- Every
watch brand has a
history.
- Only
a precious few make
history.
- Like
OMEGA.
-
- OMEGA,
150 years at the
- forefront
of watchmaking!
-
- In
the Greek alphabet, the
letter
- OMEGA
is synonymous with
- accomplishment
and perfection,
- and
has been for 2500
years.
- In
watchmaking, the OMEGA
- brand
is at the forefront of
- know-how,
design and human
- achievement.
It has perpetuated
- the
qualities of its Greek
name,
- for
150 years.
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Written by
Marc
Levesque
Time2watch
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THE
ANTICIPATION:
Even before James Bond
starting wearing an Omega Seamaster, I wanted one
of them, the fact that you could see one larger
then life on screen didn't help my temptation. To
me the Seamaster Pro is a perfect sports watch,
rugged yet stylish, large, but not a cuff-eater and
relatively inexpensive compared to it's
competition.
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The Seamaster Pro, has
been Bond's choice in his last 3 movies: Golden
Eye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not
Enough, in all three movies the watch has saved
Bond's life numerous times and always comes out
unscathed. What attracted me to this watch is it's
finish (which I will describe in detail later), I
truly believe that there isn't another sports watch
on the market at it's price point with this level
of workmanship and attention to detail.
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- THE
CASE:
- The Case
diameter is of 41mm, 45mm to the end of the
crown, the thickness is only 10mm (incredible
for a watch this size), 47mm from lug to lug and
weighs approx. 150 grams. The lugs are slightly
polished SS and so are the crown guards, the
rest of the case is brushed SS. The signed crown
sits deep into the case, but is easily accessed
and is of good size. The signed helium release
valve is located @ 10 oíclock and here is
what it's used for:
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- This OMEGA
innovation is indispensable to divers who must
spend several days in a diving-bell. A watch
without a helium escape valve could explode from
too much pressure inside the case when the diver
returns to the surface. By unscrewing the crown
positioned @ 10 o'clock, the pressure is
released through the valve without water
infiltrating the case.
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- The case
back is beautiful, with the traditional
sea-horse with the Seamaster wave pattern on the
rest of the case, no useless writing like
"sapphire crystal" or "Tested Water-Resistance
to 300m" or anything that doesn't need to be
said. It also seems that a special Omega tool
might be needed to open this watch. The serial
number is situated under the 7 oíclock
lug and is intact. Because of it's relative
thinness and even balance of weight this watch
is incredibly comfortable.
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- THE
DIAL, BEZEL & CRYSTAL:
- The dial
is fairly large, measures 31mm. The sweep second
hand is extremely smooth, has a dot of tritium
and the end is painted red, this makes it very
eye catching, some may dislike it, but I find it
very pleasing to the eye. The hour and minute
hand are skeleton style with tritium coating on
the actual skeleton part and a dot for the end
of the hour and a triangle/arrow for the minute
hand. The hour markers are a combination of
circles and batons and are filled with tritium.
The Dial reads Omega, Seamaster,
Professional, Chronometer, 300m/1000ft. The date
is @ 3 o'clock and is black on white, I would
have preferred white on blue to match the dial,
but I can live with it. The dark blue wave
pattern on the dial is handsome and changes
color at different angles, some do not like this
but I do. The Bezel is uni-directional, as all
dive bezelís are, and is a little
difficult to grip, but I can also live with
that. The sapphire crystal is slightly domed and
has an anti-reflective coating only on the
inside, this is a great idea! It eliminates 50%
of the glare and the crystal is easy to clean
and doesnít get scratched. The tritium
coating is awesome, the best Iíve seen in
a long time, glows all night and is bright
enough to see at a glance.
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- MOVEMENT:
- The OMEGA
cal.1120 movement, whose bridges and oscillating
weight have been completely redesigned to
resemble the traditional OMEGA movements in the
shape of an OMEGA symbol, thus improving their
quality and precision. The finishing work of
circular-graining, snailing, the Geneva Wave
motif or the polished bevelling on the bridges
exemplify a know-how worthy of the best Swiss
watch manufacturers.
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Omega
cal. 1120
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Omega
cal. 1120
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The
raw embauche is the ETA cal. 2892/A2 a tried and
tested, very reliable C.O.S.C. certified
movement.
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Here are
the details of the ETA cal.
2892/A2
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Movement
with automatic winding, with an autonomy of 42
hours, rotor mounted on ball bearings.
Functions:
hours, minutes, central seconds [feature to
stop the seconds]; date [with quick change
capability].
Shape: round.
Diameter: 25.60mm [11'''1/2].
Thickness: 3.60mm.
Jewels: 21. (23 jewels Omega 1120)
Balance: three arms, diameter 9.00mm, in
gilt nickle or Glucydur. (3 arm Glucydur Omega
1120)
Frequency: 28,800 pulsations/hour.
Balance-spring: flat, in Nivarox2 or Nivarox
1, with Etachron adjustment device.
Anti-shock system: incabloc
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ETA
2892/A2
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ETA
2892/A2
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This movement
can be found in many other high-end watches such as
IWC and Ulysse-Nardin, it is very sturdy and has
proven itself time and again. So far is has been
off +/-10 sec/day, I am still waiting for it to
settle in and then I will be able accurately judge
it's performance.
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- BRACELET:
- This is
where this watch excels!!! The bracelet is
consisted of links made of 9 pieces, with
polished SS highlights, it is very solid and
equally difficult to adjust! I had to go 3 times
to the jeweler to get it right, but once it's
done, you can be assured it will not come
undone. The Bracelet comes with 2 half-links,
that can be removed to make a perfect fit, since
the clasp does not have micro-adjustment
capabilities this is essential.
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As for the
signed clasp, it is by far the best out there, I
have been using it as my standard to compare others
with and it's with reason I do so. It is solid to
say the least, closes very well, but you must make
sure that the diverís extension is properly
closed, which can be tricky. The push button
mechanism works admirably, I have heard in the past
that some Seamasters open if you only hit 1 of the
2 buttons, mine does not seem to have that
flaw.
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- OVERVIEW:
- I rate
this watch very highly as a great diver's watch,
a helium release valve may be over the top for
all of us desk-top divers but I think it's a
great conversation piece. IMHO the look, feel
and reliability are unequaled, I know there is a
lot of competition out there in the divers watch
market, but the Seamaster Pro sits very well
with it's competitors costing much more. Many of
us watch enthousiasts only like in-house
movements, to me that isnít very much an
issue, does it tell time? Is it accurate? Is it
rugged enough to take a lickin'? These are my
concerns and I think the Seamaster can fill
these needs and more!
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- Please
remember, this is just one man's opinion and
yours may vary. I would like to thank all of you
for reading, I would also like to thank Michael
Sandler for many of these awesome scans and
Chuck Maddox for his HTML work and for hosting
this page via his website!
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