Omega

BaselWorld 2016: OMEGA Seamaster Professional Diver 300M Rio 2016

 

As one of the main sponsoring partners for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, OMEGA has presented one additional commemorative watch to celebrate this global sportive competition, the new OMEGA Seamaster Professional Diver 300M Rio 2016:



Actually, the OMEGA Seamaster Professional Diver 300M is the most recent addition to a landmark lineage of famous toolwatches:

• First presented (almost) 60 years ago (in 1957), the (then) Seamaster 300 was an instant success amongst amateur and professional divers and special forces such as the UK Royal Navy
• 11 years later, the French COMEX underwater exploration firm partnered with OMEGA to achieve a diving record of 365m, again with a Seamaster 300
• 1970 saw the birth of the Seamaster 600 'PlopProf', featuring a characteristic monobloc steel case and a specially hardened glass; it became the tool of choice of Jacques Cousteau
• In 1981, Jacques Mayol, a French free diver famously known as the 'dolphin man', was first human to reach the depth of 101m, with an OMEGA Seamaster 120M (then a new reference) as timing tool
• The Seamaster Professional 300M launched in 1993, introducing the current design concept. It was also the first diving chronograph water-tight up to 300m depth. It has been a proven classic ever since
• OMEGA increasingly focussed on environmental partnerships and concequently, in 2005, developed the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M, entirely equipped with co-axial escapements
• Another such effort is the GoodPlanet cooperation established in 2011, which yielded in the 2012 award-wining namesake environmental awareness film Planet Ocean. Special models were created as well.

All of them are presented in the following collage (starting from top left to bottom right, only the Planet Ocean is positioned at bottom):

The Seamaster predates the co-axial era at OMEGA by decades. It came in Valjoux 7750-based chronograph form as well as in quartz-driven watches. The numerous James Bond 007 special editions are legendary.

The current design language with the 12-edged bezel and the characterstic bracelet was introduced in 1993. In these fast-paced times, the continuation of such a model is a real rarity. For there to be so few significant changes on the exterior certainly attests to the successful initial design. There were more changes on the inside, but I'll discuss that further, later in this article.



The watch looks surprisingly contemporary and fresh still today. The only real hint of its age might be the bracelet, which speaks the more playful construction language of a decade that passed already. Nevertheless, it is both robust and comfortable, which are attributes that count most on a tool watch.

The polished black ceramic bezel ring includes a diving scale filled with white Super-LumiNova and numerals filled with red, blue, yellow and green lacquer, all representing the colours of the Olympic rings.

 
On the black dial, you'll find a dark wave pattern that is inspired by the sidewalks of Copacabana beach. Many happy memories for me...

The pattern is flat and not sculptured, which clearly emphasises the applied OMEGA logo as well as the thick printing on the dial. Note as well the angled hands.



While we watch enthusiasts rejoice about a display back, we should not forget that the Seamaster 300M is developed as a tool watch. Thus OMEGA's decision to go with a straightforward solid back. Usually the Seamaster carries a nicely engraved styllised seahorse as namesake icon, instead in this limited model the designers opted for the Rio Olympics logo.

The logo is highly polished, and its shine is further made stronger through the fine mesh-like surface treatment. The back bezel is engraved with the edition number.

NOTE: despite the '2016' engraving on the casebook, the actual correct limitation is higher, 3016 pieces to be precise!
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2016-06-20 03:39:53

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