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Official Omega SA Press Kit
Bienne Switzerland (01 May 2004)--
Officially it is the Seamaster
Professional 300m Chronometer, but it is universally known as the "Bond"
watch thanks to its appearance in the past four Bond movies since
GoldenEye in 1995. Like the legendary Speedmaster Professional,
its overall design is sacrosanct, thus allowing only the most subtle of
modifications on its distinctive dial. The new GMT version respects this
tenet and at the same time provides a genuinely useful additional
feature for those who, like Bond, can find themselves hopping from one
continent to another at a moment's notice.
The Seamaster Professional Chronometer has appeared in the Bond movies
GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997), The World is Not Enough (1999) and Die
Another Day (2002), each time with at least one life-saving
feature to get the secret agent out of a sticky situation. Today, the
Seamaster benefits from enormous worldwide popularity thanks to the Bond
franchise, which allowed Omega to show it in a highly legitimate
setting, since it looks just as good with a tailored tuxedo as it does
when worn around a wetsuit in the ocean's depths. The Seamaster was
designed as a robust divers' watch, which explains why it can take the
severe treatment of the James Bond lifestyle in its stride. It has a
tough 39.3mm stainless-steel case with a screw-in case back and a
screw-in protected crown that ensure water resistance to 300 metres. It
offers several useful features for professional divers: a helium escape
valve, which can be opened during resurfacing in a diving bell; a
special clasp on the bracelet with a fold-out extension that allows the
watch to be worn with a wetsuit and a notched bezel with minute scale
that rotates anti-clockwise, allowing elapsed (dive) times to be
recorded accurately and safely.
The James Bond GMT watch has the Seamaster Professional's trademark blue
dial with wave imprint, applied hour markers filled with luminous
SuperLuminova dots and skeleton hands coated with SuperLuminova. The red
GMT hand makes one rotation every twenty-four hours and can be used to
read off a second time zone on the 24-hour scale beneath the hour
markers. This useful function is provided by the Omega calibre 2628
Co-Axial movement, a self-winding chronometer with a power reserve of 44
hours that is visible behind the transparent sapphire crystal case back.
Since their launch in 1999, Omega's Co-Axial movements have proved
worthy alternatives to the traditional Swiss lever escapement, offering
reduced friction and, therefore, greater long-term accuracy. The
Co-Axial movements also use the Omega free sprung-balance without index,
which avoids the disturbing effects of contact between the
balance-spring and the index pins and therefore ensures stability of the
watch's going rate over long periods of use. This high-precision
movement, with official Swiss chronometer certification (COSC), has a
meticulous finish with circular-graining, Geneva wave decor, polished
beveled bridges, rhodium-plated surfaces and gilt engravings.
With this new movement and a new function that is perfect for the
international jet-setter, the Seamaster Professional increases its
appeal whilst at the same time staying true to its origins as a rugged
divers' watch for the discerning customer. And who more discerning than
James Bond?
Posted by Dell Deaton, April 1, 2008 at 10:08 AM
