Omega

From La Chaux-de-Fonds to Biel

Louis Brandt was 23 when he set up shop in the family house in La Chaux-de-Fonds, high in the Swiss Jura. By 1880 the business, now Louis Brandt & Fils, had outgrown the town and moved to larger premises in Biel/Bienne, where its address on Rue Jakob-Stämpfli is still Omega’s home.^1, 2

In 1930 Omega and Tissot merged to form SSIH, which went on to add other companies, among them the movement maker Lemania and later Blancpain. By the late 1970s recession and cheap quartz watches from Asia had driven SSIH, and the movement maker ASUAG, close to insolvency; the two were merged in the early 1980s into the company that became the Swatch Group.^{7, 8, 9, 10}

Racing, the Olympics and the Moon

Omega has timed the Olympic Games since 1932. Its Seamaster line began in 1948, and since 1995 James Bond has worn a Seamaster on film.^3, 9, 12

The Speedmaster was launched in 1957 as a sports and racing chronograph. Wally Schirra wore his own on a Mercury flight in 1962, and in 1965 NASA qualified it for its crewed missions; it flew on Gemini 3 three weeks later. On July 21, 1969, a Speedmaster went to the Moon’s surface with Apollo 11, and NASA astronauts wore it on every Moon landing.^3, 4, 5

Precision

Omega’s recent work has centred on precision and its certification. In 1999 it put the Co-Axial escapement, designed by the English watchmaker George Daniels, into series production, and in 2015 it introduced Master Chronometer certification: the movement is certified to the chronometer standard ISO 3159, and the cased watch then passes eight further tests set by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology, METAS, including exposure to 15,000 gauss.^3, 9, 13

Where Omega leads

• Developed · , TechnologyWater resistance

  Omega dates its Marine, a double case sealed with cork, to 1932.^16, 17

• Owned by · , GroupThe Swatch Group

  Omega and Tissot formed SSIH in 1930, one of the two companies merged in 1983 into what became the Swatch Group.^7, 8, 9

• Formerly owned by · , GroupSSIH

  Omega was one of the two founders of SSIH in 1930 and belonged to it until the merger of 1983.^{7, 18, 19}

• Based in · , PlaceBiel/Bienne

  Omega has been in Biel since 1880; its home is at 96 Rue Jakob-Stämpfli.^2, 19

• Based in · , PlaceThe Jura Arc

  Omega began in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848 and has been in Biel/Bienne since 1880.^1, 2

• Used by · , TechnologyThe quartz watch

  Omega was among the Swiss brands that sold the Beta 21 quartz watch in 1970.^20, 21

• Used · , TechnologyThe co-axial escapement

  Omega introduced the escapement on 12 April 1999 and has made it in series since.^{22, 23, 24}

• Worked with · , CompanySwatch

  The Bioceramic MoonSwatch of 2022, modelled on the Speedmaster, was made by Swatch with Omega.^7, 9

• Part of · , HistoryThe mechanical revival and the independents

  The firm that put the co-axial escapement into series production.^22, 24

• Part of · , TraditionChronometry and certification

  Omega says it introduced METAS’s Master Chronometer tests of the finished watch in 2015.¹³

• Part of · , TraditionDive watches

  Where Omega’s Marine of 1932 fits in the debate over which diving watch came before the rest.^17, 25

• Part of · , TraditionTool-watch engineering

  Omega says its Master Chronometer tests expose each movement and cased watch to a field of 15,000 gauss.¹³

• Part of · , EventThe quartz crisis

  Omega was a founding brand of SSIH, one of the two Swiss groups the crisis nearly ruined.^7, 8

• See also · , CompanyBlancpain

  Blancpain joined Omega’s group SSIH in 1961 and became a centre of movement production for it.^10, 26

• See also · , PlaceLa Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle

  Louis Brandt opened an établissage counting-house in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the business that became Omega.^19, 27

• See also · , PlaceNeuchâtel

  The Historical Dictionary records that Omega took part in the CEH's quartz work from 1962.¹⁹

• See also · , EventThe pandemic watch boom and correction

  The MoonSwatch carried Omega’s name, and Fratello reports the Speedmaster’s list price rising from €6,100 to €7,100 in 2021–22.^28, 29

Elsewhere in Watch Vault

• Current coverage

  Stories that name Omega, newest first (opens in a new tab), in Watch Vault Media.

• References

  Omega references from the maker’s own pages (opens in a new tab), in the Watch Vault Archive Reference Directory.