Omega Worldwide history

In 1879, when Brandt passed away, his sons stepped in to continue what their father started.

In 1885, the company released its first mass-produced caliber movement, called the Labrador.

Subsequently, they released the first minute-repeating timepiece in 1892 and two years later, the 19-line OMEGA Caliber was launched.

Then in 1894, they launched the 19-line OMEGA caliber, which gave the company its name.

In 1900, Brandt’s company became one of the first to market wristwatches to the public.

In 1905, OMEGA began serving as the official timekeeper for various sporting events in Switzerland.

However, they were also the first official watch of the United States Army in 1918.

The Omega Constellation debuted in 1952 and Omega sought to balance luxury and performance.

Still the foundation of Omega’s product line, it is rightly hailed as a market innovation under Joseph Reiser, who took over as CEO in 1955.

Most of these 1957 Trilogy limited editions sold individually.

Two years later, the 1959 Seamaster Speedmaster CK 2998 used a black bezel to improve tachymeter contrast.

OMEGA made history once again when astronaut Wally Schirra wore a Speedmaster on his Mercury Sigma 7 Mission in 1962., making his timepiece the first OMEGA watch to enter space.

Two years later in November of 1964, NASA set off to undertake a strenuous series of chronograph tests on all off-the-shelf watches to find out whether any of them were qualified to be used on manned space flights.

On 1 March 1965, a clear winner was announced, and Omega officially became the first and only flight-certified watch manufacturer for all of NASA’s manned space flights.

The focus and simplicity of Aquastar’s diving and sailing watches were widely admired, and in 1967, he joined Omega, where for several years he designed all of its sports-oriented watches, including those for diving and flying.

The 1968 Seamaster Soccer Time is a favourite among collectors, partly for its quirky solution to solving the problem of timing 45-minute halves by adding a “45” on the outside of the sub-dial.

For four years before its 1970 release, laboratory and field tests pushed the limits of this watch.

Meanwhile the 1973 Time Computer, Omega’s first foray into LED, helped to define the slick minimalist style of early digital.

By 1975, even the Speedmaster was getting an extreme transformation with the 1045 “TV dial” model, now one of the most well-loved and collectable Speedies.

It kicked o a new chrono-genre that would lead to new iterations with a wonderful “roulette” bezel, and the Referee’s watch for FIFA in 1979, which used an Alaska model case.

They changed their name to Louis Brandt & Frére – Omega Watch Co. after creating the famous Omega Calibre before changing their name to Omega SA in 1982.

Both companies merged completely in 1983, forming ASUAG-SSIH, a holding company.

In 1995, they made their debut as the official watch of James Bond on the wrist of Pierce Brosnan in the film GoldenEye.

As far as the automatic movement; are you referring to the Co-Axial escapement that Omega first released in 1999 (George Daniels Co-Axial)? To my knowledge, the first automatic watches where made by Harwood (hammer) and Rolex (rotor).

An Alaska Project watch was released in 2008, complete with red aluminium cover – perhaps the only watch ever reissued without having ever being issued in the fifst place.

In addition, OMEGA expanded their work in the field of sports, becoming the official timekeeper of the PGA of America in 2011.

It features a black bezel with markers in the colors of the Olympic rings. It’s one of a limited-edition production of 2016 watches.

In order to bring these historic designs into the 21st century, Omega released 60th Anniversary limited editions of each in 2017.