Omega today unleashed its new watches for 2022 spanning high innovation and design finesse. While technical prowess was personified by the new models in the Seamaster line, the latest Omega Constellation and Speedmaster watches have a wide range and are perfect for everyday wearability.
Omega’s colourful 2022 Constellations
When it comes to offerings for women in the Omega lineup, the Constellation is a collection that comes to mind first, even though the brand has the Tresor and the Ladymatic, which are nearly just as old as the Constellation (launched in 1952). It’s because the distinctiveness and elegance of the Constellation is undeniable. And amongst the new watches by Omega for 2022, the Constellation has been strengthened with colours and new materials.
Omega Constellation Aventurine
The Omega Constellation Aventurine consists of 12 new 29mm models featuring colourful aventurine stone dials, which means that no two dials are alike. The watches are in red, green, and blue dials with matching leather straps (instead of the mono-rang bracelets), and in stainless steel and 18K proprietary Sedna™ Gold or full Sedna™ Gold. The bezels and hour-makers are set with diamonds, though there are variants with the bezel set with Roman numerals. A circular date window appears at 6 o’clock, and skeletonised hands indicate time. Driving the watches are the automatic OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8700 in the steel and gold versions, and the 8701 for the all-gold models. The watches have a power reserve of 50 hours, and are water resistant to 50 metres.
The trademark gleaming body of the watch provides a further flourish to the already striking hues. The case is brushed with polished bevels as are the claws. Both the front and the caseback feature sapphire crystals – domed, scratch-resistant and anti-reflective.
Constellation 28mm
A size smaller than the Aventurine models, the Constellation 28mms offer four pastel-coloured dials - Blush Rose, Patchouli Blossom, Celestial Blue, and Green Matcha - that are cased in steel. The colours feature on the bezel too via Roman numerals that are the same hue as the dial. While cased in steel, the hour-markers are both indexes (Blush Rose and Celestial Blue) and diamonds (Patchouli Blossom and Green Matcha). The white gold hands are skeletonised.
The watches are powered by the Calibre 4061 Quartz movement. The watches are water-resistant to 30 metres, with the closed caseback is stamped with the Constellation Observatory medallion.
Constellation 41mm
The biggest new watches in the Constellation universe are part of the Constellation 41mm range. In stainless steel, stainless steel and 18K yellow gold, and stainless steel and 18K Sednaâ„¢ Gold, the watches feature colourful ceramic bezels (polished blue, black, brown) inset with Roman numerals filled with white enamel or OMEGA Ceragoldâ„¢. The dials are also of several colours - white, rhodium-grey, gradient-green and burgundy, flanked by the same coloured leather strap with rubber lining.
The Constellation 41 mm is powered by the automatic OMEGA Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8900, with a 60-hour power reserve.
The new Speedmasters
Taking inspirations from a 2013 model and of course the Moonwatch, the new watches by Omega for 2022 include Speedmasters with a new movement and watches in Moonshineâ„¢ Gold.
Speedmaster ’57 Calibre 9906
Early on in January, Omega had unveiled the Speedmaster Calibre 321, an ode to the very first Speedmaster launched in 1957, the Ref CK2915-1 in which beat the Calibre 321 (the Calibre 321 would go on to power the watches worn during the Apollo missions, including all of the six moon landings.) Now expanding the line is the Speedmaster ’57, which was first introduced in 2013.
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This lineup includes eight new stainless steel models, all powered by OMEGA’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 9906. A new manual winding movement means that the Calibre 9906 is thinner, resulting in a watch with a slimmer profile as well, 12.99mm to be precise. The watch is officially certified by METAS, and has a power reserve of 60 hours. Other movement features include a Magnetic resistance of 15,000 gauss, the OMEGA column wheel chronograph mechanism, and the Silicon ‘Si14’ balance spring. The movement has a beautiful finish of Geneva waves in arabesque.
The watches are all 40.5mm, with steel bracelets and colourful leather strap options that match the dials. The highlight of the former genre is a ‘sandwich’ black dial edition with recessed hour markers filled with vintage Super-LumiNova, while the latter has three PVD dials, in blue, green and a new varnished burgundy. The bracelets are inspired by the Apollo 11 tribute launched in 2019, and feature OMEGA’s patented comfort release adjustment system.
The dial features the central hours and minute hands, filled with white Super-LumiNova, with the central chronograph seconds hand. At 3 o’clock is the 60 minute and 12 hour counter, with the small seconds at 9 o’clock. At 6 o’clock is the date display. The case is polished and brushed, with a brushed bezel with blackened tachymeter scale (and the’Dot Over Ninety’). While the front has a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective sapphire crystal, the caseback is engraved with ‘Speedmaster ’57’ and ‘50 m/165 ft’.
Speedmaster Moonwatch Moonshineâ„¢ Gold
Moonshine™ Gold is not a new material at Omega – it was launched in 2019, and since has featured in different collections at the brand. An 18K yellow gold alloy, it is paler in colour than the traditional gold and mimics shining moonlight in a dark blue sky. It is also resistant to fading and losing lustre.
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This Moonshineâ„¢ Gold finds expression in the two new Speedmasters. There is the one with 18K Moonshineâ„¢ Gold dial with a black ceramic bezel ring and blackened subdials and indexes, and another with a PVD green coated dial and a green ceramic bezel ring. Both watches come in bracelet and rubber straps (matching the dial) options with the lunar surface texture on the back.
The Speedmaster Moonwatch Moonshine™ Gold is a three-counter chronograph, with small-seconds at 9 o’clock, a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, and a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock. Featuring ‘Moonwatch’ style hands with domed minute and central chronograph hands, the hour, minute, and subdial hands are also crafted in Moonshine™ Gold. The dial is a sun-brushed step dial, and the hour markers are filled with white Super-LumiNova.
The geometry of the case is inspired by the 4th generation Speedmaster, the first watch worn on the moon. The bezel has a OMEGA Ceragoldâ„¢ tachymeter scale with 'Dot Over Ninety' (DON). The front features a box-form, scratch-resistant, anti-reflective sapphire crystal, while the caseback is engraved in black with 'THE FIRST WATCH WORN ON THE MOON' and 'CO-AXIAL MASTER CHRONOMETER'. The watches are water-resistant to 50 metres.
The 42mm watches are powered by the METAS certified OMEGA Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861 with a 50 hours power reserve, magnetic resistance of 15,000 gauss, and a silicon ‘Si14’ balance spring.
Images: Courtesy Omega