WHERE time is everywhere, are timepieces still relevant? And how do fancy wristwatch-makers keep it traditional in a world gone digital? Turns out, traditional timepieces are serving a new, perhaps their real, purpose. Take it from Omega Vice President and Head of Product Development Jean Claude Monachon, who recently sat down tête-à-tête with the BusinessMirror in celebration of the haute Swiss watch brand’s partnership with the James Bond movie franchise.
“For me, my watch is my friend. I’m not talking to him, but it’s an object that is part of my life,” Monachon said. “It is something that lives through generations; I mean, you, say, get a watch from your dad or from somebody, and you will be proud to have it.”
In other words, a wristwatch is beyond just reminding you what century you’re in. No other Swiss-watch brand knows this better than Omega, whose goal is to, since 1848, make watches that stand the test of time, watches that, Monachon said, you keep, then give to your children, to your grandchildren, and the watches will still work because they’re mechanical. “It is something that brings an emotion to it; it’s an object that lives.”
The advent of smart watches in the deli notwithstanding, how Omega keeps the brand religiously straight with its tradition of doing things is an intricate balancing act, something that requires no forcing the innovation that goes with the times, no forcing a square peg into a round hole.
“We innovate, but we always keep the DNA of the brand, so that your watch, your Omega, is recognizable,” Monachon said. Obviously, there’s no infusing to an Omega watch a Siri by any other name, let alone a watch engineered to do the dishes for you may simply be overkill. “There are smart watches you use as a credit card to pay for your bills, but you, well, have that on your phone, too.”
And while the direction is rather all inclined on preserving its brilliant mechanism, Omega also has an august history it leverages on. Omega was on the moon in 1969. Nasa tested the watches, and, among 11 best wristwatch brands, they chose Omega simply because it’s outstanding.
So what Neil Armstrong and other some cosmonauts got when they flew to the moon had the same DNA with what you get from an Omega store, from being the kith and kin of the watches that made a date with history to one that is made special by its sentimental value.
And, if you will, what, well, James Bond had while all going dapper and sexy in the movies is the selfsame Omega watch you get when you visit an Omega store, what with two of its “007” timepieces inspired, as it has always been, this time by Spectre, the titular spy-slash-boyfriend material’s latest installation.
Make no mistake about it, a James Bond watch is not one that can kill people, as what has always been the joke in the movies, nary all the sleight of an intricate gadgetry of a pseudo-watch convertible to a dagger. It’s innocuous, an otherwise mechanical watch reserved to give sensuality to someone who’s full-automatic, and is rather only a show of why everyone would like to be Bond.
Because, really, “everybody would like to be Bond,” Monachon said. “He’s sexy, he has the strength, he’s running fast, he’s special, all the ladies love him. It goes well with a brand like Omega.”
Two of the hottest things, and there’s “Spectre” Seamaster 300 limited edition (limited to only, as no coincidence would have it, 7,007 pieces), which is clad in stainless steel and is characterized by a sleek-black bidirectional rotating diving bezel made from polished ceramic.
The Seamaster 300 is characterized by its LiquidMetal 12-hour scale so that the wearer’s time can be kept anywhere he finds himself in the world. The “lollipop” central seconds hands charter the dial, and the five-stripe black and gray James Bond Nato strap is engraved with his code name. The Seamaster 300 is driven by caliber 565, and was a diver’s watch not only worn by the iconic character, but by the underwater adventurers of the British Royal Navy.
Seamaster 300 Aqua Terra 150m, meanwhile, has the coat of arms symbol embedded pattern on the watch’s blue dial and near the tip of the yellow central seconds hand. The oscillating weight of the movement is visible through the sapphire crystal case back of this 41.55-mm stainless-steel royal emblem, and has details resembling a gun barrel. The model is limited to only 15,007 pieces.
Omega Seamaster has been James Bond’s watch since 1995, since when Pierce Brosnan went undercover in a Soviet espionage in the Golden Eye. Twenty years and seven more movies done in partnership with Omega later, the actor playing 007 may have changed, but it’s the same James Bond and his Omega Seamaster that stand the test of time.
