Omega Planet Ocean GMT "GoodPlanet" Review

Contemporary Omega watches have been “close but no cigar” for me. The development of in-house manufacture calibers like the 8500 automatics and 9300 chronographs, now featuring coaxial escapements with silicon balances, appeals a lot to me. But there has always been that “but” that has kept me away: the case of the DeVille Hour Vision feels like a gimmick; the vertical stripe textured pattern on the dials of the Seamaster Aqua Terra collection don’t sing to me; and the 42 mm Seamaster Planet Ocean feels too small and the 45 mm PO feels too large for me.

Well, wouldn’t you know! Omega has recently released the Planet Ocean GMT “GoodPlanet” and the case size splits the difference between the two existing PO models, and it is perfect on my wrist!


The stainless steel case is 43.5 mm in diameter, and while thicker than the standard 8500-based Planet Ocean models, it is less thick that the Planet Ocean Chronograph.


I like that the steel gets partnered with the blue dial and blue bezel, rather than the titanium of the Professional diver models, keeping the retail value reasonable. The satin finish of most of the case and bracelet is set off with just a few polished surfaces (Love the lugs!) to make it interesting. It doesn’t hurt that I have always liked blue-dialed watches.


The bezel is ceramic, as one would expect now from Omega, and for this GMT it will rotate in both directions, rather than only counterclockwise as in the Professional models. The orange numbers stand out nicely against the blue background, and the orange home time hand makes reading information off the watch easy.

Omega puts the nicest decorative finish on their manufacture movements compared with any of the other industrially produced movement makers (ETA and Rolex).


But more than the look of the movement, I like the technology employed. While I’m a fan of George Daniels, I’m never going to be adding one of his watches to my collection, so I’ll have to get the glow of his legacy of inventing the coaxial escapement via an Omega watch. Omega designates the GMT version of their 8500 movement the 8605, and it packs the same technical punch, with twin barrels, a 60 hour power reserve, efficient bi-direction winding of the rotor, the “time zone” quick setting of the hour hand when traveling to different zones (also taking the date back if going east over the international date line), and really good timekeeping.


The partnership with the GoodPlanet Foundation, which perserves mangroves, sea grasses, and coral reefs in the oceans of Southeast Asia, is one I support, though this watch is a winner in and of itself. That it comes with a special bamboo box is nice. I’m sure Omega will be coming out with a more conventional black dial/black bezel version in due time, but make mine blue regardless!

Bill

This message has been edited by WHL on 2013-06-30 20:19:25 This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2013-07-01 20:45:36