Omega SA
| OMEGA SA
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1848 by Louis Brandt |
| Seat | Biel / Bienne , Switzerland |
| Number of employees | approx. 2000 (2014) |
| Branch | Watch manufacture |
| Website | www.omegawatches.com |
Omega ( Omega SA ) is a Swiss watch manufacturer that produces high quality wristwatches . The company was founded in 1848 and is now a subsidiary of the Swatch Group based in Biel / Bienne .
history
The history of the Swiss watch manufacturer Omega dates back to 1848. That year, the 23-year-old Louis Brandt (1825–1879) opened a factory for the manufacture of watch parts in La Chaux-de-Fonds ( Canton of Neuchâtel ) . The watches manufactured there initially bore the brand name "Louis Brandt". After his sons Louis and César Brandt joined the company, the company was called Louis Brandt & Fils . After the founder's death, his sons relocated production to Biel in 1880 . Here they started the industrial production of watches from individual parts. As early as 1889, "Louis Brandt & Frères" employed more than 500 people who produced 100,000 watches.
In 1894 the name Omega appeared for the first time for a newly developed watch caliber, with which a pocket watch presented in the same year was named. The name Omega was intended to emphasize the exceptional quality of the new movement, because Ω is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and metaphorically stands for “perfection”. This pocket watch was of special quality and was recognized by experts at the time.
One of Omega’s early models of wristwatches from 1902 had the winding crown on the left. Since 1903, after the death of the Brandt brothers, the fortunes of the company were directed by their descendants. In the following years, SA Louis Brandt & Frère, Omega Watch Co. gained an excellent reputation with the construction of watches for special areas of use, such as sports, aviator or professional diving watches . The first catalog under the name Omega was published in 1904 with an edition of 10,000 copies. In 1925 they started working with the watch manufacturer Charles Tissot & Fils in Le Locle and in 1930 the SSIH group (Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère) was jointly founded, under which the Lemania company was added in 1932 . The companies Rayville , Lanco , Cortébert , Marc Favre , Hamilton and in 1971 also Economic Swiss Time Holding with the cheap Roskopf watches “Agon”, “Buler”, “Continental” and “Ferex” were brought together under this roof. Today Omega is part of the Swatch Group .
Brands / product lines
Omega has developed a whole range of innovative watches. The company's main models are Constellation , Seamaster , Speedmaster and De Ville . In the public eye, Omega was able to place some of its products in a highly effective way. Well-known personalities such as Michael Schumacher , George Clooney , Cindy Crawford or Nicole Kidman , who act as so-called Omega Ambassadors as ambassadors or advertising media for the brand, also contribute. Several special Speedmaster models were even dedicated to Michael Schumacher.
At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles , Omega was the official timekeeper in all Olympic disciplines for the first time. At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 , Omega became the first company to use electronic timekeeping in sports (with the Omega time recorder). Important developments in this regard were the OMEGAscope , the contact pad for timing swimmers and the Scan'O'Vision photo-finish camera . Omega was also the official timekeeper at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and 2016 in Rio .
The Omega brand is also strongly associated with space travel . One of the most famous clocks at all the likely Omega Speedmaster Professional be: For the Apollo program initiated NASA a selection process for finding a suitable clock, the decision fell on the Speedmaster Professional hand-wound, as it at that time not yet chronograph with Automatic movement . (The myth is often wrongly used in this context that a watch with automatic winding would not work in weightlessness.) The Omega Speedmaster Professional was used in several NASA projects, including the Apollo 11 mission, and was therefore the first to open watch worn on the moon. NASA has remained loyal to the Omega brand lately: In a new comparison, this time also with more modern watches, the decision was again made in favor of the Speedmaster Professional and its sister model, the Speedmaster Professional X-33.
Omega is also known as the official sponsor of the James Bond films, in which the 1995 Seamaster Professional 300 Bonds diver 's watch, Goldeneye, first featured a service watch. In Casino Royale from 2006, Bond wore a Seamaster Planet Ocean watch for the first time .
Since 2013, the company has placed a constructive focus on protection against magnetism . A new generation of movements (cal. 8508 and 8400) has components that can be exposed to magnetic fields of up to at least 15,000 Gauss without damage and which do not require an additional soft iron inner cage as was previously the case. This means that these models (Aqua Terra 15,000 Gauss and Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial ) can be manufactured with a sight glass base. In this context, Omega is also striving to tighten the previous test procedures of the Contrôle officiel suisse des chronomètres (COSC) and therefore announced at the end of 2014 that it would be introducing a new procedure with the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS).
See also
- Georges Ruedin SA , supplier of high-quality housing parts
literature
- Giulio Bolaffi (Ed.): Bolaffi Arte presenta Omega, numero speciale monografico. Turin 1979.
- Wolfgang Salm: What is the value of my Omega watch? Duisburg 1992.
- John Goldberger: Omega Watches. Damiani 2006, ISBN 978-88-89431-27-6
- Helmut Kahlert , Richard Mühe , Gisbert L. Brunner , Christian Pfeiffer-Belli: Wristwatches: 100 years of development history. Callwey, Munich 1983; 5th edition, ibid 1996, ISBN 3-7667-1241-1 , pp. 7, 12 f., 492-495 and 501.
- Anton Kreuzer : Omega watches. Kaleidoscope from a well-known Swiss brand. Klagenfurt 1990, ISBN 978-3-85378-354-2 .
- Marco Richon: Omega - a journey through time. Ebner Verlag Ulm 2007, ISBN 978-2-9700562-1-8
- Anton Kreuzer: Omega models - Augenweide wristwatch Carinthia, Klagenfurt 1994, ISBN 3-85378-418-6
Web links
- Watchtime.net - The watch portal about the milestones of Omega
- Large picture of Buzz Aldrin on the moon with a recognizable clock
- Omega website
- The history of the Omega Speedmaster
- Dive (into) Watches - Models & History of the diving watches that appeared within the Seamaster model range
- Chronocentric - Omega Zone
- Omega video over the coaxial escapement (English)
- Hélène Pasquier: Omega. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ^ Helmut Kahlert , Richard Mühe , Gisbert L. Brunner : Wristwatches: 100 years of development history . Callwey, Munich 1983; further edition 1990, ISBN 978-3-7667-0975-2 ; 5th, expanded edition, ibid. 1996, ISBN 3-7667-1241-1 , p. 12 f.