This one’s for you, golf fans.  Yes, Omega really did create this watch to celebrate its presence in the world of golf — a new “Green” Seamaster Aqua Terra, featuring a green Seamaster notation and minute markers around the edge of the dial.  OK, it’s a very fairly subtle modification change to a basic Seamaster Aqua Terra, but I must admit it looks pretty good.  Green can be a very vibrant color, so it is probably good that Omega used it in just a few places on the dial to achieve the desired visual effect.  Omega uses orange on its Seamaster Planet Ocean watches in a similar manner.  Nothing to jump up and down about, but I would say that the new Green Seamaster Aqua Terra gives watch fans a nice new choice in this stylish but otherwise understated collection from Omega.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Co-Axial (Golf Green)

41.5mm stainless steel case, automatic mechanical Omega Co-Axial Caliber 8500 (COSC), steel bracelet,

To commemorate the London 2012 Olympic Games, Omega recently introduced the Seamaster 1948 Co-Axial “London 2012″ Limited Edition.   Omega is also the Official Timekeeper the London 2012 Games, its 25th time as official timer for the Olympics.   Aside from its beauty and timeless style, this watch has some nice historical tie-ins — the very first Omega Seamaster was launched in 1948, the last time London hosted the Olympic Games and fittingly, Omega was also responsible for the timekeeping at the 1948 Games.  The Omega Seamaster 1948 “London 2012″ price is $6,800.

OMEGA Seamaster 1948 Co-Axial “London 2012″

Limited Edition of 1,948 pieces (Individually Numbered)

39mm stainless steel case, automatic mechanical Omega caliber 2202 (rhodium plated, COSC, co-axial escapement), Small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock, Water-resistance is 120 meters; fitted on a black leather strap with matching polished buckle

The caseback is solid with yellow gold and engraved with the London 2012 Olympic logo

Let’s hear it for the Red, White and Blue…

Get a look at this beautiful new Omega Speedmaster Apollo 15 watch which pays tribute to the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission.  Apollo 15 officially landed on the moon on July 30, 1971.  This is the second watch Omega has done in tribute to the Apollo 15 mission (see FLASHBACK below).  Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission.  It was also the first mission where the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used.  This watch is highly symbolic and also very tastefully designed.  The red, white and blue elements on the dial are the same used for the mission insignia (see Apollo 15 mission patch below).  The case back has a stamped rendition of the Lunar Lander (see below).  The limited edition Speedmaster Apollo 15 watch will be hitting stores soon with a price of about $7,000.

Omega Speedmaster Apollo 15 40th Anniversary Watch

Limited Edition 1,971 pieces

Apollo 15 40th Official Insignia

Commander: David Scott  |  Command Module Pilot: Alfred Worden   | Lundar Module Pilot: James Irwin

caseback:

FLASHBACK: The Omega Speedmaster Ref 3366.51, itself also a limited-edition (though less attractive) tribute to the Apollo 15 mission was issued 5 years ago to market the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission.  See also the Omega Speedmaster Apollo 11 40th Anniversary edition and the OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz 35th anniversary watch introduced in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Omega Speedmaster Apollo 15 35th Anniversary Watch

issued 2006

Did you Know?

Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV)

The LRV allowed Apollo 15, 16 and 17 astronauts to venture further from the Lunar Module than in previous missions. Total surface traverses increased from hundreds of meters during earlier missions to tens of kilometers during Apollo 15 and 16 and just over 100 kilometers during Apollo 17.

The new Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronographs are among the best new watches to be announced for 2011.  Like the 2011 Omega Speedmaster I wrote about earlier, the new Omega Seamster Planet Ocean features Omega’s new Co-Axial Caliber 9300 movement (itself the first in-house Omega Caliber to feature a chronograph function).  I like the 45.5mm case size (smaller wrists can often wear this watch) and the orange “PloProf” (diver-style) mini-chronograph hand on the 3′oclock sub-dial is really a great touch.  As well, the watch boasts the usual Planet Ocean diver features including 600 meter water resistance rating, unidrectional rotating bezel, helium escape valve — all of the high quality divers we have come to expect from Omega.  The new Caliber 9300 chronos are available in the variations shown below, black ceramic or orange bezel insert.  Available Fall 2011.

OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean Chrono Cal.9300/9301

black bezel

OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean Chrono Cal.9300/9301

orange bezel

“Theme Shot”

While I most appreciate the new Seamaster Planet Ocean Titanium Liquidmetal that Omega unveiled at Baselworld 2011, Omega’s new Speedmaster Co-Axial Chronograph is also worth a look.  If you are wondering what is so special about this particular Speedmaster, I’ll tell you:  it is the first Speedy to have an in-house Omega Caliber with co-axial escapement, the new Omega Caliber 9300 (or Caliber 9301).  Lest you forget this important development, Omega has included a “Co-Axial Chronometer” notation on the dial at 6 o’clock, which I think is a nice touch.  The Omega Speedmaster Co-Axial Chronograph price is approx. $7,800.  Deep pockets might prefer the platinum cased model, priced around $35,000, or the 18K red gold version somewhere in between these price points.

Omega Speedmaster Co-Axial Chronograph

44.25mm steel case, Omega Caliber 9300 / Omega Caliber 9301, 100m water resistance, on black leather strap or a stainless steel bracelet

Note the somewhat modified dial layout – just two subdials instead of the classic 3-6-9 o’clock layout.  The right-side subdial has two hands in it (chronograph minutes and hours).

For a live look at the new Speedmaster Co-Axial you can turn to my watch friend RJ and his friendly blog FratelloWatches:

you can click through to Fratello for a couple more pics if interested.

For a little bit of background on the new Caliber 9300/9301, I want to turn to my fellow watch blogger and Omega expert Desmond who runs New Omega Watch Reviews (the man knows his Omega stuff!):  “Despite rumours to the contrary, the new 9300 series has been built from the bottom plate up. It is a 14 lignes column wheel movement, measuring 31.581 mm in width, and while superficially similar in appearance to the calibre 8500 series it has not been piggy-backed off this 29mm diameter movement. It does, however, feature a double barrel power system providing a reserve of sixty hours and is equipped with a tri-level co-axial escapement. The movement has a column wheel transfer and a vertical clutch which Omega developed especially for this series.”

Omega Caliber 9301

vs. the Caliber 9300, the Cal. 9301 is enhanced with a red gold bridge + decorative red gold rotor (pictured).  column wheel chronograph with silicon balance spring

Look for the new Omega Speedmaster Co-Axial Chronograph with Caliber 9300/9301 to become a mainstay in the Omega watch collection.

The new Omega Planet Ocean Titanium & Liquidmetal – 45.5mm titanium case with Liquidmetal bezel.  Movement is Omega’s Co-Axial Calibre 8500.   Rubber strap.  An absolute beauty.   Look’s like Omega is not going to let Rolex entirely steal the show this year!

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Titanium Liquidmetal

***

News from Liquidmetal^® Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: LQMT) and The Swatch Group Ltd (SIX: Uhr / Uhr N)

Frequent readers of this blog all know about the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Liquidmetal watch by now.  In fact, like many a watch, you read about it here first (back on October 2, 2009).  Then I gave you the first (and to my knowledge, the only) side-by-side review of the Seamaster Planet Ocean vs. the Seamaster Planet Ocean Liquidmetal.  Then there was the “Making of” the Seamaster PO Liquidmetal video produced by Omega. Most recently, however, was my review of the company behind the intriguing amorphous metal — Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: LQMT), based out of Rancho Santa Margarita, California.  This after Apple, Inc. made some noise about licensing the company’s technology.

Today, Swatch Group announced that have signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Liquidmetal Technologies , allowing the Swiss manufacturer to utilize the Liquidmetal alloy technology worldwide.  Within the Swatch Group, the Liquidmetal technology has been used for the first time in 2009 for the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean, and in 2010 for the Breguet Reveil Musical (yes I was the first to write about this watch, too — though at the time I did not know it utilized Liquidmetal).  The present contract will allow the Swatch Group to use the technology exclusively in their entire line of timepieces.

From the Swatch Group Press Release , it is not entirely clear if the license is exclusive to timepieces, though that’s how I read it.  That would seem congruent with earlier reports about Apple signing some sort of license for the Liquidmetal technology.  However, the Swatch license deal seems to be more significant given that it got its own press release (a joint PR, nonetheless!), whereas there was no press release from either company on the Apple news.

In any case, this seems like pretty exciting news — it definitely tells me that Swatch Group likes what it sees with Liquidmetal technology and that we can expect to see the technology used in more Swatch Group watches in the future!

Good watch, Great Cause…

The OMEGA Hour Vision Blue wristwatch is a special edition of the Hour Vision watch, part of Omega’s De Ville collection. The Hour Vision is a neat watch because the beauty of the movement is visible through the sapphire crystal case back as well as through sapphire glass apertures in the side of the watch case (see close-up photo below).  TheHour Vision Blue is also special because it is produced in support of ORBIS International’s fight against preventable blindness in developing countries (see “Did You Know” below).  I applaud OMEGA for its commitment to donate a minimum of a million dollars to ORBIS International over the next four years.  Kudos to OMEGA Ambassador Daniel Craig who is also involved in the effort.

Omega Hour Vision Blue

41 mm stainless steel case, specially designed “sun-brushed” blue dial, Co-Axial calibre 8500, 100m water resistance, comes on a black leather strap

Did you Know?

According to the World Health Organization, 45 million people worldwide are blind — yet 80 percent suffer needlessly due to lack of proper nutrition and lack of access to adequate health care.

Please read more at:  http://www.orbis.org/

The De Ville Ladymatic is back…

And it was no less than Nicole Kidman who recently unveiled the new OMEGA Ladymatic to the world at The Ritz Carlton in Beijing.  Originally launched in 1955 and continuing for the better part of a generation before disappearing, I confess that I had never heard of this model until today.  Technically part of the “De Ville” collection, it was one of the brand’s first self-winding watches to be designed especially for women and it featured the smallest automatic movement OMEGA had ever made.

A whopping 27 variations will be available….a few looks below…

Omega De Ville Ladymatic (2010 reissue)

Nicole Kidman at the launch party in Beijing

One good thing about this reissue is that the watch gets to use newer technology aka Omega’s Co-Axial Caliber 8520/8521 — not available in the 1950′s for sure!

Various options include:  34mm “wave pattern” case (red gold, yellow gold or stainless steel), bezels are polished metal or diamond-set, sapphire crystal caseback, wave pattern dials (black lacquer or mother-of-pearl), plain or diamond-set hour markers, luminous hands, on a matching bracelet or alligator strap (black or white)

So, ladies…if you are you there…what do you think of this watch?

Nice product placement score…

The first video game ever to feature an OMEGA product!  Activision, the distributor of interactive entertainment products, is working with video game developer Bizarre Creations and EON Productions in the creation of JAMES BOND 007™ : BLOOD STONE. It features the likeness and voice of Daniel Craig as James Bond.  In the game Bond will be wearing an OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean.  Nice!

Video + pics below…

James Bond 007: Blood Stone Trailer

(look close — you’ll see the watch on his wrist several times in the trailer)

The JAMES BOND 007™: BLOOD STONE video game is soon to be released for the the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC.   For more information check out  www.007.com. and http://www.bloodstonegame.com/.