To celebrate OMEGA’s oceangoing icon, the Swiss brand produced a new Seamaster collection with bold dials that include a striking tone reminiscent of a perfect day on a boundless sea and invited VIPs to West Vancouver’s Beach House Restaurant to explore this year’s special editions in depth.
The seven iconic models – eleven watches in all – track a trajectory from dressy to serious dive tech. Common to all is OMEGA‘s Summer Blue, used in greater or lesser degrees to reflect the water resistance of each Seamaster and relate its depth-defying credentials at a glance: Aqua Terra represents the sun-drenched surface, Ultra Deep the dark abyss.
Guests were thrilled to be a part of the intimate performance by Siphe November, Principal Dancer from the National Ballet of Canada. Premium filtered water brand tabl’eau created refreshing sparkling drinks and the DJ kept the music flowing as everyone moved about the Seamaster displays and onto the patio to sip and savour the sunset.
A Brief History of the Seamaster
The story of the Seamaster begins 16 years before it was born, with the launch of the OMEGA “Marine” in 1932. This ingenious timepiece successfully tested at 73 metres below the surface of Lake Geneva, also proved water-resistant at a depth of 135 meters, when pressure-tested inside the Laboratory of Watchmaking Research in Neuchatel. This impressive start set the course for OMEGA’s rapid advancements in underwater design.
During the years of WWII, OMEGA delivered more than 110,000 watches for the pilots, navigators, and soldiers of Great Britain’s Ministry of Defence to support its Air Force and Navy pilots during service. That unprecedented experience allowed OMEGA to progress quickly in the fields of water resistance, anti-magnetism, and robustness, and create a series of watches that could withstand the harshest conditions. Famously, the MoD gave each watch a W.W.W engraving on the caseback, which stood for “Waterproof Wrist Watch”.
The collection blended battle-proven technology with an elegant exterior to produce a watch for “town, sea and country.”
It soon became clear which word of the three would define its future. In the heady rock ‘n’ roll years, a decade of optimism and exploration, the Seamaster came into its own as the watch of choice for undersea adventurers. The starting point for this new trajectory was the Seamaster 300, released in 1957.
Wave after wave of extraordinary models followed. Each offers exciting new designs, innovative technologies, and even greater levels of water resistance. Along the way, the watch with the distinctive seahorse logo would play a key role in ocean exploration and conservation, as the timepiece of choice for the curious and the deeply concerned.
Today, OMEGA is able to test every one of its water-resistant watches in a real underwater environment, thanks to the brand’s industry-leading facilities and the certification standards set by METAS (the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology).
These timepieces, launched to celebrate the Seamaster line, pay tribute to an extraordinary history of innovation, exploration, ocean-tested performance and design.
Aqua Terra – Stylish and seaworthy
Released in 2002, the Seamaster Aqua Terra’s restrained display recalled the clean lines of the original Seamaster 300 from 1957. Throughout the years, OMEGA has introduced ocean-inspired design touches, such as sailboat indexes and teak-pattern dials reminiscent of luxury yacht decks.
OMEGA’s Aqua Terra collection now includes three new models with symmetrical cases and crowns in stainless steel. The 38 mm edition, powered by OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8800, has sailboat indexes and a polished and brushed bracelet formed of beautifully rounded links. The model sized 41 mm offers wearers a choice of a matching bracelet or blue rubber strap. Its driving force is OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8900. All watches have a new dial in sun-brushed Summer Blue, varnished with a gradient finish to reflect the water resistance of the Aqua Terra: an impressive 150 metres. To complement this colour, OMEGA has filled the rhodium-plated hands and indexes with a unique light blue Super-LumiNova.
Aqua Terra Worldtimer – A dial designed to inspire
Just two years after its launch in 2017, OMEGA adopted laser technology to achieve dials of extraordinary texture and colour. Beautiful visions of Earth viewed from above and wearable on the wrist. With its day and night indications and circle of global destinations, the Aqua Terra Worldtimer is the ultimate call to adventure. The very special Seamaster even has its own ocean.
The 43 mm Aqua Terra Worldtimer in stainless steel, available on a matching bracelet or blue rubber strap, presents a colourful view of Earth. Around the dial is a circle of silvery printed global destinations. Bridging the outer and inner displays, hesalite glass reveals a 24-hour reading with light blue to indicate daytime and dark blue to indicate night. Laser-ablating texture and then colour on a grade 5 titanium plate produced the vision of Earth, which depicts a blue ocean and relief of the continents. In line with Aqua Terra technology, the Worldtimer is equipped to mark time in a watery world, 150 metres beneath the waves. Its driving force is OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8938.
Seamaster 300 – Oceangoing professional
Launched in 1957 as part of OMEGA’s “professional” trilogy (along with the Speedmaster and Railmaster), the original Seamaster 300 offered wearers an easy-to-read display and exceptional water resistance, indicated by the “Naiad” star set within the logo on the crown. The new version continues that legacy with OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer calibre 8912, certified at the industry’s highest level by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS).
This 41 mm Seamaster 300 has a symmetrical case and crown in polished and brushed stainless steel, with matching bracelet. As the name makes clear, this watch takes 300 metres in its stride and its varnished dial, in Summer Blue, reflects this deeper level of water resistance. In keeping with the colour code, OMEGA has filled the rhodium-plated hands, recessed hour markers, and open numerals with a unique light blue Super-LumiNova.
Diver 300M – Oceanic Icon
With its distinctive diving scale, skeleton hands, bold raised indexes, and helium escape valve, the Diver 300M released in 1993 offers deep-sea adventurers a stylish way to keep track of time spent beneath the surface.
This 42 mm Seamaster Diver 300M in stainless steel, available on a matching bracelet or blue rubber strap, is a worthy addition to OMEGA’s classic dive watch collection. In keeping with the other watches in the series, it has a Summer Blue wave-pattern ceramic dial, varnished with a gradient finish to reflect its water resistance. A blue ceramic bezel with new Summer Blue enamel (Grand feu) diving scale encircles the dial, which has rhodium-plated skeleton hands and raised indexes, filled with a unique light blue Super-LumiNova. The Diver’s driving force is OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8800.
Planet Ocean 600M – Everything the name suggests
Taking its design cues from the Seamaster 300, the Planet Ocean was released in 2005 with an orange bezel and distinctive helium escape valve. It also contained OMEGA’s famous Co-Axial escapement, which made its debut appearance in the Calibre 2500.
Those looking for serious dive tech seek out OMEGA’s Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M. As its name makes clear, it is well and truly at home in the ocean, performing brilliantly
600 metres beneath the surface. Powered by OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8800, this 39.5 mm model has a case and bracelet in stainless steel. A blue ceramic bezel with light blue diving scale encircles the Summer Blue ceramic dial, which is PVD treated and varnished with a gradient finish, and completed with blued hands and indexes filled with a unique light blue Super-LumiNova.
Ploprof – The world’s most distinctive dive watch
Able to withstand the ocean’s most crushing pressures, the unmistakable Seamaster Professional 600, better known as the “Ploprof” (from PLOngeur PROfessionnel – French for “professional diver”) is one of the most robust and innovative divers’ wristwatches ever made. OMEGA’s ingenious method of fixing the crystal to the tough monobloc case eliminated the need for a helium escape valve. In the Ploprof’s early years, the French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, and the underwater research company COMEX, relied on the watch during their deep-sea experiments.
This 2023 Ploprof, crafted in O-MEGASTEEL with a sun-brushed Summer Blue dial, takes its design cues from OMEGA’s original model, which arrived on the market in 1971. The bezel ring is a sapphire crystal, to mirror the chemically reinforced monolithic crystal used in those early versions. This transparent crystal, varnished blue on the back, reveals the light blue diving scale beneath. The iconic monobloc case includes the famous screwed-in crown and the characteristic security pusher at 2 o’clock, which on this edition sports a ring in blue ceramic. A perforated blue rubber strap completes the 70’s look. Its hard-working calibre is OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8912.
Ultra Deep – Tribute to our world-record dive
In 2019, the very first Ultra Deep watches made history when they reached the deepest place on Earth. Following that World Record dive to the Mariana Trench, OMEGA transformed the technology into a game-changing 6,000m collection available to the public. A watch tested in real ocean conditions during its development, water-resistant to 6,000 metres (20,000 ft.), and meeting the ISO 6425:2018 standard for saturation divers’ watches, as certified by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS).
This 45.5 mm model has a case and bracelet in robust O-MEGASTEEL and an extraordinary dial that pays homage to the mysteries of the deep. Its pattern is an exact representation of the Challenger Deep mapped by the Five Deeps team using almost one million sonar points. Its lacquered finish, produced by letting an ocean of lacquer flow across the dial, has a beautiful sense of depth. The dial even has a playful side. Shining a UV light reveals the words, OMEGA WAS HERE, pointing toward the world record dive of 10,935 m and showing the Western, Central and Eastern Pools. Not revealed is OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8912, the same calibre powering the legendary Ploprof.
The Poseidon caseback: In the 1950s, OMEGA set out to create a symbol that would represent the entire Seamaster collection. It needed to exude the collection’s seafaring heritage, refined style, and robust spirit. Designer Jean-Pierre Borle found the inspiration on a trip to Venice: the sculpted representations of Neptune’s Seahorse on each side of the city’s iconic gondolas.
Every watch detailed above has a striking decorative caseback. The Seamaster logo depicts a trident-bearing Poseidon and two seahorses: OMEGA’s 1956 original and the brand’s current design.
Summer Blue: OMEGA’s Summer Blue evokes a pristine ocean on a perfect day. A natural choice of colour for a watch linked to exploration – produced by a brand committed to ocean conservation. The beautiful hue forms the base layer of almost all the dials in the legacy collection. Layers of varnish, carefully applied or free-flowing depending on the required effect, provide a sense of depth.
Accessories: To complement the new Seamaster watches OMEGA has produced an elegant range of accessories reflecting the collection’s spirit and summer blue dials. Wave-pattern keyrings, sailing bracelets in shades of blue, seahorse-logo cufflinks and a delicate blue wristband fixed with a trident of Poseidon in stainless steel.
To view the new Seamaster collection, visit the OMEGA boutique in the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver!
Author Profile
- Helen Siwak is the founder of EcoLuxLuv Marketing & Communications Inc and publisher of Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine, PORTFOLIOY.YVR Business & Entrepreneurs Magazine, and digital women's lifestyle magazine EcoLuxLifestyle.co. She is a prolific content creator, consultant, and marketing and media strategist within the ecoluxury lifestyle niche. Post-pandemic, she has worked with many small to mid-sized plant-based/vegan brands to build their digital foundations and strategize content creation and business development. Helen is the west coast correspondent to Canada’s top-read industry magazine Retail-Insider, holds a vast freelance portfolio, and consults with many of the world’s luxury heritage brands. Always seeking new opportunities and challenges, you can email her at helen@ecoluxluv.com.
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