Omega’s undisputed headliner at last year’s Baselworld was the Globemaster, a three-handed watch heavily influenced in its design by the brand’s historical Constellation models and containing its first Master Chronometer movement, Caliber 8900. This year, Omega adds the first complication to the Globemaster line, the Omega Globemaster Annual Calendar.
Category Archives: Omega
Reviewing Omega Seamaster Ploprof
It was 1970, in the midst of an era that delighted in unusual shapes and bright colors, when Omega first released the attention-getting Seamaster Professional 600m, nicknamed the Ploprof. The watch, designed in collaboration with the French industrial diving company Comex, was conceived for professional use: the name “Ploprof” stands for plongeurs professionels, or professional divers. While Omega emphasized its functions, the model perfectly suited the styles of the 1970s, with a gigantic and unusually shaped case, a red button to unlock the divers’ bezel, a bright orange strap and a minute hand of the same color.
New Omega Globemaster Annual Calendar Watch Asking
Released at last year’s Baselworld 2015, the Omega Globemaster (hands-on here) showed off the brand’s newest Co-Axial Master Chronometer movement while hearkening to the past with a design inspired by the Constellation watches of yesteryear. Now, new for Baselworld 2016 comes the Omega Globemaster Annual Calendar which has a new complication and a bigger size, measuring in at 41mm - up from the standard Globemaster that is 39mm. What’s even more noteworthy is that it’s going to be asking 7,800 CHF which is just around what the price of the least expensive Globemaster was last year. An aggressively priced METAS certified annual calendar watch by Omega is certainly a welcome surprise.
Reviewing Omega Speedmaster Skywalker X-33
Space travel will remain a dream for most of us, but the dream came true for the German geophysicist Alexander Gerst. This European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut experienced his first tour on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014. He conducted experiments for almost half a year and photographed the earth in new and fascinating ways. Photos show Gerst floating through the ISS wearing the Omega Speedmaster Skywalker X-33. This watch follows in the footsteps of the multifunctional Speedmaster X-33 and the Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch, which was part of every manned moon landing.
The Skywalker was specially developed for astronauts. In addition to the analog time display using hands, the digital display shows three different time zones and has three alarms, a chronograph, countdown timer, date, mission-elapsed time (MET) and phase-elapsed time (PET). The 45-mm case is made of lightweight grade 2 titanium.
Reviewing Omega Globemaster
In recent times, consecutive years have meant more and more brands releasing vintage re-interpretations and recreations; 2015 was no different, being one of the biggest years for historical watch releases to date. Omega, a brand holding a relatively large segment of market power in the luxury-watch realm, was one of the main contributors to this trend—leading the pack with more Speedmasters, more Seamasters, and — possibly most significantly of all — a new piece in the Constellation series: the Globemaster.
This new watch, for many not familiar with the historical Omega Constellation series (above), seems far different than any of its modern counterparts. At first this seems in line with Omega; the brand has certainly been known to release multiple “sub-series” of watches within a larger collection (e.g. the Moonwatch and Mark II both within the Speedmaster family). And while the Globemaster (below) would certainly fit the bill for the brand’s nontraditional organization of watches, it is much more exciting when one realizes that it draws many of its design elements from the beginnings of the Constellation series, dating back to 1952.
