Which watch brand won 2022? Luke picks Omega – here are five reasons why…
Luke BenedictusWhen asked to give my thoughts on which watch brand “won” 2022, I feared for a second that it might be a trick question. That’s because, for me at least, the answer is so forehead-slappingly obvious that you’d need to perform all sorts of mental gymnastics to conceive of any vaguely credible challengers. Last year, Omega simply ended any real debate on the question by delivering a barrage of releases that flaunted their technical wizardry, boldness and savoir-faire. In short, they absolutely killed it. Here are five reasons why…
The dive watch that was deep and meaningful
Omega kicked off 2022 with the Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional, essentially a civilian version of the concept watch that Victor Vescovo attached to his submarine on his 2019 journey when he plummeted 10,925 metres to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The Ultra Deep was water-resistant to a gob-smacking 6000m. As Gregory Kissling, Omega’s head of product management, told me: “That corresponds to a pressure of 7.5 tons, which is like an adult elephant sitting on this crystal.”
Admittedly, Rolex eclipsed that depth later in the year with the Deepsea Challenge that was water-resistant to a preposterous 11,000m. But that watch had a cartoonish 50mm diameter. The remarkable thing about the Ultra Deep was how surprisingly wearable it is. It measures 45.5mm wide with a thickness of 18.12mm – that’s less than a standard Planet Ocean Chronograph, a watch that, while big, is hardly outlandish. Made from sand-blasted titanium, the Ultra Deep also weighs just 123g (a steel Rolex Submariner, for example, weighs 155g).
The chronograph that offered the perfect upgrade
Another cracking release was the Omega Speedmaster ’57, which offered a shrewd evolution of the collection in all the right ways and was surely one of the most toothsome chronographs of the year. It wasn’t just the coloured dials that were head-turners, but the dramatically reduced slimness of the 40.5mm case. This new version now comes in at a svelte 12.99mm – 3mm thinner than the previous one – to transform the overall wearability of the watch.
The watch that sparked actual riots
Then, of course, there was Omega’s collaboration on the BioCeramic MoonSwatch. This was the watch that no-one saw coming and a genius co-branding move that wasn’t just the watch release of the year, but arguably the entire decade.
Even the timing was exquisite, with the MoonSwatch unveiled just before Watches & Wonders, thereby hijacking the agenda to become the main topic of conversation at a watch fair it didn’t even appear at. (As Nicholas Hayek Jnr said to us as at the MoonSwatch’s unveiling with a smile – “They’ll bring the watches, we’ll bring the wonders”.)
Soon the MoonSwatch was headline news in mainstream media because of the queues snaking around the block outside Swatch boutiques all over the world. Naysayers who believed the collab was a marketing stunt that cheapened the iconic Moon Watch were soon proved wrong with Speedmaster sales rocketing 50% in the wake of the release.
The ludicrously high-end pieces
Having shown they could collaborate on brilliantly accessible watches, Omega also flexed their horological might with a pair of minute repeaters. Celebrating the brand’s history in split-second timekeeping in 18k solid gold, these consisted of a Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional, and a replica of a stopwatch produced for the 1932 Olympic Games – a watch so fiendishly complicated to make that production was limited to five a year. They cost a little bit more than the MoonSwatch, too – both of these minute repeaters would set you back somewhere in the vicinity of US$450,000.
The watch that’s all about the flipside
To finish the year, Omega revealed their new stainless-steel Omega Seamaster 300m 60 Years of James Bond Edition in London. Here, the innovation was all about the caseback that took four years to develop. Showing their playful side once more, Omega captured the iconic beginning to the 007 films with a moiré animation caseback that shows Bond appearing to turn and fire at you in a homage to the opening sequence. It was a technical development that would make Q himself proud.
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Limiting this highlights package to five watches doesn’t even allow me to start rhapsodising about the goldilocks 38mm size and subtle colours of the new Omega Aqua Terra. Or the salmon dial of the exquisite Omega De Ville Prestige Co-Axial Master Chronometer Power Reserve. Heaven only knows what Omega were putting in their coffee in 2022, but they certainly pulled off one hell of a year.