Press Release: OMEGA presents the Globemaster, the world’s first Master Chronometer

On Wednesday 18 March, OMEGA hosted a highly attended event at Basel’s von Bartha art gallery where the brand unveiled the highlight of its new collection and the certification that makes it such a revolutionary timepiece. The Globemaster, with its iconic pie-pan dial and fluted bezel, is the world’s first Master Chronometer – it is the first mechanical timepiece to not only exceed the standards established by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC) but also pass the stringent tests that are part of the certification process approved by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS).

OMEGA announced that it would be working with METAS to develop the new certification process, which includes testing the watch and its movement in magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss, at a press conference in December of 2014. The unveiling of the eight criteria that a watch must pass in order to achieve Master Chronometer status is the follow-up to the news that OMEGA and Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek shared with the public last year.

Stephen Urquhart, president of OMEGA, explained some of the brand’s major milestones and described how important innovation, implementation and industrialization are for OMEGA.

Alluding to the press conference OMEGA held in December, Mr Urquhart said: “Some of you might have been with us in Geneva in December where we announced a new certification process and a new quality standard for watchmaking in general and for OMEGA. Now we have finalized that whole process and to make it really meaningful we have a watch that we decided to launch which will be the flagship of the OMEGA brand in the future.”

OMEGA Vice President of Product and Customer Service Jean-Claude Monachon presented the METAS certification process and described the Globemaster in more detail. He explained that the eight stars on the caseback of the watch not only signify eight of the most important precision records that OMEGA’s movements set in the 1940s and 1950s, they also represent the eight tests a watch must pass to become a Master Chronometer.

The symbolic use of these eight stars and the eight certification criteria show that OMEGA aims to offer its customers only the best when it comes to precision, he said.

Following Mr Urquhart’s and Mr Monachon’s presentations, the guests were welcomed into an area with showcases displaying the vintage models that inspired the Globemaster and the full Globemaster collection. Writing on the walls surrounding the displays described the Globemaster timepieces and outlined the criteria a watch and its movement must pass in order to become certified as a Master Chronometer.

The exhibition also included an interactive station where guests could learn about the strength of the magnetic fields of objects they use on a daily basis and they could even measure the magnetic fields of their personal items, like cell phones, tablets, cameras or handbag clasps.

The Globemaster...

Created in the true spirit of OMEGA, the Globemaster houses the brand’s most advanced mechanical movement and features a design inspired by early Constellation models that represent horological expertise and OMEGA’s legacy of precision and outstanding performance. Each watch is certified through a series of independent tests – a revolutionary process that establishes a new quality standard in the watch industry.

Two design features that define the Globemaster are its dial, which is created in a style that watch collectors have long referred to as a pie-pan dial, and the “fluted” bezel, an element that has decorated several famous Constellation watches.

OMEGA’s history also influenced the Globemaster’s caseback. Representing the precision awards that the watchmaker received for the outstanding performance of its movements during the famous chronometer observatory trials in the 1940s and 1950s is a medallion stamped with an image of a cupola of an observatory where the precision competitions took place. Eight stars in the sky above the observatory symbolize the most important precision records that OMEGA set and, reflecting how the brand’s commitment to quality has endured, the stars also signify the eight METAS-certified criteria that a timepiece and its movement must pass in order to receive Master Chronometer status.