Watchbi

Switzerland · Founded 1848

Omega

The company took its name from an 1894 movement, not the other way round.

Omega is the Swatch Group's leading luxury brand, based in Biel/Bienne since 1880. It is known for the Speedmaster, qualified by NASA in 1965 and worn on the Moon in 1969, the Seamaster dive line, Olympic timekeeping since 1932 and the Co-Axial escapement. Most new mechanical models list between roughly €6,000 and €12,000.

History

Louis Brandt opened a workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, assembling key-wound pocket watches from parts made by local craftsmen and selling them across Europe, with England as his main market. After his death in 1879 his sons Louis-Paul and César moved the business, Louis Brandt & Fils, to Biel/Bienne on 1 January 1880 and turned to factory production with interchangeable parts. Their 19-ligne calibre of 1894, wound and set through the crown, was called Omega. It sold so well that in 1903 the company itself took the Omega name.

Both brothers died in 1903, leaving a firm of about 800 employees producing 240,000 watches a year in the hands of a young generation led by Paul-Emile Brandt. Omega built its reputation in observatory chronometry trials at Neuchâtel, Geneva and Kew-Teddington, where a calibre 47.7 scored a record 97.8 points in 1936. It joined Tissot in 1930 to form SSIH, served as Olympic timekeeper for the first time at Los Angeles in 1932, and launched the Seamaster in 1948 and the Constellation chronometer in 1952.

In 1957 Omega released three professional watches, the Speedmaster, Seamaster 300 and Railmaster. NASA tested chronographs from several makers and in March 1965 declared the Speedmaster flight-qualified for crewed missions; in July 1969 Buzz Aldrin wore his on the lunar surface while Neil Armstrong's stayed inside the lunar module. The quartz crisis and the recession of the late 1970s weakened SSIH, which banks rescued in 1981. It merged with ASUAG in 1983, and the combined group, taken over by investors led by Nicolas Hayek, became SMH and in 1998 the Swatch Group.

From the 1990s Omega was repositioned as a direct competitor to Rolex, helped by the James Bond films, in which the character has worn a Seamaster since GoldenEye in 1995. In 1999 Omega put George Daniels's Co-Axial escapement into series production, and in 2015 it introduced the Master Chronometer certification, tested by the Swiss federal metrology institute METAS for accuracy of 0 to +5 seconds a day and resistance to 15,000 gauss. The 2022 MoonSwatch, a bioceramic Speedmaster homage made with sister brand Swatch, sold for US$260.

Founders

Louis Brandt
Founder · 1825–1879
Opened a pocket-watch assembly workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, aged 23, and sold his watches across Europe, chiefly in England.
Louis-Paul Brandt
Co-owner, creator of the Omega calibre · 1854–1903
Elder son of Louis Brandt. With his brother César he moved the firm to Biel/Bienne in 1880, introduced industrial production and launched the 1894 Omega calibre.
César Brandt
Co-owner, creator of the Omega calibre · 1858–1903
Younger son of Louis Brandt and co-head of the firm from 1879. He died in 1903, the year the company was renamed after its Omega calibre.

Milestones

  1. 1848

    Louis Brandt's workshop

    Louis Brandt starts assembling pocket watches in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

  2. 1880

    Move to Biel/Bienne

    Louis Brandt & Fils relocates to Biel/Bienne on 1 January 1880; the firm is still based on Rue Jakob-Stämpfli.

  3. 1892

    Minute-repeating wristwatch

    The Brandts produce a minute-repeating wristwatch, with a movement from Audemars Piguet, which Omega describes as the first.

  4. 1894

    The Omega calibre

    The 19-ligne Omega calibre introduces interchangeable parts and crown winding and setting.

  5. 1903

    Company renamed Omega

    The firm takes the name of its best-selling calibre and is by then the largest maker of finished watches in Switzerland.

  6. 1932

    First Olympic timekeeping

    Omega times the Los Angeles Olympic Games, the start of a partnership that continues today.

  7. 1948

    Seamaster launched

    Omega launches the Seamaster in its centenary year.

  8. 1957

    Three professional watches

    The Speedmaster, Seamaster 300 and Railmaster are launched for racing drivers, divers and people working near magnetic fields.

  9. 1965

    NASA flight qualification

    After comparative testing, NASA declares the Speedmaster flight-qualified for all crewed missions.

  10. 1999

    Co-Axial escapement in series

    Omega becomes the first brand to industrialise George Daniels's Co-Axial escapement.

Three things collectors know

The first watch on the Moon went missing

Buzz Aldrin's Speedmaster, the first watch worn on the lunar surface, disappeared after he sent it to the Smithsonian with other items. Armstrong's ref. 105.012 is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

A tourbillon turning every 7.5 minutes

Omega's 1947 calibre 30I was a wristwatch tourbillon made in twelve examples for observatory trials. Its cage turned once every seven and a half minutes, and in 1950 it took first place at the Geneva trials.

Elvis Presley's Omega

A gold Omega given to Elvis Presley by RCA in 1961 for selling 75 million records sold at Phillips Geneva on 1 May 2018 for US$1.812 million, a record for the brand. The buyer was the Omega Museum.

Signature models

  • Manually wound chronograph, flight-qualified by NASA in 1965; the reference worn on Apollo 11 was the 105.012.

  • Dive watch worn by Pierce Brosnan's James Bond from GoldenEye (1995) onwards.

  • Larger professional diver; Daniel Craig's Bond wore a Planet Ocean in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008).

  • Launched as Omega's chronometer line on the strength of its observatory-trial record.

  • Omega's dress collection, established as a separate line in 1967.

Questions

Is Omega owned by Swatch Group?
Yes. Omega belongs to the Swatch Group, which grew out of the 1983 merger of SSIH, Omega's former parent, and ASUAG. Sister brands include Breguet, Blancpain, Longines and Tissot.
Was the Omega Speedmaster the first watch on the Moon?
Yes. Buzz Aldrin wore his Speedmaster Professional on the lunar surface during Apollo 11 in July 1969. Neil Armstrong, who stepped out first, had left his watch inside the lunar module as a backup timer.
Where are Omega watches made?
In Switzerland. Omega has been based in Biel/Bienne since 1880, where it also runs its manufacturing and the Omega Museum.
What is an Omega Master Chronometer?
A certification introduced in 2015. After COSC testing of the movement, the cased watch is tested to criteria set by the Swiss federal institute METAS, including accuracy of 0 to +5 seconds per day and resistance to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss.

Sources

  1. 1880: Louis Brandt & Fils settled in Biel (Omega)
  2. 1894: the new Omega 19-ligne calibre (Omega)
  3. Louis Brandt, passing the torch (Omega)
  4. Omega watchmaking history (Omega)
  5. 1957: Omega professional watches (Omega)
  6. Omega SA – Wikipedia

Most listed references

All references