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Omega, Miami, And A Whole Bunch Of New Watches

Published on Mon, 14 Mar 2022 11:00:00 +0000

We're back from Miami with plenty to talk about.

Synopsis

James Stacy hosts fellow Hodinkee colleagues Nick Marino and Danny Milton to discuss Omega's latest watch releases, fresh from a press trip to Miami for "Omega Days." The conversation centers on several key announcements, including new Speedmaster models in moonshine gold (available in champagne and green dial variants), the impressive Ultra Deep dive watch capable of 6,000-meter water resistance, colorful new Aqua Terra models in 34mm and 38mm sizes, a striking green Seamaster Diver 300M, and an updated Speedmaster '57 in a more wearable size.

The hosts discuss Omega's technical achievements, particularly the development of proprietary "O-Megasteel" for the Ultra Deep to handle extreme pressure, and the brand's commitment to high-end finishing across their entire range. They praise Omega's use of METAS-certified movements even in entry-level sizes and appreciate the quality of their bracelets and rubber straps. The team debates the wearability of each piece, with the massive Ultra Deep (45.5mm wide, 18.12mm thick) being acknowledged as a showcase of engineering prowess rather than practical daily wear, while pieces like the 34mm Aqua Terra and green Seamaster emerge as favorites for actual ownership.

Throughout the discussion, the hosts appreciate Omega's strategy of holding their own independent launch event separate from Watches and Wonders, allowing their announcements to receive undivided attention. They acknowledge some competitive parallels to Rolex models but note that Omega differentiates itself through technical innovation, proprietary materials, finishing quality, and relatively accessible pricing. The conversation concludes with each host selecting their favorite piece from the collection, with the green Seamaster and moonshine gold Speedmaster emerging as top choices.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy Hey, it's me, James Stacy, and today I'm joined by Nick and Danny for a chat about the latest new models from Omega. Nick and I are fresh back from a press trip to Miami so that we could see and go hands-on with all of the new stuff, and that's everything from the ultra deep to new aquatera's gold speedies and, a bunch more. And hey, my Miami tan is fading at a record pace, so let's get to it. Okay, right from the top I do think some disclosure is warranted as the Hodinky shop is an authorized dealer of Omega and will most certainly be carrying a selection of the watches discussed in today's episode. That being said, as always, we maintain and enjoy complete editorial independence. With that out of the way, Nick, Danny, thanks so much for being on the show. You guys ready to talk some Omega? Let's do it, James. Wow. Same wavelength there, Mr. Marino. That's how ready we are, bro. So we've got uh it's a little bit of a later show. Uh Nick and I are on what we'll call a modified schedule because we were in Miami for the earlier part of this week. Uh this episode will come out on Monday, so uh uh last week anyone who follows the site will notice a bunch of new exciting stuff from Omega got posted. And that's because they kind of do their own show now. They call it Omega Days. I think they've been doing it since twenty twenty, maybe even twenty nineteen. But the swatch group for US moved to Miami. So that's now where they do these big things. And so instead of doing a watches and wonders or or anything like that, they do their own. And that's what Nick and I just got back from. We had a couple of days to see the new pieces and take pictures and and the rest of it. And and the interesting thing, I didn't actually know this, Nick, maybe you did, but when we were sitting there at the kind of the one of the main presentations, they re I realized that they were saying that they did the exact same sort of press junket in four locations, all timed at the same time. I didn't know they were doing that either, but it's clearly a strategy on Omega's part to differentiate themselves from the pack. So here we are. Well it's big thing because I think you you have a huge watch company, like one of the biggest watch companies in the world, and for years they've shared their news in the news cycle that's the most saturated and busy and kind of like the heaviest traffic that happens in the industry. And by by doing this a couple weeks earlier on their own, they they kind of get everyone's attention. And thankfully they didn't waste anybody's attention because they launched a a pretty wide spread of stuff. There's a little bit of something from every little corner of Omega. Any anything stand out for you guys? Well I just want
Danny Milton to say first it was raining and snowing and all kinds of cold, wet things uh in New York. So, you know, thanks for the invite to Miami guys. Really, really appreciate it over here. Ye
James Stacy ah, for sure, for sure, for sure. No, it was nice. The w the weather down there was amazing. Obviously, it's it's Miami. It's great. It looked great. You guys look extra tan. Mmm-hm. Um but I will say for me, I think it's the obvious one. It's the moonshine gold speedmaster. Okay, we can start there because we we have published the the hands-on for that, which uh that was the one that kind of like knocked my socks off. I'm not crazy about chronographs like in general. They're not the first thing my brain goes to for a watch that I would want to own. But when it's done right, they just hit something really special. And for me, a precious metal speedmaster is like pretty sweet. And then to see it finally, because they we've seen in the past, we've seen the Sedna gold, which is their rose gold or red gold version, and then recently we saw the canopy gold, which is their proprietary in-house. This will be a theme, you'll notice they're doing a lot of their own metals, right? And this is something that's been building for years. And now uh we'll get to this watch in a moment, but they are now doing their own steel as well, which is um a pretty impressive feat to take on for a brand of any size, especially brand that produces this many steel watches. So being interested to see where that goes. But for these speedies, bracelet or rubber, uh, they're doing a kind of a champagne gold with a black sub-dial, so like a panda or the green. I couldn't get enough of these. Super fun. I love the impracticality of it. To me, the more impractical the watch, a better. I'm sort of the anti-tool watch point of view on on this, I guess. I guess the way I approach watches in general is that the whole thing is unnecessary. Yeah. So let's take its unnecessariness to its logical conclusion and make something that's just fun, that's just beautiful, that's just provocative, that's just, you know, that that it exists for its own sake. You made a point in your hands on, James, that there's no performance value in this versus the same piece in gold. It's gold because you wanna wear gold. Like to me, that is sufficient. Right. Again, back to the alloys. It's a moonshine gold. So we've we've seen the other two versions. Now we have the yellow gold. For me, I always I loved the one that they showed in 2019, the commemorative version of the commemorative version of the Apollo 11 watch. So the 50th anniversary Apollo 11 one, which had the black Onyx dial furniture and the gold dial and all of those are knockout watches, but this is somehow feels like more speed mastery, especially the panda. And then the the you know the bracelet with the upgraded clasp and then the option of the rubber really kind of seals the deal. I think there's there's a style there and it's still a speedy and it's the same size and it's got a 3861 now. Yeah, I I uh I dig these a lot. Danny, you uh green or gold? Gold
Danny Milton . Gold all day. And it's because of the legibility. I think the one thing that that got me with the um sedna gold for me, loving And you know, that's not what I want in a watch anytime. Um, and I think that the green dial tracks a little more with the aesthetic vibe of that watch in the sense that it's a very dark green. There's very low contrast. And I love that they went with a classic champagne with contrasting black subsidiary dials, which is just that's easy to read. And it kind of um it feels a little bit like a modern interpretation of the the hyperlimited 50th anniversary um moonwatch, the one that was famously gifted to the Apollo astronauts, the one that President Nixon also famously turned down. I've I've so that's sort of the dream speedmaster, and this is about as close as you get to that in a regular production. Yeah
James Stacy , aside from that that one that they put out in twenty nineteen, which was also sold immediately gone. Everybody loves them. Mere Immortals aren't getting that watch. A gold speedy's just a fun thing. James, I don't know if this, but Reynold, the sort of big boss at Omega, was wearing a beautiful jacket and tie, fully dressed up for his big day, and he had this gold speed master on the rubber strap with his jacket and tie. That was a surprise to me to see that he went with the rubber strap on, but it looked absolutely fabulous. Yeah, I'm always interested to see what uh CEOs will decide to wear on launch day because they have toy pick. The got to pick a kid. Which one's my favorite, right? And I I absolutely agree with the direction he he selected, but you I wouldn't have been surprised to see him in the Aquatera or the new 57. Like that they had a handful of stuff that kind of feels pretty strongly in his zone. But yeah, the the the full suit, you know, he was coming in z via zoom from uh Switzerland and yeah, he's always well dressed, uh very stylish guy. And and then he just locked it in with that watch. And it's one of those times where like you get used to what zooms look like. I'm looking at it now. The resolution comes in and out. They had a beautiful setup with a huge screen. And it felt a little bit bigger than even having Reynold in the room. Uh it was, but you could see the watch. on full display To clarify, I wasn't surprised that he chose the gold speedy. I was surprised that he chose the rubber strap. And I think it's a testament to the strap quality, which to me is sort of a little bit of a secret weapon of Omegas right now. The uh when they're not on bracelets, when they are on straps, whether it's you know rubber or some type of NATO, their stuff's just better than most. Yeah, they do make a solid rubber strap. Yeah. You know, it doesn't feel like it just came off a dive boat. There there was there's a weird sort of elegance and pliability to that rubber that's uh it's closer to leather, at least optically, and also in the hand than I think you might expect. Yeah, and Nick for you, green or or gold for the dial? 'Cause I still can't decide. Oh gold. I mean gold. Yeah. It's just I think you go all the way in. You risk model it Yeah, a commenter um very accurately said the watch looks a little too big. two and um I start getting nervous around thirty eight around thirty eight so um I'm a I'm no one ever accused me of being a large man. But hell I'd wear it anyway. It's great it's great watch. Yeah. The other thing people should keep in mind is when you see a a shot from a press trip or something and it's on a bracelet, that bracelet's not sized. I literally had like balled up a little glove and crammed it in behind Nick's wrist and he's just doing his best to make sure it looks straight to the camera. It doesn't look right on anyone's wrist, and I'm not sure the size would have made a big difference. You know, the speedies, especially with the recent updates, the updates that we saw when they went to the 3861 are pretty wearable. You know, that's a little over 13 millimeters. It's 42 wide, but some of that's's case, some of it bezel, and then it's got a nice big dial. So I think, yeah, I think it is one of those watches where even people who might start to doubt where where they're gonna land above thirty eight, uh, it can work. I didn't think it looked too big. Whoever it was that said that, if you thought that that was big, um wait till you see the photos of me wearing wearing the oh yeah. Let's go to the next watch. Wearing the Sea Master Planet Ocean Ultra Deep, which is a a truly gigantic watch. Yeah. Yeah. So let's let's make the jump to that. Because that's probably the one that most people I don't know if it's the one that people will be thinking about in say a year from now from the releases that came out this time, but it's the one that had the most kind of buzz behind it because it is in a few different ways a really crazy thing to have come to market, period. So they make two versions of it, and they're actually different sizes in terms of lug to lug. So there's a titanium version that's very similar to the concept watch that Victor Vescovo strapped to a submarine and then took down, you know, to the bottom of the Marianas trench back in 2019. And so they've commercialized that design. And I I think it's a gorgeous watch, but it is in no way. It's half the time when it's when I ri write about a forty three, forty four millimeter watch, I might go, Oh, you'd be surprised. It wears a little smaller than you. No. No, no, no. This one wears every millimeter of of what they tell you. So it's they're forty five five wide, which is a normal size for planet oceans. And then it's eighteen point one two millimeters thick, which is very thick. And then keep in mind this thing has channel lugs, they call them mantle lugs. They don't actually close all the way. But you have to wear it with a NATO. So you're adding the thickness of the strap as well. They're offering it on a recycled NATO with a black and blue sort of colorway, which matches the watch really well. And then there's a steel version, uh, which is a little shorter lug to lug, it's like about 52 millimeters lug to lug, but otherwise the dimensions are the same. And the big things here is one, it's a huge watch. It's based on something that they've worked on before, this watch, the original ultra deep concept. But then it's six thousand meters. It's twenty thousand feet. The other big dive watch in the room would be the Rolex deep sea, which is thirty, nine hundred meters. So think about that. If you've ever had a deep sea on, that's a big watch, right? And and to g to take it another, you know, 2100 meters is not insignificant. There's a lot of dive watches that don't come anywhere near 2,000 meters. And we're just stacking it on top. I think this watch really is like a testament to how far Omega has come in the last decade in terms of being the leader in technology in high end watchmaking. Like maybe maybe if you get to a Richard Mill or or or something very high Group of four z something very high-end, you'll get into a different type of watchmaking. But I mean like the applied the application of all sorts of different technologies and materials to take the boundaries a little further. Is this their most commercial planet ocean? No. Is it really cool that they decided to make this? It took them years and years. They ended up making a new steel because three sixteen L isn't enough for this watch. It would the watch would have had to be even bigger to have enough steel to stand up to um seven point five tons of pressure on the crystal when they pressure test it, 'cause it's ISO certified in house by metas. They had to make a machine capable of doing of making that much pressure. And then if you know the sixty four twenty five, you have to overtest. So if you claim 6,000 meters, you have to take it to seven uh 7500. Who's wearing this, J
Danny Milton ames, in your mind? Oh, I it's it's it for big dive watch guys. Okay. So basically, what you think do you think you might see I don't know next time you're in Miami walking around South Beach. Is there gonna be some somebody walking around with this like a football player? Ye
James Stacy ah. A Schwarzenegger, a J Jason Heaton loves it. Johnny Lieberman, he was on the last episode. Those big, big dive
Danny Milton watch guys. I guess I'll take this time to shout out my boy uh Mitchell Schwartz and just say if you're listening, which I think you are, Mitch, I'd love to see you wearing this watch. It'd be
James Stacy very cool. And that world has been like it's less of the core of dive watch enthusiasm right now, a big dive watch, but it's been the history for the last twenty years as Panerize and Big Brightlings and Big Omegas, forty like I said, forty five five and is is common to them and they even made the point of saying that the um planet ocean chrono is thicker than this watch, right? And then they go to the the extent of the steel. And the steel, uh I didn't like it as much as the titanium, Nick. I think I think I remember you saying the same. The titanium just it's so cool that it looks so much like the concept one. That speaks to the five-year-old in me that loves submarines and the rest of it. But the steel, they had to create their own steel. It's called Omega Steel. I'm gonna you know just hate typing this out for the rest of my life, but it's okay. It's oh dash megael ste. So it's Omega Steel, but also O and then like mega steel. I hope that that made that as complicated as possible for everyone listening. One more time, James. Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah. Please. I'll I'll say it a bunch, I'm sure. And uh So mega, right? Mega, mega. Mega's in there. Yeah. And uh yeah, hit the show notes. Anyways, the um the steel is more elastic than 316 L. So there's something called like a yield rating or a uh and it's the it's the tendency for the metal to be able to deform without the deformation becoming permanent. If you're a materials science guy in our audience, I'm really sorry because I that's probably a huge simplification. So omega steel has a yield rating much more similar to titanium, whereas 316L apparently will crush or deform permanently. And that's where you see these awesome pressure test videos online, and the casebacks fail. That's a thin piece of metal and they crush in and usually take the movement with them, and that's that's the end of the watch. In this case, it's a a two-piece patented case back design, also an omega steel or titanium on the titanium model. They have a patent for the crown, they have a patent for the crystal, the edge of the shape of the crystal, and it's a uh the gasket for the crystal is also brand new. Those of you who are into the original Ultra Deep will remember like uh they use liquid metal to essentially create a bonding gasket. But the issue is that that isn't a good thing to do if you have to service the watch every now and then. Because you have to destroy that whole thing to do it. So for a concept, fine. But they had to go ahead and figure out essentially how to industrialize that to the point that it maintains their warranty and can be serviced like a normal watch and gasket. Check the story, but the these also use a essentially the highest end sapphire crystal that's possible. But basically they can't use a normal sapphire because they all all of them have small imperfections that you can't see and don't matter unless you put them under incredible pressure and then they fail. So they had to use this um specialty type of uh sapphire crystal, which isn't common at all in watchmaking, although uh was has been around since the 60s to my understanding. Nick, what else kind of stood up? I mean it's the it's on the bracelet, they're crazy heavy, right? You get I think you yeah, you gotta be like an Arnold or uh like it like for this to really fit like the way I would expect a watch to fit my wrist. They're big. They're huge. But but again, the the the hugeness to me is part of the charm in the way that the goldness is part of the charm on the on the speedies. I mean, let's just try some stuff. You know, it's I I love that they're not being conservative with either of these pieces. And it's an audacious piece of performance hardware, even if none of us will ever use it for that. And and kind of a big flex from an engineering standpoint. You know, if it if it were 10 millimeters smaller, right, it might fit better on my arm
Danny Milton , but it wouldn't be the same watch. If they were able to do that, that would be the invention of the century to have some kind of like 36 millimeter planted. I mean, that would be insane. I don't know. Without oil filled, it probably can
James Stacy 't be done, right? Right. Exactly. Like with Zinn and Bell and Ross were into for a while. You know, the the other thing that stands out for me is keep in mind that this is part of the Planet Ocean lineup and they have stuff that goes all the way down to thirty seven seven. Right. So it's not like they're making a watch. It'd like it I think it'd be cool to see the aesthetic of the all of the titanium ultra tee come to other watches. I really like it's it's the grade five titanium they it's it's omega they do a beautiful job sandblasting it it's really even and it soaks up light and then they have a brushed finish on the bezel and the two things together I kind of couldn't stop looking at and when I edit the images I keep kind of just fading off looking at the interplay between you know that they've really dialed back how shiny any of it is, but it didn't they didn't do so without leaving any texture. You can still tell it's like a higher end watch. It doesn't feel like Teflon. It's
Danny Milton titanium for me. Yeah. I think that's a good point. I think that actually goes to just Omega generally. I mean they do the same the same kind of thing with gold a lot where they opt for a a brushed finish almost exclusively and same with steel where the accents and the beveling are not contrasted by polishing. They're just done in such a at such a high level where they can brush the whole thing. And it actually makes the product look way more interesting. And I think Omega doesn't get enough credit for that. I haven't seen this watch in in in person, but having seen other pieces just at a similar vein, I think for sure. And I also appreciate how this really, you know, beefy watch like this maintains the general aesthetic of the Planet Ocean line, you know, just across across the board, all the way down to the 37mm Planet Ocean, which is a watch that I've toyed around with buying a million times in my life because thirty- milsevenlimeter diver is a cool thing that
James Stacy not a lot of people are doing. And yeah, and so with these they're offering them, like I said, in steel with the rubber, steel with a bracelet, or this one titanium skew. In total I guess it's um it's uh seven SKUs with the titanium and they range from like eleven thousand two hundred dollars to about twelve six for the titanium. So right within shooting distance of a deep sea, you can tell the the market that exists around these watches from this level of company is kind of already solidified by the players that are already in the market. And and I would say, you know, if if there's more you want to know about it, my hands on will go up a few hours after this uh episode comes live on Monday morning. So check that out and if you have a question, drop it in the comments and I'll take a look. Uh but I think that's probably I've written two stories and uh and I've now talked about it at length. So let's maybe we go to another one. Uh Danny, what would you pick one on the list
Danny Milton ? I guess since we've covered a speedy already and there's one on the menu, let's not talk about that one next and go to the Aquateras. I think it's the uh the multicolored elephant in the room and and worth kind of getting into
James Stacy . These are seriously nice watches in person. For sure. And it comes down to what we were just talking about. And I think Nick would agree, you're talking about the way that that Omega understands like a brushed finish and and the way that it plays with light. These watches, um almost all of them, it depends on the color. Uh so again, hit the show notes if you want the specifics, but almost all of them use a PVD coating that's then lacquered. And the result of these really rich colors that still have all of the grain of the finishing from the metal, the sunburst finish, is still there. And the red is like, it's like Gibson guitar red. Like it's iridescent. You'd almost expect it to have like bro, like a tiger stripe in it or something. It's they're really nice. And the bracelets, uh they've modified the bracelet in in in a few different ways and it's it just wears really nicely. Nick, what do you think of these? You you enjoyed the 34 as well, eh? Yeah, that's that's the point I wanted to make is that as we have established here, I'm a small man and um in more ways than one, some might say. The 34 is just awesome. It's the one I would wear for sure rather than the the 38. And not to make some kind of statement. I mean, I just genuinely think it looks better on me. If it feels better on me. Some of the colors are pretty similar to the 38s and some are off doing their own thing. But the 34 is the true slee
Danny Milton per um of all of these releases, I think. Sounds like we're gonna have to do a rehash of the article we did on the OPs and do a little color chart, which color goes with which size, because it sounds like they don't they don't match complet
James Stacy ely is my understanding of these. No, it's it's different colors, yeah. Across the two size ranges. The other thing that comes up with the color and we can we can even tie this back to the ultra deep. Some of the criticism I've seen online is like that we're they're kind of chasing what Rolex had already done. And for the ultra deep with the blue to black gradient dial, I absolutely agree. I don't really know why of all the colors in the world they chose to go that route, because that's one of the only, you know, colorways of the deep sea is very similar. For these, these don't feel to me like OPs. It's not a heavily saturated color. It's a color that kind of shines almost like a glass or or the the lacquered finish and they it's not the same thing. I've seen a couple of the colorful OPs in person and these don't have any of the like stella dial vibe. Like there's no the don't it's not the same like level of uh saturation. Yeah I would say it's it's clearly a direct competitor, but it's also a real choice in the way that Coke and Pepsi actually don't taste like each other, even though they're both colas, you know? I mean it yeah, sure, it's they're going head to head with the OP, no question about that, but the customer still has a real choice. Plus these have the date windows, you know, like it or not, some people will want that. So it's it is a genuine choice
Danny Milton and not just uh in no way is it a knockoff. I appreciate the Aquateras more than I think I ever have, especially now that they've they have this new 34mm variant, because to me it represents the core origins of Seamasters, especially at a 34 millimeter sizing. Like that's where the Seamasters began. They were not dive watches with dive bezels. They were just they were actually mass market takes on field watches, on military field watches. And so this feels much more in tune or in line with that concept in a modern package to me
James Stacy . And I think the other thing that you have to also remember if you want to, if you want to try and put Omega on the competition field and just start trying to compare apples to apples as much as possible. You know, these are fifty-seven hundred dollars roughly in each size bracelet. I think takes you up to uh six grand-ish. You know, for that money, you're you're getting an eight thousand series movement. It's an eighty-eight hundred uh movement in these. So you you get the date, get a good power reserve, and it's meta's master certified. So you get the crazy anti-magnetic uh protection. You get um uh bidirectional winding, you get uh like a like a you know, the SI-14 balance spring, like these aren't a casual movement. When you get into this price point with Omega, you're getting you're getting you know one of the cream of the crop movements that they put out there. And to see that go into even watches like the 34, where traditionally you might see other companies cut corners. Yeah, that's very true. You know, to put the entry-level movement or the blended off-the-shelf movement in the entry-level one that might be more for a female buyer. Like I think they're taking this very seriously. We they had a lot of uh questions in our QA session about how they're approaching the sort of genderization of even the watches like the ATs and they're very clear, like these should be made for whoever likes the size, that's the one for you. So they're not cutting corners just because the forty one is traditionally the popular one and they don't know how good the 34 will be, which I I kind of find pretty refreshing. I mean, if you're gonna spend that kind of money, you you wanna you want the like the whole the whole deal, the whole omega kind of effect of it all. Couldn't agree more. And yeah, if you wanna see images of these watches on my wrist and on Nick's wrist, get an idea for the size and the rest of it. You can even compare against the uh the forty two millimeter speedy if you want. Just stay tuned. This coming week we you'll have uh a hands-on story of it's a lot of photos to rip through and I think people will really dig it. Let's see, next up on the list, so let's jump back to uh the diver because this is one that I was really surprised by. Uh you know, green is a color, you know, obviously it's color they've put on several of the watch we've already spoken about, but now they've got a diver 300 meters. So that's the like the Bond style diver, but with a green, a really nicely matched green dial and bezel. And you can get it on the green rubber. And that was really, really good on wrist
Danny Milton . That was my low-key favorite, I think, release for a couple reasons. I mean, obviously people have been uh calling it sort of Omega's take on the Hulk. Uh so if we're gonna go down that route, I guess we'll call this one the uh the David Banner, the Lou Ferrigno iteration of the Hulk from the famous 70s TV show that nobody's on this listening to this podcast has watched. But it's great. I mean it looks um there's actually something very subtle about that watch that I don't know many people have picked up on, but there are no red accents on the dial, which I think lends to a much more balanced look. It's a look that Omega has only put on its two-tone iterations of that model so far, and also I guess titanium or or otherwise. And I think it just sings that way. You know, the white dial text, the lack of the red accent on the second's hand, you just have this sort of complete piece of a watch in a color that frankly has never existed on that reference. And I do appreciate the fact that it's something of a muted green. You know, I love the the blue Seamaster as much as anybody, but I think in the modern version of that watch, it the the blue has taken on kind of uh I don't know, it's just it's a little bit too blue. You know, it's it's it's lost its subtlety. Um and I think that the green kind of recapt
James Stacy ures that that effect. The thing that stands out for me about the green, especially if someone's going to compare it to the Hulk, which doesn't make that much sense to me, uh all things considered, but the the color is deeper, so it's and it's kind of like less iridescent than than like a Hulk color. But then the other side is that it's a ceramic dial, so the shininess of of everything matches. Right. So you don't have a matte element and a bright green element that changes and like if if you're in the one lighting scenario, the the whole color is the same. And in lower light, in in
Danny Milton Yeah, and to go to Nick's point, uh again, rubber strap from Omega, and what they do with these is the straps kind of contour naturally. A, they feed into the case almost like an integrated rubber strap, but it's just like a totally different rubber strap quotient. I feel like it's comfortable, it's soft, it's rubber. It's not, they're not calling it a bracelet. They're not saying it's something else than it is. It doesn't have some sort of deployment clasp. It just sort of is a rubber strap. And obviously, any buyer's preference, I think, would be to buy a watch like that on steel and then opt for rubber later, which is something I would a hundred percent do with a watch like that. It's a killer. I really I mean it I I feel like it it was a piece that they didn't I would imagine wasn't their high watermark piece for the year in any way, given what's already been released, but I think it's going to be a another sleeper to next point.
James Stacy You know, they spoke about how the previous bond, the titanium bond for no time to die, was one of the most popular skews in terms of uh its its its impressions in the market and then in in actual orders. And the green, like I said, is not like a frog green or like viper green or something like that. It's this really chill palette. Um and yeah, I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna prove to be like a a really popular one. Yeah. And now I'm just embarrassed I didn't it didn't have the red text. It'd like that didn't. n Nicicelyely,
Danny Milton pegged. Sure. You know, well, I'm holding uh uh there's a review that's coming with me with a different watch, but as a comparison, this is great for podcasting me showing something. Uh I have the the the blue bond seamaster, the modern, the modern one, and I and I do love how this watch wears. I think it's deceivingly it's it it's it wears much smaller, and I hate saying this, this is like classic watch writer thing. It wears smaller than its forty-two millimeter diameter would suggest. And so but that's true, and it it it has m less to do with diameter and more to do with lug to lug. And I just think it's a great modern watch. Omega tapped into a design in the nineties that has turned into a classic that I don't think any other watch brand can look to the nineties and say, yeah, our lasting watch, our sort of core diver, came from the nineties. It just doesn't happen. And it's a really testament to just sort of how avant-garde this watch and funky it kind of is. The brace from the bracelet to the to the case to the the conical helium escape valve situation. I mean it there's a lot going on and I can't wait to see the gre
James Stacy en. I'm a broken record on this, but I'm I'm still I'm I would love to see one with sword hands like the two two five four. Uh I get the bond hand. It's clearly it's lasted. The two two five four didn't, but I would love just make one or two with the sword hand. Just so I know that's I'll just do it in Photoshop. It's okay. You good, James? Yeah, I'm okay. I'm not I'm not butt hurt. It's's it a fine. There was some uh chatter about the date windows on the A T not matching the color of the dial. If you are the sort of person uh who's really upset by that, check out the C Master where the date window does match the dial. You know, I'm I like to harp on a bad date. I think the AT's dates are very successful. I like the 34 because it has a little frame, it's finished with a border, whereas the uh 38 millimeter models are more of like a hard sort of surgical square cut. If it was next to a marker, I would want it to be the same color so it would kind of hide, but it takes the exact position of a marker at six o'clock. So I think there's a lot of balance there. And if it was the same color, you'd you'd need a marker there as well. And I think it would start to mess up. I think they made the right choice on that one. You can never please every everyone with dates ever. Forever. It's impossible. But I think they did just fine on that. And then talk about pleasing people who wanted a smaller, thinner, speedy. We've got a brand new generation of the Speedy 57. It's hand-wound. It's thinner. It's even thinner than a moonwatch by about uh uh two or three tenths of a millimeter. New uh fully massage bracelet design again with the extension in the clasp, four colorways, but they're maintaining the sort of black tan sandwich dial with the with and still the date as well with the sandwich style. I was never a y57 gu because I didn't like the way it sat on my wrist. It was kind of a h a big uh kind of a tall watch for its width, and it kind of sat up on its um case back. And these, especially on the they they had them on a you have an option of a leather strap, which of course is easier for photos like we discussed. And it just a really comfortable watch with a a nice um sort of dial shape that accepts a lot of light. So sometimes a uh sandwich dial gets really shadowy because there's so much depth away from the top of the crystal. But they did the they did a nice job with that. I think it'll speak again. We have a story coming eventually, and it'll speak in the photos. Any preference one way or another? This uh you know, people used to love the F-O-I-S, the first Omega in space, and then of course you have moon watch. Where where would you even go now? Because the pricing, the del
Danny Milton ta and the price isn't that crazy. Well that's where I was going to go first was this kind of feels, especially with the with the decrease in size, like um like it takes the place of the first omega in space a little bit. Whereas that that watch was definitively, you know, a modern version of a vintage watch, where this one feels more like a modern watch with intense vintage cues, not dissimilar to the CMaster 300s that came out last year, which again we're seeing some design consistency. Sandwich dial there, sandwich dial here. In practical terms, the sandwich style, at least the way that I've seen it on the three hundreds, can be a little bit difficult in terms of legibility to your point. Shadows, but also it just it doesn't pop quite as much, especially when you're using this sort of um vintage effect loom that Omega uses on the watches, but overall, I think it's a great, a great piece. I'd always thought that the the Speedmaster 57 was sort of like an oddball speedy. I never really ever considered it. And mostly for the size, and also because I looked at it and I and with the way that it was designed it made no sense to be in that size. And now everything kind of adds up. Only offered in steel black, green,
James Stacy burgundy, or blue. I really like the blue. They have um they put a black sort of surround but it's integrated into the color it's not like a separate ring on the two subdials uh so you do get some change in the way that that the kind of contrast goes in terms of legibility and twelve point nine millimeters so twelve point nine nine millimeters thick, fifty meters water resistance that's in like most of the speedies. And they're they're hitting hitting in about uh eighty three hundred on a strap, eighty six on a bracelet. So you definitely want the bracelet for three hundred dollars. The bracelet's one of the things that kind of impressed me the most about it.
Danny Milton Is it not the same is it not the same bracelet as the the 3861? It's different. Yeah, it's flat link. So it's the Ed White style bracelet.
James Stacy And and it has well now the the the gold 3861 has the extend on basically all it seems like almost every bracelet. Did you see a bracelet, Nick, that didn't have the extension in it? No, and those extensions are really handy. I I wear a vintage uh Omega dynamic that has supposedly has micro adjustments, but um it's not something that I can easily do with with one thumb. Those those micro adjustments are pretty sweet. It's great, especially you you go from New York to Miami. Your wrist is not gonna be the same time when you're f when you go for a walk or you know, after a run or something like that, and and to have it's two point three millimeters of extension. So it's not a wetsuit extension. It's not like they're repurposing something more considerable. And I think in the two point three, I think it's six positions. That's a lot of granularity. Yeah, it's it's significant. And it, you know, going to the jeweler to get a link taken out or added in. Who wants to do that? Or destroying one of your own links when you do it yourself, like me. Yeah, that kind of push button micro adjustment is like a really generous piece of design. Because I think a lot of brands do get away without, and Omega probably could too, but it seems like something that they're going to commit to. Um I think the hand wound movement is cool on aesthetics alone. You flip it over and it has this beautiful so the the finishing comes from the center point of the of the escapement, not from the center of the movement. So it's it's a pretty nice effect. And it's another one where the movement fills the watch quite nicely. So you can see all the all of the movement and it looks appropriate to the size of the watch. So that's important. So those are all of the new announcements that uh that we're kind of going to focus on for the show. Uh pretty wide range there from crazy deep diving watches to you know vintage style chronographs, wearable, everyday, colorful, you know, beautiful watches like the AT, and then that green sea master, which uh I think I might agree with Danny might be the sleeper among the lot 'cause it is just a colorway, but it's just one that they executed so nicely. If you had to pick one to wear for six months and that's what you're gonna wear for six months, so that's gonna take you through summer, what what what of these would you uh would you wanna kick around in? We'll be posting on Instagram
Danny Milton and such I know where Nick's going and I'm not gonna go there. So I'm I'm going green sea master because I I truly, truly believe that I might be able to wear that for six years. So I think six months wouldn't be too difficult. If I were to borrow something for
James Stacy six months and wear it all summer, I'd go gold on gold on gold with the speedy. But the the tr the truth is if I were gonna buy something with my own money, I'd get a thirty-four millimeter AT and a heartbeat. I really would. Which color spoke to you the most? Well, there's one that's kind of silverish that I think is um the most elegant. But you were talking about the red earlier, and the red is really special. It's more a question of of of whether you want uh to stand out or blend in. But the right the elegance of that silver is is pretty hard to beat. And and I I tend not to have many pieces that blend in. And I and I actually think that the thirty four millimeter in that silver tone. Yeah, it's like a sandy, creamy, sort of grayish color. It's it's beautiful for sure. Yeah, that's the way I'd go with my own with if I were spending your money
Danny Milton , I'd get the gold one. If I were spending my own money, I'd get the same thing. I want to revise my answer based on new rules that Nick Marino introduced into this game because I it would it would stay this I I'm just gonna add on to it. It would stay the same either way. I would I would I would spend your money on the Green Sea Master and I'd spend my money on it., which is cool I I cause I I am tempted by the gold on gold every day of the week. That watch just oh yeah sings to me. But I wear my watches pretty hard, I would say, um, thoughtlessly, you might even say. I have scratched and dinged Sapphire Crystal on more than one occasion. I think I would look just cooler on a on a green se
James Stacy a master. Yeah, I I I can't say that I disagree in any way about the statement about gold and how I wear. All all of my gold watches are out for service currently and have been for quite some time. And these these are vintage pieces. So you could definitely treat a modern speed master a little harder. Uh but it's just it's just the nature of the of kind of the metal and and me not maybe maybe not modifying my lifestyle that much uh for a softer, more expensive sort of metal. But yeah, I think uh I think I I would I'm I'm would go with Nick if if I wasn't like if it was uh something I'm being loaned for six months or whatever, I'd take I'd check out the gold gold speedmaster and I'd see if they'd throw the toss the bracelet and the rubber in the box uh and try both because I I think it's just a sweet thing. But that's not not necessarily realistic. And I think if I was being realistic, I think I'd have to go with the green Seamaster as well, Danny. Uh like I just dig it, especially on the rubber. That's one like I'm not I'm not uh crazy about the um Bond bracelet. You know I I like the uh the speedy style bracelet on uh c master that's what I had on my two two five four. But I think this on the rubber, I think it's also kind of me because it's it's a l it's like it's it's kind of fun and and a little bit different, but like not necessarily fancy or shiny. Uh and I think that could work pretty well. And and and I I could jump off docks all summer with that on for sure. So Nick, are you are you approving six months on the wrist? Is this a new uh It's a new rubric? Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean having said all of that about what we would personally where to me there's no question that the s the star of the show, the the big achievement is the ultra. You know, that that's the one that people should actually go see to just behold it. Um whether you absolutely you know that that's that's or sort of its own case uh as to what I'd personally would wear, you know, with my money or anyone else's and what the the real achievement cave is. The real achievement is the ultra. And and I think like like we said, and this is I think the point we can probably finish on, but I do think that there's something to be said for how hard Omega is pushing We've already talked about the styling, the color, and all of that, but whether it's uh the movement designs and anti-magnetism and and you know all these sorts of elements or it's um making a case a little bit thinner. There's a technical challenge there, especially with still doing a sandwich dial, right? Or and then on on the other side with the ultra deep, it's having something like a showcase, I think is such a classic way of thinking about luxury watches, right? That's not every brand's operating this way. And I'm I'm kind of happy, especially as like a diehard dive watch nerd, a kid that loves submarines and underwater exploration and the rest of it, that one that they supported Vescovo. And and on top of it now, they've decided to make something and and they I think they found a balancing act to take something so crazy and then make it kind of both distinctive within the Planet Ocean's range, but also still wearable if you were the type who would want a watch like that. People who want six thousand meter dive watches, three thousand meter dive watches, aren't count
Danny Milton ing every millimeter typically. I also think it's important that they introduced it inside of the Planet Ocean line and that it it lends itself so much to the general design language because I could see a kid who's interested in submarines or interested in diving, walking into a boutique and seeing this sort of on display with maybe a booklet or some kind of signage that explains what it is, and never really wanting maybe that watch. That stuff is so important to watch marketing. And I know it's not necessarily marketing because there is real achievement behind it, but you to be able to promote it effectively, uh, that's that's storytelling. That is something that nobody will ever forget. That's how you sort of get somebody into a a brand universe and keep them there. And kudos to Omega for for doing that. The halo effect is real. You know, that that
James Stacy that in in much the same way that none of us are going to space with a speedy either. But the that that's an important part of of the brand storytelling because it it indicates what they are capable of. And that's part of that's part of we why why we want to wear.. Yeah, absolutely But like you think of something like a Seiko tuna, even a very expensive tuna with an ADL series movement, that's a three or four thousand dollar watch. You're telling me that that the existence of that and being on the same page as the eight hundred dollar one or the there's an even there's a baby tuna with a quartz that's like very reasonably priced. I guarantee that there's a trickle down effect from that where people fall in love with the top spec, a deep sea, an ultra deep, a tuna, a a Zin U one, and then they buy the one that either fits their budget or their wrist or whatever, but one one one kind of speaks, you know, to the general quality rather than the specificity, which I think is is is probably what where the value is for something like the ultra deep. All right, guys, I think we did it. I think that's gonna do it for Omega. Obviously, we have a lot planned when it comes to the show when we all land in Geneva and we can record every day is the goal. So consider subscribing just because we're going to start delivering those. They're not going to come at like a a fixed schedule, it'll be when they're ready to go up. But we wanna be able to have basically a an episode that kind of captures every day at the show, what it was like, what was fun, what was kind of challenging, you know, how tired we are, whatever it is, right? How many diet cokes we've had for the $50 budget or whatever I have a day for Diet Cokes. I'm still getting that approved with uh with Nick. But um yeah guys, thanks so much for being on. Nick, Danny, it's it's always a treat to have you guys on. And Nick, it was great to go down and and check out some novelties with you. It felt like uh it felt like old days in the watch world. So I'm glad you're getting a taste of it. I'll see you guys soon in Switzerland. See you in Geneva boys. Okay and to everyone else thank you so much for listening. It's uh always a treat to do these and we'll chat to you in about a week's time with another topic.