Going for Gold With the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Master Chronometer Collection

By Adrienne Faurote August 3, 2016

Unless you live on Planet Mars you know that Omega is ready to celebrate its 27^th participation as Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games; Rio 2016 is scheduled to start in just 2 days’ time, from August 5 – 21.

Whetting our appetites in different cities around the world, the Swiss luxury watch brand has been giving us an early taste of the Games with exclusive exhibitions that retrace Olympic history, while at the same time presenting the latest Seamaster Planet Ocean Collection. First launched in 2005, the 2016 collection sees some major changes, inside and out. Let’s have a look:

For the first time, all Planet Ocean 600M watches have become Master Chronometers, equipped with new self-winding movements that have passed the 8 tests necessary to qualify for METAS certification.

On the outside, new case sizes, innovative bezels, fresh dial designs and contemporary and exclusive Omega materials and technologies all work together to make the timepieces of this new collection as alluring as they are reliable.

All the models shown here are water resistant to 600 meters / 2,000 feet and resistant to magnetic fields up to 15,000 gauss, all have screw-in transparent casebacks, helium escape valves at 10 o’clock, domed scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides, feature new Arabic numerals on the ceramic dials and bezels, and wear a new transferred minutes track on the dial. Applied indexes coated with white Super-LumiNova emit a blue light in the dark, while the minute hand and dot on the diving bezel glow green. The ceramic bezels are enhanced by Liquidmetal® or Ceragold™ numbers and scaling.

And if all that is not enough, here are five timepieces with more surprises; the first one is for ladies:

If you like chocolate (and even if you don’t), you’re going to love this version of the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M 39.5 Master Chronometer for Ladies – one of the first ladies’ timepieces equipped with a METAS certified movement, housing the new calibre 8801 with a power reserve of 55 hours. And used for the first time in the Planet Ocean collection, the 39.5mm case, hands, indexes, oscillating mass, and foldover clasp on the strap are in 18K Sedna™ gold, perfectly complementing that gorgeous dial and bezel in chocolate brown ceramic. Date at 3 o’clock. A brown leather strap with a rubber underside completes the total wearing comfort. Priced at 18,700€. Also exists in steel and Sedna™ gold, or steel and diamonds, with dials and bezels in polished white or black ceramic.

Equipped with the OMEGA Master Chronometer 9900, the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M 45.5mm Master Chronometer Chronograph comes with a variety of cases including steel, 18K Sedna™ gold and steel, or Grade 5 titanium, with polished deep blue or black ceramic dial and unidirectional rotating divers’ bezel. These versions show an 18K Sedna™ gold and stainless steel case with bi-colour steel and 18K Sedna™ gold bracelet, or steel with leather strap with rubber lining. Central hour, minute and chronograph seconds hands and small seconds subdial at 9 o’clock are completed with 60-minute and 12-hour counters on the same dial at 3 o’clock, allowing for intuitive reading of the elapsed time. Date at 6 o’clock. Power reserve of 60 hours. Priced at 14,500€ for the bicolour Sedna gold and steel model; 7,400€ for the steel model with blue leather strap.

The Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M 43.5mm Master Chronometer Auto presents another first, this time on the unidirectional rotating bezel, where rubber has been blended with ceramic, with orange rubber covering the first 15 minutes. The numbers and scales on the bezel, crafted with Liquidmetal®, ensure that the diving and minute scales stand out boldly. The stainless steel model shown here is complemented with a black leather strap with black and orange rubber underside. Equipped with the Master Chronometer 8900 with 60 hours of power reserve. Date at 3 o’clock. 5,700€ for the steel model with black strap. Titanium version on rubber strap priced at 7,200€.

And here is yet another first with the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M 43.5mm Master Chronometer GMT, that features the world’s first polished bi-directional rotating bi-ceramic black and white bezel ring that separates night from day with numerals and scaling in contrasting colours. The stainless steel case is enhanced with a black leather strap with rubber lining, and foldover clasp in stainless steel. Equipped with the Master Chronometer 8906 with a power reserve of 60 hours. Date at 3 o’clock. Priced at 7,000€.

Our last timepiece, the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Master Chronometer GMT 45.5mm “Deep Black” is considered as a 4 piece standalone collection, presenting another first in the Planet Ocean collection: a single block of black ceramic forms the case body of each watch. On the Black and 18K Sedna™ gold models, the ceramic cases and dials have been polished for a glossy effect, with unidirectional bezels in black ceramic. Blue and red bezel versions are also available; their black ceramic bezels have coloured rubber blended into the ceramic to highlight the first 15 minutes. Combining a GMT model with a diving watch, the Deep Black collection is equipped with the OMEGA Master Chronometer calibre 8906. Priced at 13,900€ for the black ceramic Sedna gold model.