Omega Automatic Replica Watches Wholesale, Imitation Omega Automatic Watch

Omega De Ville Prestige Co-Axial 36.8mm (424.55.37.20.58.001)

Looks and feels great. Perfect for those dressier occasions when a rubber watch band won't do.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by robert fuzy, From Germany Offenbach

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Ladies Watch 222.30.38.50.01.002

wow excellent

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Carrie Ferguson, From USA Alphetta

Omega Aqua Terra Chronograph Automatic Black Dial Black Leather Men's Watch 23113435206001

good. Thank you.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Amber L, From Rgyah Har

Joel Dicker. Harry Quebert. Baltimore. These are all names that ring a bell among fans of literature and many others too. The 30 year-old writer from Geneva is now the ambassador of the DS car brand that partnered GMT magazine for its 15^th birthday party held at HEAD Geneve. Joel Dicker is adding another string to his bow by serving as director and starring in the DS web series leading up to an exclusive novel.

Although he's not a watch connoisseur as such, Joel Dicker is certainly not unappreciative of the classic, complex or innovative timepieces produced by the watch industry. The young author already translated into more than 30 languages shared a few thoughts on the topic with Worldtempus. 

Which was your first watch?
I was given my first watch at the age of four: it was a Flik Flak with a blue strap! I later had a classic Swatch steel watch, but I don't remember the exact model....

 Which model would you like to wear now?
The one I have at the moment suits me just fine: an Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon. I like its sporty and classic nature: black, discreet and yet original.

And what kind of watch would you like to give your sweetheart?
Not a watch from a specific brand. On the contrary, if I could, I'd create a watch from scratch for my girl!

What does time represent for you?
Money! Just kidding. Time… embodies the ambiguous relationship between past time and the time we have left to carry out our plans and to live. So time is ambiguity.

What does Swiss watchmaking mean to you?
Pride in having a national product that is universally appreciated abroad! It's a benchmark, a guarantee of quality and of excellent workmanship. That has an impact both on the image of watchmaking in general and on Switzerland itself.

When you are touring abroad, do people talk to you about Swiss watchmaking?
Not about Swiss watchmaking in particular, but about all the things that symbolise Switzerland, including watches. The latter are of course a reference in terms of Swiss excellence in this domain. Afterwards, people also talk to me about banks and chocolate of course.

What kind of books do you enjoy reading?
I read all manner of things, although I wouldn't personally be capable of writing any and every kind of literary genre.

How about a thriller?
No! Murder, blood and torture are definitely not my scene. I'm a romantic…

The notion of time is bly present in your books. Can you tell me a bit more? 
Yes indeed, all my books have a bly embedded concept of time. There are constant flashbacks to the life of the main protagonist, a lot of waiting, a sense of protracted duration. There is always a tie with past, present and future time, so it definitely underpins various situations.

What was your latest literary crush?
A bookseller recently recommended a book written by a pair of little-known authors and the title was also unfamiliar. I loved its unexpected side. It was a very different genre from anything I'd previously read. by John Robert and Evan Wright is all about the New York mafia, murder, cocaine… I highly recommend it!

It's called the Cosmic Watch and it is Swiss Made, but ironically it is not yet available as a watch. Having crossed the desks of the executives at Omega (too digital) and Google Switzerland (not functional enough), the project arrives on the market not as a wristwatch but as an application running on iOS and Android or as a luxurious desk clock or high-end touchscreen display that would make the perfect addition to a boardroom or hotel lobby. It is the world's first interactive astronomical clock in the digital era, and it's Swiss Made!
The Cosmic Watch builds on the centuries old tradition of the astrolabe as a means of displaying the rotation of the heavenly bodies in our solar system. But whereas the historical astrolabes were objects intended as decoration just as much as they were for education, the Cosmic Watch is geared much more towards the educational aspect, capitalizing on the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets around the world.

A new appreciation of time

One of the cornerstones of this approach is adding the dimension of time, which can be overlaid on any of the views in the form of a circle around the equator with an optional digital read-out if desired. Intuitively, the time can also be read against the selected location and the shadow cast by the sun gives an instant overview of where on earth it is night and day.

A "time travel" function lets you move forwards or backwards through time at varying speeds, from a sedate two minutes per second to a dizzying year per second. As you move forwards or backwards you see the trace of the movement of the planets and you can pause at any point to see the exact configuration in the solar system at that point. Furthermore, significant astronomical events such as eclipses are highlighted along the way.
Five different guides (horizon, compass, planet names, connections, celestial rings and equatorial grid) can be toggled on and off to assist with astronomical observations. Simply activating the horizon and compass, for example, then aligning north on the compass with north on the horizon, lets you easily identify the planets at a glance. On a cloudless night in mid-May I was able to pick out Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury from my balcony in a matter of minutes.

The future

As with any smartphone application, the advantage of the technology is that it can regularly be updated. The developers are already working on adding new features such as real-time weather, a world-time display and equation of time function. With such features on board, the application could in future easily replace three or more existing types of application (world time, sky chart, weather). All this at a cost of just 4 Swiss francs!

The Cosmic Watch also comes packaged as two high-end luxury objects, the Vision and the Eclipse. The Vision is an interactive table clock and the Eclipse is a custom-built interactive astronomical "wall time device" using the very best touchscreen technology available.
 

The Cosmic Watch can be downloaded from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Last week, Omega announced that it is developing a new standard, in conjunction with the Swiss Federal Institute for Metrology (METAS). Any watch with a precision between 0 and +5 seconds per day that can resist magnetic fields of "at least 15,000 gauss" will qualify for this Swiss norm, with which Omega ostensibly aims to raise awareness of the potential impact on our watches of the magnetic fields that surround us nowadays.

Also last week, the Qualite Fleurier foundation celebrated the 10th anniversary of its certification with the announcement that it is making the unique equipment used for its tests available to the entire Swiss watchmaking industry. The certification already uses the same strict precision tolerances as the new METAS standard, but with one very important difference: it is the only certification where the finished watch is subjected to a genuine simulation of real-world wrist action over 24 hours on the formidable Fleuritest machine. Read our full report this week on WorldTempus.

In this last full week of shopping before Christmas, we conclude our gift guide with a review of some affordable complicated watches, a selection of watch-related books and the new ultimate gift for the watch fan. Over the holiday season we will also be publishing loads of great content, with a mini-series of "What's next?" articles inspired by the theme of this year's Forum de la Haute Horlogerie, the first in a series of articles on the different movement decorations used in watchmaking, features from the latest issue of GMT Lady and a selection of the forthcoming SIHH launches.

Our offices will be closed over the festive period, so the next WorldTempus newsletter will be sent out on 12 January. In the meantime, the entire team at WorldTempus wishes you happy holidays and all the very best for the New Year. See you soon!

Although their names may not be familiar as writers of horological reference works, Gregoire Rossier and Anthony Marquie have invested several years in the production of this consummate guide to one of the few genuine watch icons.

The Omega Speedmaster needs little introduction, having secured its very own page in the history books when it was selected by NASA for use in its manned spaceflight programme. But the Moonwatch is only part of the varied history of the Speedmaster model, which traces its lineage back over 50 years, to the first model in 1957.

catalogues over 125 models, covering all Speedmaster production since 1957, including limited and special editions, as well as projects and prototypes. It also analyses and codifies over 250 different components, from calibres to cases, bezels to bracelets, crown to crystal… and even the presentation boxes, using an original nomenclature developed by the authors. It is illustrated with over 1000 images, some of which have never before been published.

Moonwatch Only. The Ultimate Omega Speedmaster Guide, by Gregoire Rossier and Anthony Marquie, is available in English, French and Italian, priced CHF 290 or €250 from Watchprint, the watch and jewellery bookstore. 

Order a copy

Jan Edöcs will also continue to be a senior partner at the business and financial consulting group Consalve AG, whose services Hanhart already employed in the past. The 42-year-old Edöcs has more than 20 years' experience in the watch industry (Omega, Swatch Ltd., Versace, Milus International SA) and has proven experience in business management. Ronald Grob, previously interim CEO, will continue in future as a consultant at Hanhart. Production in Gutenbach will continue to be led by Klaus Eble, who has more than 40 years of service with Hanhart and is regarded as an expert in the production of precision timepieces.

Hanhart will be taking part at Baselworld 2013 (25.04. - 02.05.), presenting its new products at hall 2.0, booth E15.
The tradition-rich Hanhart brand was founded in 1882. The company is renowned for the production of functional instrument watches for use on land, sea and in the air. Since 2010 Hanhart is belonging to the Gaydoul Group.

Yesterday in London's chic New Bond Street, Sotheby's auction house undertook what was certainly its most high-profile auction of the year: selling the horological remains of George Daniels' life.
At precisely 2:30 GMT, the elite of the horological auction world crowded into Sotheby's posh auction room to witness - or possibly bid on - the 137 items left in Daniels' collection at the time of his death in 2011.
 

Daniels can rightly be viewed as the first independent, a talented watchmaker who practically led this movement of the mechanical renaissance by example. He was revered by the other independents - as F.P. Journe's platinum Chronometre Souverain (lot 27) gift to him shows - and inspired them in their own work. "This auction will set the precedent for other independents' work," Geoffroy Ader, head of Sotheby's Geneva, remarked.
Daniels is best remembered for inventing the co-axial escapement, which was industrialized and is now in serial use by Omega, though as his protege and only apprentice Roger Smith pointed out, "He made everything by hand, every part of the watch." His 37 unique pocket watches remain so one-of-a-kind because they were indeed manufactured by his own two hands and because each one represented a new technical experiment.

Daniels was a collector of automobiles, cameras, and timepieces. As an expert in the history of horology, he also traded in very high-end vintage timepieces and was an adviser to Sotheby's for much of his career. Much of the proceeds of the auctions surrounding these objects will benefit the George Daniels Educational Trust, a charity he set up before his passing to benefit the higher education of pupils studying the disciplines of horology, engineering, medicine and building construction. Financial aid from the trust is granted to students nominated by City University London and jointly the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and The British Horological Institute.
Auction results
Many pieces in the auction were highly anticipated, and the top lot performed as expected, which is probably why it did not elicit applause from the polite gathering of aficionados: the Space Travellers Watch, a large Lepine-style pocket watch complicated beyond belief and ahead of its time in terms of added technology. Smith explained that Daniels had created it in honor of man's first landing on the moon (hence the name). The bidding on it was spirited and included a prominent local London retailer, who dropped out before it crossed the one-million-pound mark. Bidding topped out at 1,150,000 pounds before commission.

The second most expensive lot came in at 1,100,000 pounds before commission: an ebony-encased striking table clock by Joseph Knibb from 1677. It has royal provenance, which is probably what at least partially spurred the heated bidding for it. As expected, Daniels' own pieces did remarkably well, with the Grand Complication wristwatch hammered at 780,000 pounds before commission.
Anther notable lot was an Urban Jurgensen wristwatch modified by Daniels to include a slim version of the co-axial escapement, which was sold to the Jurgensen Museum via telephone for 50,000 pounds before commission. And, naturally, the Journe piece was notable for the above-mentioned reasons. It sold for 36,000 pounds before commission.
The Sotheby's team and other notables present at the auction were pleased with the results, totaling 8,285,139 pounds after commission (and beating the pre-sale estimate by more than 3 million pounds). About 8 million pounds of that will go to the George Daniels Educational Trust.
 

When Daniel Craig reprises his role as James Bond in Skyfall, he will be wearing an Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M 42mm with a black dial and a matt black ceramic unidirectional rotating divers' bezel. Bond fans and Omega enthusiasts will know that the world's favourite secret agent has been wearing Seamasters since 1995 and the Planet Ocean has been his choice since Casino Royale in 2006.

James Bond's choice
For Skyfall, Bond's choice is the steel on steel Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Omega Co-Axial Chronometer, whose design features can be traced directly back to the classic Seamasters of the 1950s. Inside the case it's a different story: the watch is driven by the Omega Co-Axial calibre 8500 whose revolutionary Co-Axial escapement and free sprung balance deliver long-term stability and precision, dramatically reducing the need for servicing. Also equipped with an Si14 silicon balance spring, the watch is delivered with a four-year warranty.
The hands and indexes have been treated with Super-LumiNova and are legible in all lights and conditions and offer a stark contrast to the matt black surface of the dial. The Super-LumiNova on the indexes, the hour hand and the seconds hands emits a blue light; the luminescent material on the minute hand and the dot on the bezel appear green. This contrast means that divers can tell at a glance how much time has elapsed when they are underwater. Even the sweep of the luminous orange-tipped seconds hand can easily be read in the dark. There are Arabic numerals at 12, 6, and 9 o'clock with a date window at the 3 o'clock position on the dial.

A professional divers' watch
A professional divers' watch, the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Omega Co-Axial Chronometer is equipped with a helium escape valve. The stainless steel bracelet features a diver's clasp which allows its length to be extended to fit around a wetsuit. As its name suggests, the Planet Ocean 600m is water resistant to a depth of 600 metres (60 bar / 2000 feet).
Omega and the world's most stylish spy
James Bond has worn an Omega Seamaster in every film since Goldeneye in 1995. Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming first introduced Bond to Omega. She described Bond as a naval man and a discreet gentleman of the world, so the Seamaster was the obvious choice. Omega couldn't agree more!

Renaissance
Pocket Watch
1981

It is the fisrt pocket watch intergrating a Tourbillon and complications in the history. The Renaissance features the Hours, Minutes and Seconds (from the Tourbillon). It also is a Perpetual Calendar with all of its traditionnal information. Plus it proposes an automatic striking mechanism, the 12 zodiacal signs, the sunrise and sunset stars, the equation of time and a thermometer. The Renaissance is still today privately owned by the same familly who originally bought it.
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Capriccio - Piece No 2
Pocket Watch
1983

The functions are the Hours, Minutes and Seconds (from the Tourbillon). Its hand winding movment perfectly fits the special shape of the case, inspired by a paintor's color palette. The power reserve is of 8 days. It is regulated by a tourbillon and a detent escapment.  The Capriccio is the property of the Omega museum.
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Montres des Sables - A Faces
Pocket Watches
1985

The deserts' nomads inspired Dominique Loiseau for the creation of these 6 unique Montres des Sables (Watches of the sand). Every movement's flying Tourbillon is placed in the center of each watch. These pocket watches have pendant integrated in their case so that they look like stones on the desert.
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Rose des Temps
Table Clock and automaton
1983-84
 

Unique Complication rebus table clock celebrating the arrival of the 3rd millenary. The timepiece is made of 16 modules all interchangeable between them and totalizing 32 functions. To name a few these functions are : Automatic Striking Mecanism, Minute Repeater, a 6 bells (gongs) Westminster Carillon, Perpetual Calendar, the sky in New-York, Sydney, Buenos Aires and Bern, the 4 seasons indicator, Year 2K automaton, a Chronometer, a Thermometer and of course Hours and Minutes.
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Cobra
Pocket Watch
1986-87

Unique pocket watch. Besides the Hours, minutes and seconds (from the Tourbillon) it features a flying Tourbillon and a power reserve indicator.  The Cobra is privately owned.

These five watchmakers are endowed with spirits of curiosity, technical supremacy and progressive thinking. They lead the mechanical industry by example: exploring theunknown while ensuring that stability and accuracy remain the prime elements of their creations. Meet five examples of horological brilliance as different as day and night—all bound to write their own chapters of watch history.
 

Jean-François Mojon
Shooting star Mojon maintains an uncompromising, engineering approach to his movement designs and this is logical, for he not only studied watchmaking technology at the Technicum in Le Locle, but also mechanical engineering. "Technology in general fascinated me as a child," he explains.
His career has been broad: starting out in electronics, he worked in quartz and LCD. He also worked in the aviation industry and for Omega for six years. In 1995, he acted on the desire to learn German and get really involved in the watch industry, so he sent an application to IWC, where he worked under Gunter Blumlein and became the head of quality control (...)

Omega's De Ville line has long been known not only for its elegant styling but for its introduction of some of the brand's most important watchmaking innovations. For example, it was in a De Ville in 1999 that OMEGA launched its calibre 2500 equipped with a Co-Axial escapement - the component that since it was released has revolutionized mechanical watchmaking. In 2007, the De Ville Hour Vision introduced Omega's Co-Axial calibre 8500/8501, the movement that demonstrated that Omega's Co-Axial philosophy had truly come of age. And it was in the De Ville Hour Vision Annual Calendar that the Si14 silicon balance spring made its debut, offering an unparalleled level of stability and performance in a seriesproduced mechanical watch movement.

The De Ville Chronograph Omega Co-Axial calibre 9300/9301 carries on the line's tradition of classic design and its most innovative technology. It is powered by the chronograph in the brand's family of proprietary Co-Axial movements. Equipped with Omega's Si14 silicon balance spring, the timepiece is delivered with a four-year warranty. Frequent travellers will appreciate the fact that they can change the hour hand without affecting the minute and second hands - ideal for moving between time zones or for adjusting to the twice yearly time change in most parts of the world.
This new De Ville Chronograph is available with either a 42 mm 18 Ct red gold case on a brown or blue leather strap, or with a stainless steel case on a stainless steel bracelet or on a black or blue leather strap.

The 18 Ct gold model's Co-Axial calibre 9301 has an 18 Ct gold rotor and balance bridge; the stainless steel model is powered by the Co-Axial calibre 9300, which has a rhodium-plated rotor and balance bridge.
The two-zone dial has been created in a choice of opaline-silver or blue for the 18 Ct red gold models and opaline-silver or black or blue for the De Ville Chronograph in stainless steel. It has two domed sub-dials. The chronograph sub-dial at 3 o'clock has both the 60-minute and 12-hour counters so reading the elapsed time is intuitive. At the 9 o'clock position is the small seconds hand. The watch has a central chronograph seconds hand as well as 18 Ct gold diamondpolished, facetted central hour and minute hands. Its applied Roman numeral indexes are also crafted from 18 Ct gold, facetted on the sides and ends and fully diamond-polished.
The De Ville Chronograph is water resistant to 10 bar / 100 metres / 330 feet. With its combination of simple elegance and cutting-edge technology, the De Ville Chronograph Omega Co-Axial Calibre 9300/9301 is a stunning reminder of what a classic, yet highly technical mechanical watch can be.

The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph Ceragold has a generous 45.50 mm 18 Ct red gold case. Its most striking design element is its polished black zirconium-based ceramic bezel ring which offers a stark, dramatic contrast to the Ceragold diving scale.

No less impressive is the Omega Co-Axial calibre 9301 at the heart of the Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph Ceragold. Launched last year, it was the first chronograph in the brand's proprietary family of Co-Axial movements. The movement has a special luxury finish including an 18 Ct red gold rotor and balance bridge; the screws, barrels and balance wheel are blackened. With the Omega Co-Axial calibre 9301 it is possible to adjust the hour hand without affecting the performance of the minute or seconds hands, allowing for easy adjustments for travellers changing time zones. The movement is equipped with a silicon balance spring and like all Planet Oceans, the watch comes with a full four-year warranty.
The lacquered black dial presents both the 60-minute and 12-hour counters on the same subdial at 3 o'clock so reading the elapsed chronograph time is particularly intuitive. The small seconds sub-dial is at 9 o'clock.
The Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph Ceragold is presented on a black leather strap secured by an 18 Ct red gold foldover clasp.

OMEGA celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the first James Bond film with the launch of two commemorative limited edition watches, a press conference and a showcase of props from every James Bond film at its new Westfield Stratford (England) boutique.

The event was opened by OMEGA president Stephen Urquhart, who welcomed media and guests and talked about his brand's relationship with the film franchise. He said, "James Bond is unmatched as a cultural icon and we are excited to be celebrating half a century of great adventure films featuring the world's favourite spy. We are also happy to have the opportunity to display items from every one of those films. I know that the showcase will bring back a lot of cinematic memories." Stephen Urquhart was joined by OMEGA's vice president and head of product development, Jean-Claude Monachon, who introduced two Seamaster Diver watches that OMEGA has released to commemorate the milestone. Released in two sizes, the new Seamaster Diver is distinguished by a red "50" on its diving bezel, a reminder that it is celebrating a special anniversary. Also at the press conference was Lindy Hemming, the Oscar-winning costume designer who chose the OMEGA Speedmaster as 007's watch in GoldenEye in 1995. Asked about her selection of the OMEGA Seamaster with the blue dial, she said "I was convinced that Commander Bond, a Naval man, a diver, and a discreet gentleman of the world would wear this watch as opposed to the one everyone expected me to use."

She added, "I had also known contemporaries when I was in my twenties who were military and naval, and some who worked in field of energy and electricity, who all swore by their Omegas. Therefore, as one of the early tasks in designing the new Bond, Pierce Brosnan, I went to a props and hand props meeting and argued for the use of Omega, which I had of course first investigated to make sure they would be interested in placing their watches on Bond!" Bond film props and gadgets on display The showcase which opened on Wednesday features props from all 22 previously released Bond films. The Parahawk from The World is Not Enough is displayed outside the boutique; it attracted considerable attention from shoppers in the mall who were pleased to enter the boutique to see a wide range of props that includes a Dom Perignon champagne bottle from Dr. No, a flask bomb used in A View to Kill, super-villain Jaws' teeth from The Spy Who Loved Me and Bond's piton gun from GoldenEye.

The showcase continues through Friday February 24th at the OMEGA Boutique at the Stratford Westfield Mall and is open to the public.

The OMEGA Co-Axial calibre 8605/8615 is the first of OMEGA's proprietary movements to be equipped with a GMT complication, meaning that along with the central hour, minute and seconds hands, there is a GMT hand which completes one rotation every 24 hours, making it possible to keep track of the time in two time zones.
 
The 43 mm case is available in a choice of metals: 18 Ct red gold or stainless steel or, in a bicolor version in 18 Ct red gold and stainless steel. The sapphire crystal on the screw-in caseback allows a clear view of the extraordinary Co-Axial movement inside. The watch is available with either a bracelet in the same metal as the watch case or with a black, brown or blue leather strap.

The dial is distinguished by the teak pattern associated with the Aqua Terra collection. The vertical lines are reminiscent of the wooden decks on luxury boats. The applied 18 Ct gold brushed and polished indexes are coated with white Super-LumiNova and the facetted hands are crafted from 18 Ct white or red gold. Like the indexes, they are coated with white Super-LumiNova which allows ease of reading in all light conditions. The GMT hand's red arrow makes it easy to distinguish the two time zones.
At the heart of the Seamaster Aqua Terra GMT is the Co-Axial calibre 8605/8615. It is part of the family of movements OMEGA introduced in 2007 built around the first practical new watch escapement to be developed in some 250 years. The Co -Axial escapement in the OMEGA calibres is used in conjunction with a free sprung-balance and its function differs considerably from that of a conventional lever escapement with index.
The watch's rate can be adjusted by modifying the moment of inertia of the balance by means of two gold regulating micro screws embedded in the circular balance. This design avoids the disturbing effects of contact between the balance-spring and the index pins and therefore ensures that the stability of rate offered by the Co-Axial escapement is maintained over long periods of use. The result is reduced friction which means that there is almost no need for lubrication; the Co-Axial calibres have long service intervals and the Seamaster Aqua Terra GMT, which is also equipped with a silicon balance spring, is delivered with a four-year warranty.
 
The OMEGA Co-Axial calibre 8605/8615 is the first in the family to be equipped with a GMT complication. Its GMT hand has a diamond-polished red arrow, making it easy to track time in a second time zone or GMT display. Intriguingly, the GMT hand can also be used for compass orientation: when the watch is held parallel to the ground with its hour hand pointed in the direction of the sun, the GMT hand, when it is adjusted to the same time on the 24-hour GMT display, will indicate north in the northern hemisphere.

OMEGA has renewed its commitment to helping grow the game of golf around the world. This Seamaster Aqua Terra "Golf", with the distinctive green elements on its dial, fashionably identifies itself with a truly global sport.

The watch, which features a 41.50 mm brushed and polished stainless steel case and a polished bezel, has a black dial with the vertical lines that define OMEGA's popular Aqua Terra Collection. The indexes are crafted from brushed and polished 18 Ct white gold and there is a date window at 3 o'clock.

With its green transferred "Seamaster" name and the numbers on the minute track (60, 5, 10, 15, etc.), the watch recalls the verdant courses where golf's great events are contested. The central seconds hand is also distinguished with a green tip.

The Seamaster Aqua Terra "Golf" is powered by the OMEGA Co-Axial caliber 8500, the movement that, when it was introduced in 2007, signaled a revolution in mechanical watchmaking. Equipped with the first practical new watch escapement to be introduced in some 250 years, the Co-Axial movement delivers outstanding chronometric performance which will be maintained over a longer period of time than those with a traditional Swiss lever escapement.

As a result there are longer service intervals and OMEGA guarantees the timepiece for four years. The hour hand can be changed independently of the minute and seconds hands allowing travelers to adjust the time easily when they change time zones.

The Seamaster Aqua Terra "Golf" wristwatch features OMEGA's patented screw and pin stainless steel bracelet and is water resistant to 15 bar / 150 metres / 500 feet.

Álvaro Quirós was introduced to the game of golf at the age of nine by his father, who later persuaded him to focus on his golf game rather than his other passion, football. At the age of 19 Alvaro had a handicap of +1 and won a scholarship to the Joaquin Blume Center for High Performance in Madrid where the top Spanish athletes go to study. During this time he was selected for the Spanish under-21 golf team that won the European Masters title. After turning professional in 2004, he achieved his first significant win at the Morson International Pro-Am Challenge in 2006. This win was followed by the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2007, the Portugal Masters in 2008 and the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in 2009. His most recent and important victories came in the 2010 Spanish Open, and in the 2011 Omega Dubai Desert Classic - his fifth European Tour title which featured a memorable hole-in-one during the final round.

At 6'3", Quirós is the longest hitter on the European tour and has topped the driving distance category in the Genworth Financial Statistics for three consecutive years - 2007, 2008 and 2009. As a youngster, Alvaro was taken under the wing of the great player and teacher Pedro Tineo who sensed the boy's talent and devoted many hours to helping him hone is technique. Quirós is now coached by former Ryder Cup player and four-time European Tour Champion Jose Riverso, whom Alvaro credits with having the best influence on his career performance to date. When asked recently to describe his sports philosophy, forged through experiences that include many successes but also unexpected setbacks and injuries, Alvaro said, "Uno de mis objetivos en la vida es disfrutarla en todo momento aunque no sea facil. Tener exito en mi trabajo y tener buenas personas a mi alrededor. ("One of my goals in life is to enjoy every moment even when things are not easy. I naturally wish to be successful in my job and to have good people around me.")

Such a statement clearly reveals that behind this rising golf star lies an eminently approachable young man with a pleasant demeanor who is deeply grounded in family values. As he explains, "I know my father, mother and brother are always there for me and they are my platform, the center of my universe". Quirós currently resides in Cadiz near his birth town of Guadiaro. He enjoys music, spending time with friends, and is an avid sports fan with a longstanding devotion to the Atletico Madrid football team. Determined to maintain a balanced approach to his life and his sport, he says: "I would like to be remembered as a long-hitting champion with many titles, but most of all as a good and fair human being."

Concord is genuinely proud of this promising new affiliation with Álvaro Quirós, who "likes the design of Concord watches because they are very elegant while still young and fresh." He will be ably representing the brand on golf links around the world - and at various press events where he will be able to share his enthusiasm for his discipline with golf aficionados around the globe.   Both partners in this association are engaged in fields where patience and perseverance are matched by boldness and inventiveness - and this winning match between the worlds of watch-making and golfing appears set to bring some exciting results. Watch this space…

To commemorate the 2012 Games, OMEGA is launching the Seamaster 1948 Co-Axial "London 2012" Limited Edition. It is being introduced a year to the day before the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in London.

Apollo 15 was the fourth of NASA's six missions to land on the Moon. It was the first to feature a long duration stay on the lunar surface and there was a greater focus on science than there had been on previous missions. Most notably, it was the first mission where the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used.

The Apollo 15 mission began on July 26, 1971; the crew landed on the Moon four days later and they wouldn't splash down until the 7th of August. The adventure had lasted more than twelve days!

Omega commemorates a successful mission
Omega has created the Speedmaster Moonwatch "Apollo 15" 40th Anniversary Limited Edition to commemorate this important and successful mission.
It is a classic Moonwatch: it has a polished and brushed stainless steel case and bracelet, a black aluminum ring with a tachymeter scale on the bezel and a domed shatterproof hesalite crystal with O etched inside. Its three subdials are arranged in true Speedmaster Professional fashion on the black dial: the small seconds at 9 o'clock, the 12-hour counter at 6 o'clock and the 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock.
Some distinguishing features
There are also some features which distinguish the "Apollo 15" 40th Anniversary model from the classic Speedmaster Professional. This Limited Edition timepiece has a minute track in blue, white and red - the three colors of the Apollo 15 patch. There is a blue ring around the small seconds subdial; there are white and red rings around the 12-hour and 30-minute counters respectively.
The screw-in caseback is embossed with an image of the Lunar Rover and the words "APOLLO 15" and "40th ANNIVERSARY". The outer circle of the caseback is black chrome engraved with "THE FIRST WATCH WORN ON THE MOON", "JULY 30, 1971" and the limited edition number.
An iconic movement
At the heart of the Speedmaster Moonwatch "Apollo 15" 40th Anniversary Limited Edition wristwatch is the classic Omega caliber 1861, the same manual-winding chronograph that equips the legendary Speedmaster Professional.
The Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch "Apollo 15" 40th Anniversary was created in an edition limited to 1,971 pieces.

WORLDTEMPUS - 23 mai 2011

Last week, Omega impressively showed its latest Seamaster Planet Ocean models on the small island of Capri in the bay of Naples. A boat sailing around the historic island entered one of the legendary blue grottos, where a mermaid emerged from the water to hand one of the new orange Planet Ocean Chronograph to this reporter. The colorful diver's watch was not a present from a beautiful sea creature, but rather Omega's creative way to present a new watch to the press on board the chartered vessel.
This diver's watch, water-resistant to 600 meters, of the Seamaster Planet Ocean collection - which was originally launched in 2004 - is a sporty Omega. The line includes a three-hander (in both 42 and 45.5 mm case diameters) and 45.5 mm chronograph model in addition to a slightly more feminine 37.5 mm version for women: all are fitted with the latest in-house mechanical co-axial calibers 8500/8501, 8520/8521 or the new 9300 (chronograph). 

The chronograph, available in stainless steel with an orange aluminum bezel, a black ceramic bezel or in titanium with a blue ceramic bezel and Liquidmetal markers, displays the 12-hour and 60-minute chronograph totalizers on the same subdial at 3 o'clock. This is the same set-up found on the new Speedmaster Moon. All the new movements are furthermore fitted with a newly developed Si 14 silicon balance spring, which is apparently incredibly reliable: Omega offers a four-year factory guarantee on it.

No more quartz

"We produced 420,000 co-axial movements in 2010," Omega president Stephen Urquhart explained as he showed the new collection at a scenic beach club located on one of the rocks where sirens allegedly lured sailors with their seductive song.
"That is more than half our total production . Within the next three years we will fit all our watches with our own movements," he claimed, indicating the end of quartz as going forward all models will contain mechanical movements, including the women's lines. Though it was pointed out that some women would rather spend their money on a diamond bezel or a precious metal case than a mechanical movement, Urquhart was insistent that Omega "needs to be consistent."

WORLDTEMPUS - 23 December 2010

George Daniels is considered by many "the greatest living watchmaker." This extraordinary - if fictional - title is not undeserved: Daniels, now 84 years old, made all his watches by hand; he invented new and important elements to add to horology's collective knowledge; and he has passed on his acquired know-how in both writings and teachings.
The element Daniels is probably most famous for is the co-axial escapement that Omega now uses in the lion's share of its movements. Daniels celebrated this escapement not only in his own Millennium wristwatch series (completed with Roger Smith's help). It also continues to live on in Roger Smith's own handmade bespoke watches.
Smith was Daniels's only apprentice, and it is he who carries the torch of traditional English watchmaking. The visuals of the new Co-Axial Anniversary Edition, designed by both masters and manufactured in Smith's Isle of Man workshop, are based on Daniels's 1994 one-off tourbillon chronograph pocket watch. The manually wound movement is fully styled according to traditional English watchmaking: gold-plated, frosted surfaces emphasize the free-sprung balance and - naturally - the co-axial escapement. The time, date, and power reserve displays of this 35-piece limited edition housed in a 40 mm case are found on a hand-guilloche solid silver dial with 18-karat gold chapters. "Simplicity is seen as the keynote of enduring beauty," Daniels and Smith sum up.

Can you imagine a line of women's watches that recalls the most compelling design elements of the golden age of couture and combines them with the best mechanical watch movements in the world? Is this idea simply too good to be true? 

Omega can answer these questions in a word: Ladymatic.

WORLDTEMPUS - 28 October 2010

Luigi Macaluso, affectionately called Gino by those who knew him, led a multicultural life and can lay claim to having successfully resuscitated the Girard-Perregaux brand, integrating it into a group and making it a major independent player in the haute horlogerie scene.
Having been a successful rally driver and obtaining a degree in architecture - a sure sign of the Italian national's good taste - Macaluso, born in 1948, took a job with Omega's new Italian subsidiary in 1975. In 1982, he founded his own company, Tradema, and became a watch wholesaler in Italy for brands as reputed Breitling. One of the brands he sold through Tradema was Girard-Perregaux, and it wasn't long before he was offered shares in the Swiss brand. A few short years later, the entire company was proposed to him, and thus it came about that he went to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1992 to polish up a grand old name as its owner.

Macaluso had a place of residence in Switzerland's third largest French-speaking city, but he always retained an apartment in Turin and a farm in Tuscany.
Macaluso's systematic acquisition of property around the main Girard-Perregaux factory building located on Place Girardet made it possible to cleanly separate production workshops, representation space, and management offices for his group's two watch brands Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard from each other while keeping them connected by short pathways. Villa JeanRichard and its museum for tools and tooling machines is located just a few steps away from the Girard-Perregaux Museum within Villa Marguerite, and in between them the main factory and manufacturing buildings pretty much take up the rest of the block. Acquisition of suppliers for case and bracelet manufacture and the consistent quest for quality in Girard-Perregaux's own four manufacture movements combined with prestigious strategic alliances such as Ferrari and the BMW Oracle returned Girard-Perregaux to its former status. This was aided by the creation and continuation of historical delicacies such as the Three Golden Bridges Tourbillon and the Laureato line.
Macaluso's two sons (he is also survived by two daughters) joined his company close to a decade ago. Massimo (who also raced cars like his father) is currently president of JeanRichard, while Stefano (who studied architecture in Turin) became vice-president of Girard-Perregaux a few years ago.
Macaluso sold 23 percent of the Sowind Group's capital to PPR in 2008. PPR owns such prestigious brands as Gucci, Boucheron, and Bedat. Boucheron's prestigious jewelry designs are powered exclusively by Girard-Perregaux's manufacture movements.

July 15th, 1975 marked the beginning of an important chapter in space exploration. On that day the United States launched an Apollo rocket, referred to as the Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) Command Module and the Soviet Union sent Soyuz 19 into space.

Two days later a remarkable thing happened: the two spacecraft representing these former adversaries in the space race docked and the three astronauts and two cosmonauts met in the middle where they shook hands, exchanged gifts and spoke with each other as they orbited the Earth.
The ships remained docked for 44 hours after which they separated, and manoeuvred to use the Apollo to create an artificial solar eclipse which allowed the crew of the Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona. Another brief docking was made before the ships concluded their own journeys separately. The Soviets remained in space for five days altogether, the Americans for nine.
It was the first time that spacecraft built by different nations had docked and signalled an era of cooperation in space which would lead to the efforts to build a permanently occupied space station. The mission also marked the end of an era - it was the final flight of the Apollo spacecraft.
While the Apollo-Soyuz mission is best remembered for its political significance, it also resulted in some major technological achievements as neither of the spacecraft, which were completely different from each other, had been built for the purpose of docking.
The American crew was commanded by Thomas Stafford and included Vance Brand and the last of the original seven Mercury astronauts to make it into orbit, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton who had long been grounded due to a heart problem. The two-man Soviet crew included Valeri Kubasov and the first space walker, Alexei Leonov.
The ASTP Command Module splashed down on July 24th, 1975 after 217 hours, 30 minutes in space.

The Apollo era had ended. It would be six years before another American astronaut would fly in space aboard the reusable Space Shuttle. All of the Shuttle astronauts were equipped, of course, with OMEGA Speedmasters.

THE OMEGA SPEEDMASTER PROFESSIONAL APOLLO-SOYUZ "35TH ANNIVERSARY"

When astronaut Lieutenant General Thomas P. Stafford (USA) and cosmonaut Lieutenant General Alexei A. Leonov (USSR) shook hands in the docking hatch which linked their respective spacecraft, the space pioneers, along with their crews, were wearing Omega Speedmaster Professional chronographs on their wrists.

Commemorating a handshake

The 35th anniversary of their historic handshake is commemorated with the release of the Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz "35th Anniversary" chronograph in a limited edition of 1975 watches.

A meteorite dial

The dial has been created from a meteorite which survived its entry into our planet's atmosphere and the high-speed impact with the terrestrial surface. The meteorite's unusual structure is the result its very high temperature when it enters the Earth's atmosphere, followed by a period of cooling. The dial is a single piece cut from the meteorite; accordingly, because no two pieces of the meteorite are exactly alike, each watch in this limited edition is absolutely unique.

The black colour of the meteorite dial is the result of a surface oxidation process. The silvery seconds hand and chronograph counters appear in the meteorite's natural colour.
The Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz "35th Anniversary" chronograph is a fitting tribute to a pivotal moment in space exploration. A handshake in orbit between these two former space race adversaries demonstrated to everyone back on earth that it was possible to move forward in a new spirit of cooperation.

WORLDTEMPUS - 25 June 2010

I remember walking down Washington Street in downtown Boston, that city's "jewelry district," and seeing a white-dialed Breitling Premier shining under the lights in a shop. This was during my Hamilton period, and the $1,200 that they wanted for the watch was more than I could imagine spending at the time. I remember being impressed by how smoothly the chronograph pushers worked and how great the dial and case looked. I later enjoyed owning both the white and black dial versions of the Premier. I feel compelled to note that Breitling offered many interesting chronographs in the 1990s and early 2000s—such as the Spatiographe, which displays the elapsed minutes in digital format on a wheel, exactly the way most watches display the date except that it was the chronograph minutes that were displayed. The Montbrillant Eclipse and the Navitimer Twin Sixty are other models from the 1990s that are quite interesting and now rare.

One of the most iconic watches of our generation is the Chronoswiss Opus. It was seeing this watch on the cover of Wristwatch Annual in 2000 that made me buy the book. I never did buy the watch, but that copy of Wristwatch Annual, which I perused so many times that the binding fell apart, really accelerated my watch collecting by exposing me to countless new brands and models. The Opus is aptly named and the watch could serve as a fine holy grail, though—amazingly—it is not priced like most other horological hall-of-famers. Note to self: buy the Chronoswiss Opus to celebrate writing my first articles for Worldtempus.com!
Alain Silberstein offers singularly styled watches, almost always with interesting complications (like his Smileday, which allows you to display your mood with various emoticons in an aperture on the dial—long before "emoticons" was even a word). I love how he playfully blends all of the colors and uses curvy hands. The Alain Silberstein Krono Bauhaus with complete calendar was always on my radar, but, alas, never my wrist.

Finally, my own personal mother of all gaps is the IWC Portuguese Automatic Chronograph in steel (reference 3714). I have probably tried it on 50 times and never pulled the trigger. This watch with silver dial and rose gold hands and markers is the best looking watch of all time. In my formative collecting years, I found it too difficult to choose between the black dial and silver dial…so I bought neither. I've gone on to own watches much more expensive, but none more beautiful than the Portuguese. Every time I see one, its beauty gives me pause. There must be some reason I never returned to fill that gap. Maybe, just maybe, that watch is my personal Alpha and Omega.
In my estimation, it is a rare collector that has collected for any length of time and does not have similar gaps in his or her own collecting history. I invite you to look back over your own experience and spend a few minutes remembering the watches that you yearned for, but never owned. It's never too late. And if you have been collecting for a while, you may find that the watches that you regret never owning are now discontinued. This just makes filling in those old gaps more fun as you can look forward to some excellent adventures. Late-night detective work online is always fun, as are visits to local watch stores, flea markets, yard sales and maybe even travelling to watch shows: in pursuit, and hopefully conquest, of filling in those gaps. Good luck and good hunting.

Since their launch, OMEGA's Seamaster Aqua Terra watches have attracted a large, enthusiastic following. The line characterized by the distinctive "teak-concept" vertical lines on their dials has been extended with the release of the first models with an annual calendar complication.

The Aqua Terra collection is a perfect union of eye-catching design excellence and innovative 21st century watchmaking technology. The Annual Calendar models, in stainless steel or an elegant bi-colour blend of stainless steel and 18 Ct red gold, are a dramatic but logical next step in the mechanical watch revolution which has been taking place at OMEGA since the launch of the first Co-Axial calibre more than a decade ago.
The watches are powered by the OMEGA Co-Axial calibre 8601/8611, a high-precision COSC-certified chronometer which features the additional functionality of an instantaneous jump annual calendar complication. This annual calendar automatically recognizes months with 30 and 31 days and needs to be manually corrected only once a year, on March 1st.

The Aqua Terra Annual Calendar timepieces are also equipped with OMEGA's exclusive Si 14 silicon balance springs. Silicon is non-magnetic so the performance of the Si 14 balance-spring is not disturbed by exposure to magnetic objects. While the performance of mechanical watches tends to deviate over time as a result of small everyday shocks, these disturbances have very little effect on Si 14 silicon balance-springs.

Following publication of sales figures on January 20, 2010, we now present the unaudited Group key figures. This advance information will be followed by the distribution and discussion of the detailed annual report at the press conference scheduled for March 11, 2010.
•   Group gross sales of CHF 5 421 million, on comparable basis (excluding 2008 divestmentsof Sokymat and Michel) -6.3% at constant exchange rates and -8.1% in total lower than in the record year 2008.
•   Watch segment sales with a decrease at constant rates of -5.5% largely outperform Swiss Watch Federation export sales (-22.3% in 2009), gaining market shares for the Group in practically all price segments and markets.
•   Operating profit reaches CHF 903 million or 17.6% on net sales (versus 21.2% in 2008), with a very b performance in the second half-year (EBIT margin of over 20%) despite currency losses of CHF 105 million versus 2008.
•   Net income amounts to CHF 763 million, -8.9% less than in 2008, with 14.8% of net sales exactly the same as in the previous year.
•   Substantial equity of CHF 6 billion or 77.6% of total balance sheet (versus 75.3% in the prior year).
•   Dividend 2009 proposed: CHF 0.80 per registered share and CHF 4.00 per bearer share.
•   At the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors will propose reelection of its current members and in addition the election of Jean-Pierre Roth and Georges Nicolas Hayek as new Board members.
•   A good start so far in 2010, January sales representing the second-best month of January in the history of the Group, with an excellent outlook for the Group for the rest of this year.
 

Group Overview
 
In a very challenging year 2009 with a worldwide recession, the Swatch Group recorded gross sales of CHF 5 421 million, a decrease of -6.3% on a comparable basis (at constant exchange rates and excluding 2008 divestments of Sokymat and Michel) compared to the record year 2008. This performance is substantially better than the export figures published by the Swiss Watch Federation (-22.3% in 2009), which means that the Group has once again increased its market shares in practically all price segments and markets. Foreign currencies negatively impacted sales by CHF 105 million or -1.8%, mainly in the second half of 2009. The month of December 2009 showed a very positive sales trend in the watch segment (+28.8% versus December 2008), with clear signs of market normalization.
 
After a temporary setback in the first half of 2009, the Group's operating margin improved considerably in the second half year and achieved 17.6% (21.2% in 2008) for the full year. The main driving force was the watch segment, with a very convincing operating margin. Taking into account that foreign currencies as well as the gold price, an important raw material for the Group's watches, did not develop in our favor, this represents a very positive achievement. In addition, the Group preserved jobs for its employees, maintained b marketing activities and kept investment at a very high level.
 
Net income decreased by 8.9% to CHF 763 million compared to CHF 838 million in the previous year, and, at 14.8%, the net margin remained at the same level as in 2008. The Group's balance sheet is still solid, with an improved equity ratio of 77.6% as at December 31, 2009 compared to 75.3% in the previous year, and also a much higher cash position. The average return on equity was a remarkable 13.3%.
 
The Board of Directors of the Swatch Group will propose the following dividend for 2009 to the Annual General Meeting on May 12, 2010: CHF 0.80 per registered share and CHF 4.00 per bearer share. Furthermore, besides the planned reelection of the current Board members, Jean-Pierre Roth, former Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, and Georges Nicolas Hayek, Group CEO, will be proposed for election as additional Board members at the Annual General Meeting.
 
Outlook for 2010
The Board of Directors and the Executive Group Management Board are very confident of achieving further organic sales growth and improved margins in 2010. The main reasons for this positive outlook are the excellent start in 2010, increasing order entries as well as the improving economic environment and market confidence worldwide. In addition, the Group's positioning in all market segments and its broad geographical presence represent important success factors in the watch industry. The solid balance sheet and the improved capability to generate cash flow will bring the Group in an even ber position than before the financial crisis.
Omega's mission as official timekeeper at the Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver, starting at the end of this week, is one of many positive factors that will improve sales in 2010. Furthermore, the opening of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel mid 2010, during the World Exhibition in Shanghai, will represent another milestone for the Group. In order to gain further market share and strengthen its worldwide presence, the Group will also take advantage of interesting opportunities in the different markets.
 

Like the other OMEGA Boutiques, the new location features the brand's four main watch families, Speedmaster, Seamaster, Constellation and De Ville. In addition to the timepieces on which OMEGA has built its reputation since 1848, the Boutique at the airport in Geneva features OMEGA's Fine Jewellery and Fine Leather Collections as well as the new Aqua Terra Eau de Toilette pour Homme, OMEGA's first fragrance.
OMEGA will be adjacent to the Hour Passion Boutique established by its Swatch Group partner Tech-Airport, a leader in airport distribution for watches and jewellery. The Boutiques are in the Airport's Departure Transit Zone.

The OMEGA Boutique at the Geneva International Airport has a retail space of 35 square metres.
OMEGA also has boutiques in Geneva's city centre as well as in Zurich, Lucerne, Berne, and Interlaken.

 
As the OMEGA clock counting down to the start of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games has just reached the minus 100 day mark, OMEGA is releasing two special limited edition watches to commemorate the milestone. The OMEGA Seamaster Diver 300m "Vancouver 2010" Limited Edition will be produced in 41 mm and 36.25 mm versions, each in a release of 2010 numbered pieces and featuring the OMEGA Co-Axial caliber 2500.
The Seamaster Diver 300m "Vancouver 2010" Limited Edition is equipped with professional diving features: it has a unidirectional rotating bezel, a helium-escape valve and is water resistant to a depth of 300 meters. The caseback is embossed with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games logo which features "Ilanaak", the symbol of the Games. It represents the figures made of piled stones which the Canadian First Nations people created to serve as greetings to anyone moving through their territories. The logo's name, Ilanaak, was taken from the word for "friend" in Inuktitut, the name given to the variety of Inuit languages spoken in Canada. The caseback is engraved with the Limited Edition number (0000/2010).
OMEGA will be serving as Official Olympic Timekeeper for the 24th time at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and will be carrying on a legacy dating back to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The Seamaster Diver 300m "Vancouver 2010" Limited Edition watches ideally commemorate the Winter Games in Vancouver and OMEGA's long relationship with the Olympic Movement.
The striking watches feature white lacquered dials and red-anodized aluminum bezel rings. These bold contrasting colors recall the Canadian flag with its proud red maple leaf against a stark white background. The white dials are also reminiscent of the snow and ice which will play such an important role in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The watches' connection to the Games in Vancouver is further reinforced by the colored Olympic rings on the counterweight of the red-tipped, rhodium-plated chro¬nograph seconds hand. Their hands and indexes are coated with white Super-LumiNova which at night or in limited light conditions casts a soft blue reflection.

Les Ambassadeurs - Magazine No 5

In spring 2009 at Baselworld, attentive observers noted that the face of fine watchmaking was no longer uniformly circular. The vast majority of round dials was joined by a few amazing UFOs offering masterful variations on the theme of linear time read-off. From the incredible CC1 by Urwerk to Opus IX by Harry Winston and Eric Giroud, along with the splendid Meccanico dG by de Grisogono, Swiss watchmaking suddenly seemed eager to break free of its hands and circular dials in order to prove that sophisticated mechanical horology was not inextricably entwined with a cyclical perception of time.
All of which raises the fundamental question our own relationship with time.

Let's start by ignoring the issue of the nature of time. Neither scientists nor philosophers have ever been able to define it other than in reference to themselves or to a beginning and an end - the limits of which vary with each new discovery. The perception of time is a personal, cultural and historical matter. There are two major schools of thought in this area: that of time as a cyclical phenomenon, and that of linear time.
Any observation of nature spontaneously suggests a cyclical vision of time. The earth spins on its axis and around the sun with absolute regularity. Once this time has been subdivided into precise units, our entire short-term temporal world can be measured. The immutably regular cycle of seasons dictates the periods of activity and rest, of seedtime and harvest. The visible world can be summed up within this endlessly accurate and reassuring process of constant renewal.
Horology was born from this vision of the world and thus naturally adopted the circle as its fundamental element. The figure 12 that dominates all dials is at once and in turn the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. This mechanical rhythm of the hours can be extrapolated to define all the various subdivisions, providing the cadence of the movements enables such measurements.
However, when it comes to defining a perpetual calendar, things are not quite so simple. Despite watchmakers' impressive ingenuity, no existing mechanism appears capable of offering a guarantee of precision extending beyond a few hundred years without any maintenance or adjustment. Is that a question of human incompetence? Definitely not! So let's get back to cyclical time. As soon as we need to move beyond measuring the time the Earth takes to move around the Sun, we are forced to resort to an arbitrary measurement.

While the latter varies according to our culture and our religion, there is nothing at all cyclical about it. We thereby enter the world of linear time. By way of example, this article is written in the year 2009 AD, which means the year 1430 of the Hegira, or Muslim calendar, and the year 5769 of the Jewish calendar. Given the high degree of probability that the events on which these calendars were founded are not reproduced at regular intervals, this means that measurement of our long-term time is in fact linear.
Perhaps you have also noticed that combining a cyclical hour with a linear date results in a necessarily linear combination. Does that mean we must definitively conclude that the flow of time is linear and not cyclical? This is a fundamental question that has fascinated the world's greatest thinkers, from the Greek stoics through to Nietzsche, as well as Pythagoras, Kant and Schopenhauer. And none of them have come up with any conclusive answer!
Religions have enabled humankind to look beyond the units of measurements provided by the sky above them, but have also fixed a beginning and in some cases an end that restricted their horizons. Galileo and Newton pointed out the limits of these theoretical constructions, yet without finding a more global cycle that would encompass previous ones. In 1927, Monsignor Georges Edouard Lemaître provided the world with a whole new paradigm thanks to the Big Bang, which pushed the Alpha of the universe back in time by a massive 14 billion years. Other researchers subsequently came up with an Omega in the form of the Big Crunch, forecast to occur in around 50 billion years' time. All of which provides material on which to build a new linear calendar, but still no means of defining a new cycle summing up the others and anchoring our vision of the world in a lasting and reassuring reality.

Just as an ant is incapable of grasping the round nature of the earth, we will probably never know whether the cycles of our solar system are part of the cycles of our universe as a whole, and whether the cycles of our universe are themselves incorporated within other realities that elude us and always will.
Whatever our level of knowledge, our time will always be subject to a superior linear factor that we must build - a daunting enterprise on the scale of our capacities for thought, but one that is of little importance in our daily lives.
So the regular cycle of the hands on the dials of our mechanical watches will continue to reassure us for many years to come, enabling us to enjoy the illusion that life is an endless circle in which absolutely anything can happen at any moment. And we will therefore be relieved to note that the linear displays provided by contemporary horology are all founded, without exception, on a mechanical base that is quite naturally… cyclical.

Christmas has come and gone. The gifts were exchanged - maybe last night, maybe this morning, depending on your culture or your own family traditions.

And now you have 364 days before it's time to do it all again. There are only about 8,700 hours to select, buy and wrap next year's presents - less, if you do your shopping early.

And the passing of time is tracked sublimely on the Omega wristwatch she found under the tree. Each glance at the watch reminds her of the best Christmas ever and the special person who gave it to her.

She will notice more of the 525,600 minutes between this Christmas and next than usual because she can't keep her eyes off the dial. And the Omega she received this year will be counting down the days perfectly. Who should be thinking about you each time she looks at her watch ?

Omega's holiday selections
To mark all the great moments this holiday season and in the years to come, Omega has some selections for 2009 including two dramatically detailed Constellations for ladies and an eye-catching Seamaster Aqua Terra Co-Axial Chronograph for gents or for women who enjoy wearing larger watches.