Omega SA (UK: /om/; US: /ome/) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based

in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Britain's Royal Flying Corps chose Omega watches in 1917 as
its official timekeepers for its combat units, as did the American army in 1918. Omega
watches were the choice of NASA and the first watch on the Moon in 1969.[1] Omega has
been the official timekeeping device of the Olympic Games since 1932.[2] James Bond has
worn it in films since 1995; other famous Omega wearers, past and present, include John F.
Kennedy,[3] Prince William, George Clooneyand Buzz Aldrin.[4] Omega is owned by
the Swatch Group.

Contents
[hide]

1History
o 1.1Founding
o 1.2Merger
o 1.3Financial takeover
2Observatory Trials
3Movements and the coaxial escapement
4Omega watches in space exploration
o 4.1First watch on the moon
5Notable owners
6Sponsorship, product placement, advertising, and sport
o 6.1NCIS
o 6.2Need For Speed
o 6.3Kojak
o 6.4James Bond
o 6.5Sports sponsorship
7Watch models
o 7.1For men
o 7.2For women
8See also
9References
10External links

History[edit]
Founding[edit]
The workbench of Louis Brandt with a photograph of the founder.

Omega Cal. 267, 1957/58

Omega Constellation - 18k rosegold - 1958

Omega medical chronograph with outer pulsations track, ca. 1951

Omega Seamaster De Ville, an early "waterproof" watch, with automatic movement and date, in 14k
gold

Omega Genve Cal. 613

The forerunner of Omega, La Generale Watch Co, was founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds,
Switzerland in 1848[5] by Louis Brandt, who assembled key-wound precision pocket watches
from parts supplied by local craftsmen. He sold his watches from Italy to Scandinavia by way
of England, his chief market. In 1894, his two sons Louis-Paul and Csar developed a
revolutionary in-house manufacturing and total production control system that allowed
component parts to be interchangeable. Watches developed with these techniques were
marketed under the Omega brand of La Generale Watch Co. By 1903 the success of the
Omega brand led to La Generale Watch Co to spin off the Omega brand as its own
company, and the Omega Watch Co was officially founded in 1903.
Merger[edit]
Louis-Paul and Csar Brandt both died in 1903, leaving one of Switzerland's largest watch
companies with 240,000 watches produced annually and employing 800 people in the
hands of four young people, the oldest of whom, Paul-Emile Brandt, was not yet 24.
Brandt was the great architect and builder of Omega.[6] His influence would be felt over the
next half-century. The economic difficulties brought on by the First World War would lead him
to work actively from 1925 toward the union of Omega and Tissot, then to their merger in
1930 into the group SSIH, Geneva.
Under Brandt's leadership and Joseph Reiser's from 1955, the SSIH Group continued to
grow and multiply, absorbing or creating some fifty companies,
including Lanco and Lemania, manufacturer of the most famous
Omega chronograph movements. By the 1970s, SSIH had become Switzerland's number
one producer of finished watches and number three in the world. Up to this time, the Omega
brand outsold Rolex, its main Swiss rival in the luxury watch segment, although Rolex
watches sold at a higher price point. Around this time it was viewed as Rolex versus Omega
in the competition for the "King of Swiss Watch brands". Omega watches tended to be more
revolutionary and more professional focused, while Rolex watches were more evolutionary
and famous for their mechanical pieces and brand.[7][8][9][10]
While Omega and Rolex had dominated in the pre-quartz era, this changed in the 1970s.
That was when Japanese watch manufacturers such as Seikoand Citizen rose to dominance
due to their pioneering of quartz movement. In response, Rolex continued concentrating on
its expensive mechanical chronometers where its expertise lay (though it did have some
experimentation in quartz), while Omega tried to compete with the Japanese in the quartz
watch market with Swiss made quartz movements.[8][11]
Financial takeover[edit]
Weakened by the severe monetary crisis and recession of 1975 to 1980, SSIH was bailed
out by the banks in 1981. During this period, Seiko expressed interest in acquiring Omega,
but nothing came out of the talks.
Switzerland's other watch making giant Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie
AG (ASUAG - supplier of a large range of Swiss movements and watch assemblers) was in
economic difficulty. It was the principal manufacturer of bauche (unfinished movements)
and owner, through their sub-holding company General Watch Co (GWC), of various other
Swiss watch brands including Longines, Rado, Certina, Hamilton Watch and Mido.
After drastic financial restructuring, the R&D departments of ASUAG and SSIH merged
production operations at the ETA complex in Granges. The two companies completely
merged forming ASUAG-SSIH, a holding company, in 1983.
Two years later this holding company was taken over by a group of private investors led by
Nicolas Hayek. Renamed SMH, Socit de Microlectronique et d'Horlogerie, this new group
over the next decade proceeded to become one of the top watch producers in the world.[12] In
1998 it became the Swatch Group, which now manufactures Omega and other brands such
as Blancpain, Swatch, and Breguet.
Omega's brand experienced a resurgence with advertisement that focused on product
placement strategies, such as in the James Bond 007 films; the character had previously
worn a Rolex Submariner but switched to the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M
with GoldenEye (1995) and has stayed with the latter ever since until swapping it for the
Omega Planet Ocean and Aqua Terra. Omega also adopted many elements of Rolex's
business model (i.e. premium pricing, tighter controls of dealer pricing, increasing
advertising, etc.) which was successful in increasing Omega's market share and name
recognition to become more of a direct competitor to Rolex.[8][13][14][15]

Observatory Trials[edit]
Observatory trials focused on the science of Chronometry and the ability to make
chronometers measure time precisely. Only Patek Philippe and Omega participated every
year in the trials. Omega's performances at these competitions garnered the company a
reputation of precision and innovation.[16]
For more than a decade (1958 1969), Omega was the largest manufacturer of COSC
chronometers. Omega developed the slogan "Omega Exact time for life" in 1931 based on
historical performance at the Observatory trials. Omega's early prowess in designing and
regulating timing movements was made possible by the company's incorporation of new
chronometric innovations.[16]
Important reference dates for the Omega precision records: [16]

1894: Creation of the famous 19 caliber named Omega. The company is renamed after
this famous caliber in 1903[17] from 'Louis Brandt et Frres'. Omega participates for the
first time at observatory trials in Neuenburg (French: Neuchtel). Albert Willemin, the first
"regleur de prcision" at Omega, regulated the movement.
1911: Albert Willemin leaves Omega and is replaced by Werner-A. Dubois.
1918: Werner-A. Dubois leaves Omega (he joins Paul Ditisheim) and is replaced by Carl
Billeter.
1919: 1st Prize at observatory trials in Neuenburg with a 21 caliber. This caliber was
slightly modified to become the famous Cal. 47.7 later.
1920: Gottlob Ith replaces Carl Billeter.
1922: Omega participates for the first time at observatory trials in Kew-Teddington
(achieved 3rd place).
1925: 1st place at observatory trials in Kew-Teddington with a Cal. 47.7 (95.9 of 100
points ex aequo with Ulysse Nardin); Gottlob Ith regulated the movement.
1929: Alfred Jaccard joined Omega.