A blonde mermaid emerges from the azure blue waters of a grotto near the tiny Italian island of Capri. She surfaces in front of a small select group of watch connoisseurs keenly watching her from aboard a yacht.
In her hand she bears the new look Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean. This is the watch that has been held in high regard for their professional divers’ features, their style and their innovative Co-Axial technology since they were introduced in 2005.
She hands each lucky reporter an Omega Seamaster. It’s the official unveiling of Omega’s newly upgraded collection and now every Planet Ocean stands ready for underwater adventure equipped with unidirectional rotating bezels, helium escape valves and water resistance to 600 metres.
Hello new line-up
The new line-up 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 calibres 8500/8501, 8520/8521 or the new 9300 (chronograph).
The combination of the in-house Co-Axial movements and the silicon balance springs that equip each watch in the new Seamaster Planet Ocean collection means that the watches are so stable and reliable that Omega offers them with a full four-year warranty.
Goodbye quartz
Omega president Stephen Urquhart explained that last year they produced 420,000 co-axial movements, which is more than half their total production of a total of 700,000 watches.
Within the next three years Omega will fit all its watches with their own in-house movements indicating the end of quartz. In future all models will contain mechanical movements, including the women’s lines. Urquhart explained this decision as a need to be consistent.
New pricing
What Urquhart did not stress is that this move will see Omega’s pricing increase as well. However this is possibly a strategic decision to move up to a higher market segment because the market with the highest growth in Swiss horology is for watches with a US$21,000 + price tag where as it was previously US$3,500 and US$10,500 only ten years ago.
The entry level price for the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean collection today (with mechanical, co-axial, manufacture Calibre 8500) is approximately US$6,460 on a strap. The former entry-level model, which did not include a manufacture movement, had a retail price of around US$4,600.
See the video of the event
