Omega Seamaster – 65 years with a legendary diver's watch
Ever since 1957, Omega's diver the Seamaster has been a main thread in the brand's line-up and has remained one of the best known divers on the market. Eqotime tells the story, serves up a set of gorgeous photos and takes a contemporary version for a test run.
Text: Filip Ericsson
Ever since 1957 Omega's diver's watch the Seamaster has formed a main thread in the brand's palette and remained one of the best known diver's watches on the market. Eqotime tells the story, treats you to a bunch of delicious photos and test-drives a present-day version.
Swiss Omega is without doubt one of the world's most famous watch manufacturers and has more feats on its historical lyre than perhaps anyone else. Its models are iconic. The racing chronograph Speedmaster went along with the astronauts to the moon and the diver's watch Seamaster served with the combat divers in the British Royal Navy as well as with the oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
In modern times Omega's diver's watch is of course best known in fiction as James Bond's service watch, while the crowd of famous Seamaster wearers in reality includes for example Joe Biden and Prince William of Great Britain.
The Seamaster is today a forever embedded main element in the Omega range, and its glorious history has made it loved and sought after like few other watches on the world market.
History
The first Seamaster watch was shown as early as 1948 as an elegant men's watch that could take splashes of water. During the coming decades a number of versions came out under the Seamaster name that were not intended for divers either. The Wall Street watch Seamaster Polaris (1982) and the elegant all-rounder Aqua Terra (2002) are some examples.
Today, however, we focus mainly on the diver's watches in the Seamaster's weighty history.
The first diver's watch under the Seamaster flag had to wait until 1957 when the Seamaster 300 (ref. 2913) made its entrance. It was a real "tool watch", intended to provide professional divers with an instrument for their line of work. For example the ocean film-maker Jacques Yves Cousteau used the Seamaster 300 as a work companion during the "Precontinent II" expedition in the Red Sea in the summer of 1963.
1964 saw a heavily updated variant with a newly designed, thicker bezel and a newly shaped case enlarged from 39mm to 42mm (ref. 165.024), a model that was used by the British navy's combat divers between 1967 and 1971.
1970 saw the showing of the more extreme Seamaster Ploprof 600 (ref. 166.077), yet another diver's watch from Omega that Cousteau's diving film team took to their hearts. It had a distinctive, asymmetrical shape with an elaborate crown guard as well as a red button on the right side of the case that formed a lock for the rotating bezel. The case was voluminous and milled out in one piece to secure the water resistance down to 600 metres. The PloProf was hugely expensive and was made in small numbers until 1979.
1993 saw a complete fresh take on the model in the form of the Seamaster Professional (ref. 2541/2531). A new case shape was complemented with a dial with stylistic ocean waves executed in navy blue, which gave a highly individual and exceptionally strong character to the new Omega diver.
1995 was when the new Seamaster became world famous overnight as it was part of Pierce Brosnan's service equipment in his first Bond film Goldeneye. And ever since then the Omega Seamaster has remained closely associated with the fictional, British super intelligence officer.
The "Bond Omega" came in a large number of variants, with different case sizes (36/41mm), case materials, dial colours, quartz or mechanical movements. Gradual updates were added over the years, special versions came and went while the model in its basic execution looked roughly the same until 2012.
Thanks to the Bond connection, a comparatively sensible price level as well as an attractive, wilful shape, a Seamaster Diver was soon seen on many a wrist around our earth. This Seamaster generation must undeniably have formed a solid cash cow for the company.
2005 saw the showing of the Seamaster Planet Ocean (ref. 2201), a diver's watch with a more distinctly professional streak. It was water resistant to 600 metres and was offered with cases of 42 or a full 45.5mm, with thicknesses of 14.5 and properly fat 17mm respectively.
The Planet Ocean stood out with its orange bezel but was also available in black for the more conservatively inclined buyers. Whatever the variant, the model was offered exclusively with a mechanical movement in the form of Omega's first Co-Axial movement, the Caliber 2500.
A new PloProf was shown in 2009 (ref. 224 et al) with the same elaborate case shape as the original. The new version was however water resistant to 1200 metres, twice as deep as the original version, and even bigger with its 55x48mm across the case as well as 17.5mm in height. Hardly user-friendly for normal wearing but the PloProf was after all more intended to sit on the outside of diving suits. The model is now discontinued.
2014 it was time for Omega to revive the design language of the 1950s Seamaster 300 and they converted the enthusiasts with an elaborate retro variant with the same name (ref. 233 et al). Inside ticked the respected in-house movement Caliber 8400, which could be viewed through a sapphire crystal back.
An updated variant with a slightly thinner case (13.85mm), a narrower bezel, a tidied-up dial as well as a movement with Master Chronometer certification (Caliber 8912) came out in 2021. Steel, titanium, gold and platinum variants are sold, all with cases of 41mm.
As if that was not enough there came out in 2017 a pure copy of the brand's very first diver's watch in the form of the Omega Seamaster 300 "The Trilogy 1957" (ref. 234.10.39.20.01.001.), with a case of 39mm just as on the original combined with a modern, Master Chronometer movement (Caliber 8806). The model was made in a limited edition of 3557 pieces.
The movements
From the 1970s and up until about a decade ago, the Seamaster was offered with mechanical movements as well as with battery-driven quartz movements. Since then all diver's watches in the series have been driven exclusively by mechanical, automatic movements.
Omega long relied on movements from the Swiss manufacturer ETA in the form of refined 2892 units with chronometer certificates, something that served them – and the customers – very well. But in order to play with the big boys and remain the prestige brand they were striving for, in-house produced movements were the only way to go.
The work began as early as the 1990s and in 1999 they installed a so-called Co-Axial construction in their ETA-based movement and revolutionised the watch industry, at least in part. It means an ingenious construction of escape wheel/pallet that among other things reduces the friction in the movement, which in turn is meant to extend service intervals and lifespan. The patented construction was incidentally invented by the British watchmaker George Daniels in 1976.
In 2007 came Omega's own Co-Axial movement in the form of the Caliber 8500 and they had really pulled out all the stops to offer a state-of-the-art mechanical movement, and one which is said to have given the competitors a fright hiccup.
The new movement was placed first in the dress watch De Ville Hour Vision, was chronometer certified, had 39 jewels and 60 hours of power reserve. Of course the Co-Axial construction was incorporated from the start while the balance spring was in silicon, something that gave good antimagnetic properties.
The 8000 series was then developed with technical upgrades and more functions and in 2015 a new chronometer standard was introduced in the form of Master Chronometer certification. It means that the movement is not only tested by COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute), but also by METAS (The Federal institute of Metrology), which secures an even higher degree of precision.
Every Master Chronometer watch undergoes eight different tests where precision, protection against magnetic fields, power reserve as well as water resistance are tried. The certification means that the watches must manage 0/+5, 0/+6 or or 0/+7 seconds per day (depending on the calibre), while the requirement for an "ordinary" chronometer watch is -4/+6 seconds.
Today, incidentally, a Master Chronometer movement from the 8000 series ticks in all of Omega's diver's watches.
Omega Seamaster today
The Planet Ocean and the Seamaster 300 are still there in Omega's model palette, as is the "base model" Seamaster Diver 300m which came out in a completely new version in 2018.
The range in the four main model series (the Aqua Terra included) is today weighty to say the least. Masses of case sizes, materials, dials and functions are offered in a countless number of constellations.
You just have to choose what suits, provided that you are prepared to cough up the money. Because even if the Omega Seamaster has often been regarded as good value, particularly in comparison with the main antagonist Rolex, the prices have increased markedly in recent years.
A Seamaster 300m in steel/steel bracelet commands for example 62 500 kronor, while a Seamaster 300 goes for 78 800 kr according to the Swedish list price. The prices end at the Seamaster 300 with case and bracelet in platinum, which commands a whopping 721 900 kronor.
Those who mourn the passing of the distinctive PloProf some time ago should incidentally appreciate the new Planet Ocean 6000m Ultra Deep that was presented earlier this year, the very most extreme outpost in the Seamaster programme.
With case measurements of 45.5mm in diameter and 18.2mm in height as well as a weight of a meaty 254 grams (in steel) the Ultra Deep is likely to be impossible as a daily timekeeper for most people. It is probably mostly about an impressive display of advanced technology and capability rather than about a real alternative. The Ultra Deep is offered with a case in titanium or a specially developed steel (O-megasteel) that can take the enormous pressure that 6000 metres of depth entails.
Omega Seamaster on the arm
The undersigned happens to own a Seamaster Diver 300m that was acquired new in the spring of 2021. That of course gives an excellent insight into how a present-day Seamaster feels and functions. That the test object is precisely a Diver 300m also seems fitting since it is after all considered to form the base, the volume model, in the Seamaster family.
The latest Diver is in terms of shape a continuation of the "Bond" theme from 1993, which is strongly present in the latest incarnation too. The same elegantly chiselled case, the characteristic ocean waves in the dial, the skeleton hands, the model-typical helium valve as well as the typically "braided" steel bracelet. The design language has however been updated for the twenty-first century.
At the same time the differences are large – the renewal is as extensive as a government inquiry. Already in the previous generation a bezel in fashionable ceramic was introduced, while the whole dial is executed in this hard, glossy material in the current version. The reborn "waves" have moreover been cut out with a laser, refined enough. Rolex is peeking, you can be sure of that!
The case has grown from 41mm to 42mm and has become clearly thicker; from relatively sleek 12mm to more substantial 13.7mm. And herein lies one of the latest Seamaster's few Achilles heels, if you ask the undersigned. The graceful measurements did after all previously form one of the model's core values.
Today's Seamaster Diver is thus a chunk of steel, heavy and biting on the wrist. Many like that of course and it certainly stands out on the arm – with its size as well as its distinctive shape. On my arm it fits nicely though and actually works decently with the suit shirt as well.
The Seamaster Diver is of course offered in the so classic blue dial/bezel, but black, white and silver-coloured dials are also available. Black and white dials are complemented with a black bezel, while the silver dial has blue. Furthermore there are variants in titanium, steel/gold and solid gold, and the metal bracelet can be swapped for a strap in rubber. Earlier this year the editorial team also took a closer look at the latest version in steel with a green dial which is very popular and which you will find here.
The Diver has in design, finish and movement jumped over at least one step on the prestige ladder, without losing an ounce of the strong Seamaster character that lived in the predecessors. To such a degree that the sharply raised price can still be seen as reasonably attractive.
Jewellery & tool
Omega's diver's watch has always formed a serious tool for professional divers, in the beginning also for military use. Over the course of the decades, however, the diver's watch as a phenomenon has more and more remained a status symbol, a piece of jewellery for men, rather than a tool for diving.
If we disregard the Planet Ocean Ultra Deep, the Omega Seamaster is a typical example of that. It appears as an ideal combination of jewellery and tool, built for tough going far beneath choppy ocean surfaces while at the same time being a piece of jewellery in steel, glass and ceramic. So beautiful, yet so practical.
Its shape is perfect, its attraction timeless and eternal to such a degree that a Seamaster in some form is close to a must in most watch collections. The finishing is lovely, with a beautiful mix of polished and brushed steel alternating. Together with the glossy dial and the bezel in ceramic it shines and bestows glamour in just the right amount, without becoming gaudy.
Macho, but at the same time sensual, graceful. A rare combination that the Omega Seamaster masters, whatever the version.
