s trade publication Europa Star first mentions the Submariner briefly as a watch that “has been specially designed for deep-sea diving,” and like the Rolex Turn-O-Graph, the Submariner “carries a Time Recorder bezel,” which “enables the consumption of air in independent diving equipment to be easily controlled.” According to Europa Star, the Submariner was “tested on 132 sea trials in the Mediterranean and declared a to be an essential accessory to diving equipment.”

While Blancpain and Rolex have defined the look and function of the modern dive watch, both had approached the problem from the same angle: a robust, highly water-resistant wristwatch equipped with a bezel that would be able to withstand external pressure. What they didn’t factor in: the rise of saturation diving, first in the military field, then in commercial application. Dr. George F. Bond, a U.S. Navy scientist, had introduced the concept of saturation diving in the late 1950s. Earlier experiments had shown that divers were able to live and work underwater for days or weeks at a time before making a single, comparatively short decompression period. Bond’s work is not only credited as the beginning of saturation diving, but also marked the start of the United States Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea Program. From 1964, a trio of saturation diving experiments that let divers work and live in undersea habitats (Sealab) was launched and supported by the United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU). With the ill-fated Sealab III, the habitat was lowered to 610 feet (190 m) off San Clemente Island, California, on Feb. 15, 1969, a depth that would bring a standard-issue Submariner already near its limits. But it wasn’t just the depth that posed new challenges; helium caused the weakest part on some of the watches, the crystal, to pop off during decompression. And this wasn’t just happening to the divers in the Navy. In 1968, Japanese watchmaker Seiko received a letter from a saturation diver from Kure City, in Hiroshima prefecture. In that letter, the diver also complained that the dive watches from Seiko lost their crystals during decompression. While some divers simply unscrewed the crown before compression, Rolex wanted to offer a different solution for its 1967-introduced Sea-Dweller dive watch. From an ad from 1974: “The Rolex Sea Dweller, however, is fitted with a patented gas escape valve.” Rolex had applied for a patent for this valve on Nov. 6, 1967. “In effect, this means that the watch decompresses with the diver,” explained T. Walker Lloyd, then an oceanographic consultant for Rolex in the same ad. The Sea Dweller then went on to become standard equipment of the Compagnie maritime d’expertises (COMEX) employees (and replacing the previous partnership between Omega and COMEX).

A Diver’s Tool 

Omega and Seiko, however, chose a very different approach to solving the helium problem: instead of improving an existing watch, they both went back to the drawing board. One result was the Seamaster 600 “PloProf” (Plongeur Professionel) from 1970 that was built to be more robust than any other watch from the company before. From an ad from that period: “We also put the 600 through our helium test. Helium, having much smaller molecules, can penetrate where water can’t. So if a watch is proof against helium, it’s proof against just about everything else. This test showed that the 600 is one hundred times as air- and water-tight as the Apollo spacecraft.” Another ad from Omega explained the three major innovations like this: “we carved the Seamaster out of one block of stainless steel; no joints behind. Then we gave it a heavy, hardened mineral glass, which actually screws in. We gave it a turning elapsed-time bezel, which has its own lock to prevent accidental moving. We gave it an extra-safe, twin-locking crown.” Seiko, too, went with a monobloc case construction for its 1975-introduced professional dive watch, the 6159-7010 with a guaranteed water resistance of 600 meters (a watch that was, like the PloProf, in fact much more water resistant than this). The Seiko, however, took seven years to develop and resulted in 20 patents. The 6159-7010 was also built in a way that it could withstand the pressure differences without having to rely on an additional opening in the case, but came with a protective shroud, taking into consideration the heavy underwater work of its customers. On the other hand, both the Seiko and the Omega came with a design, size and price that prevented it from being worn by a large group of consumers, while the Sea-Dweller looked much more like a regular watch both underwater and onshore.

All three models also undoubtedly helped improve the quality of dive watches substantially. In 1966, the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) had set up an investigation committee for diving equipment, including dive watches, which back then were deemed not only “a vital part” of the diver’s equipment, but apparently also the most troublesome. In 1968, BSAC member Geoff Harwood concluded that “the majority of the complaints and allegations of faulty equipment and unsatisfactory dealings with manufacturers and distributors have been concerned with diving watches” — which led to the decision “to carry out a survey in order to determine the extent of the problem.” Harwood’s conclusion was not as encouraging as the industry might have hoped for, “since so few of each make are represented, we cannot draw a conclusion as to ‘best buy’ or to definitely not recommend a certain watch.” And added, “[E]ven if you buy an internationally famous watch costing over £50 you still stand a fair chance of finding it full of water when you come to start your decompression schedule after a deep dive.”

Or, as Robert R. Springer wrote in his Skin & Scuba Diver’s Digest of 1975, “At one time an oddity, today, specially constructed waterproof and pressure-resistant watches have become something of a status symbol among the socalled beautiful people — even though most of them never reach depths greater than the bottom of a martini glass. The practicing scuba diver, however, needs a functional item, rather than an impressive one. And, in looking for an underwater watch, it pays to be highly selective.”

Becoming an Ambassador of the Sea 

In 1983, while the watch industry was slowly starting to recover from its worst crisis to date, the Orca Edge hit the market as the first commercially viable dive computer. Watch brands at that time mostly focused on making dive watches more water resistant (the IWC Ocean 2000 from 1984, for example, was the first serially produced dive watch water resistant to 2,000 meters), and multi-function quartz watches and dive computers quickly started to reduce the mechanical dive watch first to the role of a backup instrument, then mostly a status symbol, as observed by Springer in 1975. In 1990, Seiko launched the “world’s first computerized diver’s watch,” equipped with a water sensor and depth sensor that displayed diving time and depth. Five years before, Citizen had introduced the first Aqualand and also the first quartz watch to incorporate an electronic, digital depth gauge. Despite the existence of a more versatile (and often less expensive) option, dive watches have become one of the most successful categories for luxury watch manufacturers in recent years. The Submariner from Rolex, for example, ranks on positions 2 and 5 on Chrono24’s most popular list from 2020. Even at Breitling, a brand traditionally synonymous with pilots’ watches, the Superocean dive watch has become the brand’s most popular watch category. It’s hard to imagine Tudor’s recent rise to fame without the 2016-introduced Black Bay dive watch, or Rado’s success among watch collectors and enthusiasts without the re-introduced Captain Cook from 2017. Even Seiko has based most of its recent global success on the Prospex dive watch collection. And Panerai, the former supplier of the Italian Navy, was resurrected in 1993 exclusively as a watch brand. Last but not least, since 1995, Omega has been equipping the world’s most famous spy with a Seamaster dive watch, and by doing so has created one of the most recognizable luxury watches of the industry.

But perhaps more importantly, dive watches have become an ambassador for the importance of the oceans. Blancpain, for example, became a force in protecting the biodiversity of the oceans. The 2014-founded Blancpain Ocean Commitment initiative (BOC) is a unique program in the watch industry that has already helped a number of environmental initiatives get off the ground (some of them already underway before BOC was launched). Oris, too, believes “passionately in conservation and is committed to acting sustainably” and has launched several limited edition watches that support various conservation efforts. Others, like Luminox, Breitling and Ulysse Nardin, have started to promote upcycling methods with their releases.

From a quality and performance point of view, today’s mechanical dive watches are better than they have ever been. They have reached the deepest parts of the ocean repeatedly and offer any kind of additional feature one could dream of. In recent years, they have become a symbol of sustainability and preservation, and offer a nostalgic look back at how man conquered the deep at the same time. In other words, the dive watch has stood the test of time and proven that an analog product can coexist with a digital alternative.

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Rolex and Omega are renowned and admired for their dive watches. In direct comparison, which one of the two leading brands dives deeper, offers more value for the money and performs better?

The Submariner divers’ watch has been one of Rolex’s most popular models, and not only since its redesign in 2020. Omega has also renewed its popular Planet Ocean, Diver 300M and Seamaster 300 collections in recent years. But in what area can one brand overtake the other?

Selection
Rolex only has three dive watches in its lineup: the Submariner, the Sea-Dweller and the Deepsea. If you count the Submariner without date indicator as a separate model, then the total increases to four. In addition, there are only a few variations: the Deepsea is available with two different dials, while the Submariner is available in steel, gold and in a mixture of both, and with dials and bezels in various colors. Rolex’s collection of dive watches has a total of 12 variants. Strap variations or complications beyond time, date and rotating bezel cannot be found in the Rolex dive watch lineup.

Omega offers considerably more choice: the brand’s Dive Watches homepage currently lists 117 variants. The four collections — the Diver 300M, the Seamaster 300, the Planet Ocean and the Ploprof — offer cases in various sizes that are made from different materials, in addition to strap variations, diverse colors and additional functions. In addition to steel cases, there are also titanium cases and even ceramic ones in various colors. Omega also has something to offer in today’s popular retro style with the revised Seamaster 300. Rolex, on the other hand, changes the design of its models very slowly, but still keeps them up to date.

Entry Point
Rolex’s entry-level dive watch, the Submariner without date indicator, sells for $8,100. Omega offers a less costly watch for divers: the Seamaster Diver 300M sells for $4,900 with a rubber strap and $5,200 with a stainless-steel bracelet. Moreover, the demand for the Submariner is so high that it’s difficult to get one from an authorized distributor.

Daily Wearer
The Planet Ocean and the Submariner Date are directly comparable. Both are watches that can be worn every day. While the Omega Planet Ocean starts at $6,200 in steel on a NATO strap, the Rolex Submariner Date costs $9,150 in Oystersteel on an Oyster bracelet, if you are lucky enough to get a chance to buy one. Omega’s model remains water resistant to a depth of 600 meters, while the Rolex makes do with 300 meters. The Omega also includes a helium- release valve and encases manufacture Caliber 8900, which can defy even the strongest magnetic fields, despite having a glass caseback.

Omega offers a significantly better price-performance ratio here. However, Rolex has been using the newer Caliber 3235 in its Submariner Date since 2020, so this model is likely to retain its value better than the Omega, which puts Omega’s initial price advantage in a somewhat different light.

Professional Models
Rolex’s Sea-Dweller and Omega’s Seamaster Ploprof compete with each other in the field of highly pressure-resistant watches. The Omega withstands pressure to a depth of 1,200 meters below the water’s surface; on paper, the Rolex can plunge 20 meters deeper to 1,220 meters (not taking into consideration the additional safety reserves that both watches offer).

The Ploprof costs $9,700 with a steel case and bracelet and $12,600 in titanium. The price for the steel Sea-Dweller is $11,700, which is close to the price of Omega’s titanium model. But Rolex has an ace up its sleeve with the Deepsea, which costs only $900 more at $12,600, yet resists pressure to 3,900 meters. For this purpose, Rolex developed a special case system, in which a ring made of particularly hard, nitrogen-alloyed stainless steel absorbs pressure. This enabled Rolex to create a case that is relatively slim despite its enormous pressure resistance. So when it comes to extreme watches, Rolex defends its leading position (if we’d add the brands’ experimental dive watches, the Seamaster Ultra Deep and the Deepsea Challenge, Omega would win in this category, but we’ll get to these two watches in a minute).

Special Editions
When it comes to special models, Omega can draw on a wealth of resources. This brand has produced numerous limited-edition watches for the Olympics, the sailors of the Emirates Team New Zealand and film super-spy James Bond. Rolex offers the Submariner with a green bezel and the Deepsea with a color gradient on its dial, but these are not limited-edition watches. If you want a rare variation of a Rolex dive watch, you have to buy extremely expensive historical pieces. Omega has more to offer here.

The Movements
Since last year, Rolex has only used two different in-house movements: the 3230 without date for the Submariner and the 3235 for all other dive watches. Both offer 70 hours of power reserve. Omega relies mostly on calibers from the 8000 series and chronograph movements from the 9000 series. These feature Omega’s efficient co-axial escapement and a 60-hour power reserve. Rolex’s calibers have proven to be extremely robust and precise, but Omega’s movements achieved better average rate values in recent tests. Furthermore, Omega went to great lengths to develop comprehensive protection against magnetic fields without a soft iron inner case. Thanks to antimagnetic components in the movement, magnetic fields cannot impair the rate accuracy, so Omega can, and almost always does, install a glass back. Rolex is also constantly improving its movements. Here, both manufacturers are at the same high level, with Omega offering a nicer finish on its movements.

Current Projects
In 2017, Rolex supported the “Under the Pole III” expedition, in which divers explored the ocean beneath the polar ice cap and off the shores of Antarctica. The brand also participated in the Deepsea Challenge in 2012, when filmmaker James Cameron became the first person to reach the deepest point in the sea since the 1960 expedition, which was also supported by Rolex. In 1960 and again in 2012, the exterior of the submersible carried a Rolex concept watch that had been specially developed for this ordeal: the “Deepsea Challenge” is pressure resistant to a depth of 12,000 meters. The developers of this deep diver were able to use the Ringlock system of the Deepsea model and thus achieved wearable dimensions of 51.4 mm in diameter and 28.5 mm in height. As a tribute to this expedition, the Deepsea model was given a “D-blue” gradient dial.

In 2019, Omega followed Rolex’s example and sent a wristwatch into the Mariana Trench. Developed expressly for this purpose, Omega’s Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional reached a record depth of 10,925 meters on the exterior of the “Limiting Factor” submersible owned by the extreme adventurer Victor Lance Vescovo. Omega built only three pieces of this 55-mm-diameter and 28-mm-tall watch. None of the three is for sale, and all survived the immense pressure intact.

Omega also supports the Nekton Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting the seas, and has created a special model of the Seamaster Diver 300m with a likeness of the Nekton submersible on the caseback. So here both brands are working hard to outdo each other.

James Bond
Author Ian Fleming specified in his novels that secret agent James Bond wears a Rolex. The divers’ watch from the brand appeared on the agent’s wrist in the first seven James Bond films. After an interlude with Seiko’s ultramodern LCD watches, Bond returned to the Submariner in License to Kill (1989). Omega was a partner in the eight 007 films that followed, so various Seamaster dive watches accompanied James Bond. Omega also ran numerous ads to heighten awareness of the brand’s association with James Bond. The secret agent is once again wearing an Omega in the most recent James Bond film No Time to Die. Omega has released two special models to celebrate the film’s debut. Omega is following in Rolex’s footsteps here.

Conclusion
All in all, it’s obvious that each brand has its own specific strengths. Rolex came up with the helium-release valve, Omega with the Ploprof. Rolex sent its watches to the deepest trenches of the ocean’s floor earlier, but Omega has gained ground in recent years,especially with its co-axial movements with built-in protection against magnetic fields. In addition, Omega’s image has been enhanced by the presence of its watches on James Bond’s wrist. While Rolex impresses with the highly pressure-resistant and ingeniously designed Deepsea, Omega offers an enormous variety of dive-watch models.

This article originally appeared in the September-October 2021 issue of WatchTime.

Underwater explorers and frogmen play as prominent a role in the history of Omega’s dive watches as do the seahorse and the world’s most famous secret agent.

The history of Omega’s dive watches not only begins at an extremely early date, but also with a timepiece that stands out more for its elegance than for its rugged exterior. But this isn’t surprising because those years were the heyday of Art Deco and thus also of rectangular watches. Omega’s Marine watch pursued a revolutionary approach to case construction as early as 1932. The double case achieved water resistance with the aid of a tension lever that pressed the inner housing against a leather gasket. The outer crystal was made of scratch-resistant sapphire, which was a rarity at the time. In addition to Staybrite stainless steel, this watch was also available with a gold case. A sealskin strap provided resistance to saltwater, and the folding clasp included a mechanism for adjustment of the strap’s length.

In 1936, three Marine watches were lowered into Lake Geneva to a depth of 73 meters to test their water resistance. To make the ordeal even more rigorous, they had previously been immersed in water heated to 185° Fahrenheit for 4 minutes. The subsequent plunge into the lake, where the water was a chilly 41 degrees, lasted half an hour. All three watches still functioned perfectly after this extreme test and showed no traces of moisture inside their cases. The following year, the LSRH (Laboratoire Suisse des Recherches Horlogères) in Neuchâtel also tested a Marine: it spent 14 hours exposed to a pressure corresponding to a depth of 135 meters below the water’s surface. Even during this arduous test, no water penetrated into the watch.

It was during this period that diving first began to develop and Omega’s Marine was soon worn for underwater missions. The diving pioneer Yves Le Prieur, who invented the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus in 1926, later wore a Marine, as did underwater explorer William Beebe, who wore this watch down to a depth of 14 meters in the Pacific in 1936. But the Marine was ahead of its time and, despite its water resistance, didn’t catch on with “ordinary” customers because its outer case had to be removed before you could wind it.

Omega relaunched the Marine in 2007. Limited to just 135 timepieces, the double-cased watch was part of Omega’s Museum Collection. An inner case made of white gold nested inside a red-gold outer case. Like its ancestor, this re-edition was powered by a hand-wound movement. But here Omega’s Caliber 2007 with co-axial escapement embodied a new level of high-mech and could be viewed through a glass window when the case was open.

The water-resistant Seamaster collection, which was presented in 1948, also developed into a commercial success story. These watches, which are elegant by today’s standards, did not immediately reveal their robustness, which resulted from Omega’s experience with water-resistant military watches. The watertightness was achieved with a screwdown back and innovative O-ring seals, which were initially made of lead but later from rubber. In addition to their robustness, these early Seamaster models owed their success to the fact that an automatic movement ticked inside their cases, at a time when self-winding movements were by no means a matter of course. In 1943, Omega launched its first automatic movement: Caliber 28.10. It relied on a hammer mechanism, which allowed the winding weight to move only within a limited range. This winding mechanism made it possible to reduce the movement’s height to just 4.8 mm, so these automatic calibers could keep time inside slim cases. These robust and easy-to-read Seamaster models contributed greatly to Omega’s good reputation during this period.

Since 1958, a seahorse has adorned the backs of the cases of the watches in this line as a symbol of water resistance. T he symbol has become one of the most well-known in the watch world. The logo was invented by the decorator Jean-Pierre Borle, who saw a painting in Venice of the Roman sea god Neptune, whose chariot was drawn by a team of seahorses. This is why Omega’s seahorse is shown wearing a bridle. The watches in the Seamaster line, which premiered in 1948, were suitable for swimming, but despite the seagoing animal on the back of the case, none of these models was considered a genuine diving watch.

This changed in 1957 when the Seamaster 300 was introduced. With a rotating bezel to preset the intended dive time, this watch heralded the era of the modern dive watch at Omega. This self-winding timepiece was developed for professional divers and could withstand water pressure to a depth of 200 meters, although its name suggested water resistance to 300 meters. The water resistance was primarily due to the newly developed doubly sealed crown, which exterior water pressure pressed even more firmly against the case, and to the crystal, which was equipped with a tension ring and was three times thicker than a conventional crystal. Luminous arrowheads on the tips of the hands and a matte black dial with luminous indexes made the face easy to read under water. The rotating bezel clicked into place to preserve its setting and was equipped with a luminous marker. If the diver turned the bezel until its luminous marker was tangent with the tip of the minute hand before the dive, then the current dive time could be read on the minute scale of the rotating bezel at any time during the dive. Interestingly, there were also models with a countdown scale for diving. The planned dive time was preset before the dive and afterward, while under water, the diver could see how many minutes remained until it was time to begin the ascent to the surface.

Various professional divers relied on the Seamaster 300. For example, the French diver Alain Julien and his two colleagues wore this model on more than 1,500 dives between 1958 and 1959. Their watches withstood all the stresses and ordeals, which included the hard work of repairing docks or laying underwater pipes. Even after several days at a depth of 45 meters, one Seamaster restarted without any problems. A plane had sunk after an emergency water landing, but everyone on board survived unscathed. The pilot, who was also a diver, recovered his watch from the wreckage and later wrote a letter of thanks to Omega.

The next generation of the Seamaster 300 came onto the market in 1960. Like its predecessors, its dial had Arabic numerals at the 3, 6, 9 and 12, but now offered modified luminous indexes and, most importantly, modified hands: a diamond-shaped hour hand and a bar-shaped minute hand with a slim tip. Caliber 28 RA SC-501 was followed by Caliber 552. Two years later, the Seamaster 300 was also available with a bar-shaped hour hand with a slender tip, rectangular indexes and a large luminous triangle instead of the numeral 12. The rotating bezel with larger numerals and a clearer luminous triangle was introduced in 1964. This model had already been part of a team one year prior to its official launch, when the famous ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau began operating two underwater stations off the coast of Sudan at depths of 11 and 25 meters. At times, these stations housed several divers for a month. Frogmen of the Royal Navy also wore this model. Beginning in 1966, the Seamaster was equipped with a screw-down crown in accordance with military specifications.

Today, the new edition of the Seamaster 300 is an integral part of the collection. It’s available with a black or blue dial in a steel case, with either a leather strap or a metal bracelet, in a two-tone case, in various shades of gold, and even in the new bronze-gold alloy. Like all Omega watches, these retro models are powered by modern movements with co-axial escapement and include components crafted from special materials for strong protection against magnetic fields. The Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) rigorously tests each watch to confirm its chronometer-worthy accuracy and its resistance to magnetic fields.

The first Omega divers’ watch with a date display was the Seamaster 120, which was introduced in 1966. It was also available with an orange diving bezel, as well as without a date display and with manual winding. The water-resistance guarantee of this somewhat simpler model was later reduced from 120 to 60 meters. A year after the debut of the Seamaster 120, a date display was added to the Seamaster 300 with Caliber 565. This watch was also worn by Royal Navy frogmen. The military versions can be identified by the printed letter “T” in a circle on the dial: the letter indicates that the luminous material contains tritium.

Omega has been working with the well-known deepdiving company Comex since 1968, when Comex divers Ralph Brauer and René Veyrunes set a new world record of 365 meters inside their pressure chamber accompanied by the Seamaster 300.

In 1969, Omega added two models to its dive watch collection: the Seamaster 60, which was water resistant to 60 meters, and the Seamaster 200, water resistant to 200 meters. Omega wrote a new chapter in the history of dive watches in 1970 when, after four years of development, the brand introduced the sensational Seamaster 600 called the “PloProf” for Plongeur Professionnel, which means professional diver in French. This watch’s most striking features were its one-piece monocoque case milled from a solid block of metal, a red safety button on the side to unlock the diving bezel and a square crown, which was moved to the left side and sealed with a knurled compression nut. The big challenges at this time were not only to achieve the enormous water resistance of 600 meters, but also to solve the helium problem that beset professional divers. Helium must be mixed into the breathing air in pressure chambers that are lowered to great depths, otherwise the partial pressure of oxygen and nitrogen would reach a toxic level. But helium atoms are extremely small, so they can easily penetrate into watches, especially because the pressure inside the case at great depths is much lower than the outside pressure.

When the watch returns with the diver to the surface, there is a risk that the helium, which expands as pressure decreases, will cause the crystal to burst off the case. Rolex was experimenting with a helium-release valve at this time, but Omega took a different approach and built the PloProf with a case so tightly sealed that helium atoms couldn’t even get inside. For testing, Omega installed the watch industry’s only mass spectrometer in its development laboratory. This highly sensitive device was used to determine whether helium had penetrated the case.

The Seamaster 600 was very popular and is now a sought-after collectors’ watch. Automatic Caliber 1002 had a date display. The orange minute hand was particularly large because this indicator provides the most important information under water. The dials were navy blue or black. The crown was moved to the left side of the case to make room for the safety pusher of the rotating bezel. This model accompanied divers on numerous underwater expeditions. Omega revived the Seamaster 600 as the Seamaster Ploprof 1200m. Thanks to its titanium case and bracelet, it is so lightweight that it is still comfortable to wear despite its enormous size of 55 by 48 mm. Although it can resist pressure to a depth of 1,200 meters, a transparent sapphire crystal in the back offers a view of automatic Caliber 8912 with co-axial escapement and a 60-hour power reserve. The safety mechanism for the rotating bezel remains unchanged with an eye-catching pusher on the right side. Also unaltered is the hinged protector for the crown, which opens when the crown is unscrewed.

Just one year after the Seamaster 600, Omega again outdid itself in 1971, when the brand introduced the Seamaster 1000, which was designed for a diving depth of 1,000 meters. Although it also had a one-piece monocoque case and a crown positioned on the left, it looked much more like a civilian timepiece than the martial-looking Seamaster 600. A 5-mm-thick mineral crystal also contributed to this watch’s enormous pressure resistance.

The Seamaster Automatic 120m Chronograph caused a sensation when it was introduced in 1972. It was the first chronograph whose pushers could be safely operated under water, even at the maximum depth of 120 meters. Caliber 1040 kept time inside the case. However, production was discontinued in 1973.

Omega’s dive watches were not immune from the effects of the Quartz Revolution. The Seamaster f 300 Hz tuning fork watch, which was water resistant to 120 meters, debuted in 1971. It was followed in 1981 by the Omega Seamaster 120m Quartz, which was used by Jacques Mayol, the freediver who earned the nickname “Dolphin Man” when he dove to a depth of 101 meters on a single breath that same year. Although this was a fully functional dive watch with a rotating bezel, its quartz movement made the timepiece so slim that it looked very elegant. Numerous versions of this watch followed, some with black chrome-plated cases.

In 1993, more than 20 years after the first chronograph that could be operated under water was unveiled, Omega presented another one: the Seamaster Professional Chrono Diver, which could be used up to a maximum depth of 300 meters. At the same time, a three-hand version was also released: the chronometer-tested Seamaster Professional 300, which remains water resistant to a depth of 300 meters. These two models were the first Omega watches with helium-release valves. To operate the mechanism, the crown at 10 had to be loosened, thus opening the valve. Titanium was also used for the first time in these watches. The movements were chronograph Caliber 1154 chronograph, based on a Valjoux 7750, and automatic Caliber 1109, a modified ETA 2892. Visually, a new era dawned with the modern wave decor on the dial and the skeletonized hands. After having undergone several adaptations and relaunches, this collection still exists today as the Seamaster Diver 300m. 

The chronograph, which was introduced in 1993, became famous primarily due to freediver Roland Specker, who wore this watch when he set a new freshwater freediving record of 80 meters that same year. The three-hand version, the Seamaster Professional 300, later renamed the Seamaster Diver 300m, achieved fame thanks to a clever marketing move: it was seen on the wrist of the famous secret agent James Bond in the movies. The 007 movie GoldenEye was released in 1995. When Pierce Brosnan portrayed James Bond, he wore the Omega dive watch with a blue dial. The watch plays an important role in the film, not only as a fashion accessory. The resourceful Bond uses its laser to cut open the floor of a car in which he is trapped, thus narrowly escaping death. The Seamaster also starred in Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997, this time with an integrated remote control for a bomb. This model also played a role in subsequent James Bond films.

The films and the advertising campaign with James Bond not only gave the Seamaster Diver 300m with blue dial the nickname, the “James Bond watch,” but also helped it achieve enormous sales success. In 1996 alone, Omega sold 10 times more watches of this model than it had the year before. As a tribute to the James Bond films, Omega released limited special models with the 007 logo. In the 2006 movie, Casino Royale, James Bond wore two different watches for the first time. In addition to the Seamaster Diver 300m, he also wore the Seamaster Planet Ocean. Omega and Bond have remained loyal partners ever since. Daniel Craig also wore an Omega dive watch in the 007 movie No Time to Die, released in 2021. Here, he wore the Seamaster Diver 300m 007 Edition in titanium, which has a retro look thanks to its Milanese bracelet, brown aluminum bezel and dial, and vintage luminous material.

The Seamaster Apnea, which was presented in 2003, is a chronograph specially designed for freedivers. It displays the dive time by means of seven round windows. When the chronograph is switched on, the first window begins to turn red. Each window represents 1 minute of elapsed time, so after 7 minutes have passed, all the windows have turned red. Afterward, the red color begins disappearing from the first window. In this way, the diver can clearly read off a maximum of 14 minutes. To further improve readability, all subdials were omitted; only the central elapsed-seconds hand runs when the chronograph is running.

Characteristic features preserved by the Seamaster Diver 300m are the wave pattern on the dial, skeletonized swordshaped hands, the wave-shaped silhouette of the rotating bezel, the manually operated helium-release valve at the 10 and the complex nine-row metal bracelet. Today, the dial and the bezel’s scale are now made of ceramic and a laser is used to engrave the waves. Models made of exotic materials were also available. For example, as early as 1993, the first year of the Seamaster Diver 300m, there was a chronograph in the unusual combination of rose gold, titanium and tantalum. Tantalum is a rare graphite-gray metal that is biocompatible and often used for implants. In 2020, Omega revived this unconventional chronograph. The bezel and the narrow intermediate links of the bracelet were again made of tantalum, the dive-time scale and the other links of the bracelet were made of rose gold (now Omega’s proprietary Sedna gold); the rest of the case and the bracelet were made of titanium.

Omega introduced another line of diving watch in 2005. The Planet Ocean took up the design of the first Seamaster 300 from 1957, but with a more modern look and with blue and orange as its color scheme. With high water resistance to 600 meters and a co-axial movement, it has state-of-the-art highmech qualities. It was followed by models with cases made of ceramic, which were sometimes colored.

In April 2019, Omega set out to break a new depth record, when the brand sent three examples of the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional concept watch to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Explorer Victor Vescovo’s descent to 10,935 meters below sea level was the deepest dive ever achieved by a human being or a watch. Two of these 52-mm titanium watches were attached to the submersible’s robotic arm; the third was affixed to a data acquisition unit called the lander. With this ultra-deep dive, Omega surpassed the 10,916-meter depth record that had been set by Rolex and the Trieste submersible in 1960.

In 2022, Omega presented the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep as a series watch, with a water resistance of 6,000 meters. One model’s case is made of titanium while the three other versions have cases crafted from a new, extremely corrosion resistant and anti-allergenic alloy of stainless steel called O-Megasteel. All four watches are 45.5 mm in diameter, 18.12 mm in height and powered by chronometer-certified, antimagnetic Master Chronometer Caliber 8912 with automatic winding and a 60-hour power reserve. Prices start at $11,200 on a rubber strap (Ref. 215.32.46.21.06.001).

Omega began building dive watches early in its long history and has developed a colorful range of models. Time and again, the brand has reintroduced historically significant watches. It also continues to improve the technologies used in movements and cases, in order to keep offering more. James Bond has given dive watches a big boost, so we’re curious to see if the next 007 will wear an Omega on his wrist.

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