When you first glance at the new Speedmaster Chronoscope timepiece from OMEGA, it looks very different from what we are used to. The busy dial featuring a slew of snail tracks set against the design code of a Speedy is something that might require some time to get used too. Having said that, the new Speedmaster Chronoscope models are a welcome addition to OMEGA's collection of chronograph watches.

The design of the new Speedmaster Chronoscope is inspired by the brand's wristwatches from the 1940's. The rather busy dial is also reminiscent of the dial of pocketwatches found during the 1800s. The word Chronoscope (krŏn′É™-skōp′, krō′nÉ™-) noun is a combination of two traditional Greek expressions' “Chronos” meaning time and “Scope” meaning to observe. Like the name suggests, the 2021 Speedmaster Chronoscope fulfils its purpose by becoming a tool that measures accurately the duration between two points or events.

About the watch:

Available in seven different versions, the Speedmaster Chronoscope comes in a 43mm stainless steel or Omega’s proprietary warm Bronze Gold alloy. Most of the design codes of the new models are aligned to the familiar Speedmaster aesthetics. This includes a broad and polished case side chamfer, twisted lyre lugs and pillbox crown and piston pushers present on the side of the case. Differences between the two can be noticed with the presence of an anodised aluminium bezel insert that is available in blue, black or warm mahogany brown.

The dial of the Speedmaster Chronoscope is filled with detailed “snail” design tracks that display the various functions of the watch. The triple scales present at the centre of the dial offers the classic functions of a tachymeter, telemeter and pulsometer. The outermost circle of these rings is a telemeter scale that calculates the distance of an event based on the speed of sound along with the chronograph function. The next ring on the dial offers the pulsometer functions that allows the wearer to measure hart rate over elapsed time. The two final rings sitting in the middle of the dial is a continuation of the tachymeter scale present on the bezel. These additional scales allows the tracking of average speeds from 450 down to 20 units per hour. All of these functions offered on the tightly packed “snailed” rings of the dial is inspired by Chronoscope watches that were found back in the day.

Apart from these concentric circles, the rest of the dial sits pretty similar to the earlier renditions of the Speedmaster chronographs. From the rounded applied Arabic numerals, the stacked bic-compax chronograph counters to the polished leaf hands to the azurage accent ring, each aspect of the rest of the dial is classic, refined and a stark reminder of the DNA of the Speedmaster collection.

For the seven variations of the Speedmaster Chronoscope collection, the dial is also offered in four different colours; the stainless-steel models are available in a deep navy blue sunburst dial with contrasting silver counters, silver-on- silver sun0burst dial with blue counters or silver dial with black subdials and striking red and white accents. The other Bronze Gold version houses a rich and warm brown toned dial (also called “patina brown”) that is paired with Bronze Gold PVD hands and indices.

The 2021 Speedmaster Chronoscope collection is powered by the in-house Calibre 9908 manual wound chronograph movement that is a certified Master Chronometer that clocks in a robust power reserve of 60 hours.

Like the many dial options, the new models come strapped to multiple strap options. The Bronze Gold model is available in a dark brown leather strap and the stainless-steel models comes in three options of a navy blue alligator leather straps, racing-style perforated black rubber strap or a classic five-link stainless-steel bracelet. 

With a starting price of INR 6.23 lakh (approx.), the 2021 Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope series is currently available. For more details, visit the brand website here.