Marcus Hanke[PuristSPro Moderator]
11519
Baselworld 2011: The big PuristSPro report --- Omega
Apr 18, 2011,04:53 AM
Basel 2011 Novelty report
Omega
by Marcus Hanke
Finally,
the long expected new chronograph movement was presented this year. In
fact, it is rather a movement family, currently consisting of two
variants, cal. 9300 and 9301, the difference between these two being
limited tothe decorative finish. These new selfwinding movements permit
Omega an even further independence from specialised movement suppliers
and developers, like ETA and Piguet. Basically, there was no real
necessity for Omega to develop and produce own movements, since the
movements in use have proved to be both technically well designed, and
reliable in practice. In spite of that, Omega had been criticised for
relying too much on movements supplied from outside the company.
While
these movements had either been developed together with Omega engineers
(such as the chronograph movements cal. 33xx), or massively modified
with Omega’s exclusive co-axial escapement, the launch of completely
“own” movements seemed to be desirable enough to invest a fortune into
development and setting up an own production infrastructure. Based on
the known Hour Vision automatic movement with co-axial escapement,
titanium balance and silicon hairspring, we are now facing a chronograph
movement.
Omega’s
main argument on behalf of the co-axial escapement is its superior
friction behaviour, compared with the classic Swiss lever escapement.
This benefit justified the increased complexity of the whole co-axial
system. I feel, though, that meanwhile, most of this argument has lost
its substance, as a result of the massive progress in material
development. For example, the friction coefficient of silicon on silicon
is five times better than that of ruby on any metal. Consequently, a
Swiss lever escapement mechanism, now being completely calculated and
tailored to the attributes of silicon components, should be able to
meet, if not outperform a co-axial system’s friction behaviour, without
the disadvantages of increased complexity.
On the other hand,
such a system would barely permit any adjustment during assembly, while
the ruby pallets still offers a bit of flexibility in this respect.
One
might be tempted to ask why Omega still is so firmly committed to the
co-axial escapement. Yet this is understandable, taking into account the
massive effort in development and finances that were necessary to make
George Daniel’s escapement ready for a series production. The
perspective of it being outdated, if not now, then in a few years would
certainly not be met with enthusiasm by its producers. The good side for
the customer, though, is that Omega decided to grant a full warranty of
four years on all watches with co-axial escapement and silicon
hairspring (weirdly, the hairspring material has nothing to do with the
service interval, so there should be no reason why watches with metal
hairspring are treated differently in this respect). I hope that other
brands will follow this example!
The
first impression of the new chronograph movement already reveals two
unique attributes: first, it is thicker than the cal. 33xx movement
hitherto used, causing the watches to appear more massive. Second, the
new cal. 9300/01 - the difference between these two version being
limited to the pink gold coating of rotor and balance bridge - features a
co-axial indication of chrono minutes and hours in a single subdial.
This permits to read the time elapsed easily and
intuitively, like from a separate watch dial. Of course, also the
chronograph movement has a silicon hairspring and co-axial escapement,
two mainspring barrels with 60 hours of power reserve, and a column
wheel for managing the chronograph functions. Additionally, it also has
the practical way to set the hour hand separately in hour steps, without
stopping the movement, which makes it easy to adapt the watch to a
different time zone.
The first watch line equipped with the new
movement is the Seamaster Planet Ocean. The attractive PO chronograph
with a case diameter of 45.5 mm is certainly not small. However, this
size makes some sense, since it permits a clear reading of the combined
minute/hour counter at 3, which is of course the most unique feature of
the watch.
The
PO’s case is rated water tight to 600 meters, and available with a
revolving bezel featuring either a black ceramic insert, or the already
well-known bright orange aluminum inlay. The latter is more prone to
scratches, but also a lot cheaper to replace, if this should become
necessary.
A
special version is the Seamaster Liquidmetal, which has a titanium case
and a bezel with blue ceramic and scales and numbers made from
so-called Liquidmetal This is my personal favourite version, it is
highly comfortable to wear and looks striking.
This variant is also available as a three hands diving watch, also with 45.5 mm diameter.
Besides
the Planet Ocean, the new chronograph movement is used also in the
Speedmaster. this watch has a diameter of 44.25 mm, and of course
features the combined chrono minutes and hours counter at 3. Unlike the
Planet Ocean, this counter appears rather small on the Speedmaster, and
its legibility is by far not so good.
The
new cal. 9300 needs more space. Therefore, Omega searched for a
solution that would permit avoiding a higher steel case. The result was
not only the already traditional highly domed sapphire crystal on the
top, but a similarly domed crystal on the back. This necessitates less
steel, makes the case appear a bit slimmer, and also offers a nice
side-aspect view on the movement. While the wearing comfort is claimed
not to suffer from this thicker case, it does appear a bit clumsy on the
wrist now.
The
fans of the classic Moon watch, the handwound Speedmaster Professional,
will be delighted to hear that Omega releases - another - limited
edition, this time in memory of the mission of Apollo XV, together with
the engraved lunar rover on the steel back. People with exceptionally
sharp memory might recall that Apollo XV had been celebrated with a
limited Speedie already five years ago. Since NASA unfortunately has
ceased its manned space exploration program, the occasions for limited
editions is limited, and it is thus not astonishing that the same
mission will be subject of such an edition every now and then.
In
2012, the Olympic summer games will take place in London; for the first
time since 1948. Since 1948 was also the year when Omega released its
famous Seamaster, the opportunity was taken to make a really neat
special edition: In the shape of the original Seamaster in stainless
steel, without date, but with a small second, comes a selfwinding
coaxial movement, limited to 1948 pieces.
The solid caseback displays the logo of the 2012 Olympic games in gold.
The
Seamaster Planet Ocean has become a facelift, and a
rather sober, but not unattractive black lacquer surface:
Also
new, and presented with a large PR effort is the new series of ladies’
watches, the Ladymatic. While Omega’s earlier ladies’ series were
hitherto based on prior men’s timepieces, and mechanical movements were
the exception rather than the rule, the Ladymatic has been designed from
scratch for ladies, and all models are powered by the selfwinding cal.
8520 and 8521. The model’s uniqueness is its case construction, that
consists of an inner case with a ring made from ceramic, the colour of
which matches that of the dial. The outer “case” is rather an intricate
framework of waves, through which the coloured ceramic can be seen. The
Ladymatic is offered in several variants, of course also with diamonds,
is water tight to 100 meters and has also the manufacture warranty of
four years.
This message has been edited by Dr No on 2011-05-02 15:17:43