The journey of the Seamaster Aqua Terra was a story Omega chose to tell on a paradise island. The luxury watch company flew 70 guests from the Philippines and abroad to Amanpulo in Palawan to present the Master Chronometer.
It was an experiential story telling in the luxury resort that highlighted the features of the Seamaster Aqua Terra.
James Bond Watch
The watch debuted in 2002 at Baselworld. Years before, the luxury watchmaker produced a line of the Omega Seamaster in 1948, typically sporting a stainless steel case engraved with the brand’s hippocampus logo. It was water-resistant up to 1200 meters, an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, luminescent hands and a unidirectional bezel.
The Omega Seamaster was immediately popular and worn by high-profile personalities including British royal Prince William, television host Adam Savage, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden and English broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson. When Pierce Brosnan wore the Omega Seamaster Professional Diver 300M Quartz in the James Bond movie Golden Eye, the Omega Seamaster has since been referred to as the James Bond watch. Subsequently Daniel Craig, who essayed the role after Brosnan, wore the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean and the Seamaster Diver 300 M, furthering the association of the water resistant watch to the British secret service agent conjured by writer Ian Flemming in 12 novels and two collections of short stories.
Sensual and Emotional
Omega president Raynald Aeschlimann flew into to Amanpulo together with other principals of Omega. He sat down with Lifestyle Asia on a specially designed Vito Selma chair and talked about the evolution of the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra through the last 20 years. “The brand is evolving,” he says. “The world is different from what it was 20 years ago. People said that the smart instrument will kill the watch but it is the opposite today. While watches are an accessory in the digital age, an Omega watch is more than that.
“It’s more emotional, almost sensual,” the tanned and energetic Omega CEO enthused. “People ask me what is emotion. It’s about that feeling that you get doing something or getting something, especially if it is a luxury.” He mentioned special occasions celebrated with a gift of an Omega watch, or the purchasing of an Omega to mark a personal milestone.
“A watch has history. If you keep it in a drawer, when you take it out again, it has memory. It has a soul. A smart watch does not have a soul. It is electronic and for me, that is not a watch.”
Precision and Performance for Active Lifestyle
The Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra has undergone a redesign as part of the evolution. Seventy years since the Omega Seamaster was created, the luxury watch company created the Seamaster Aqua Terra, so named for its reliability in water and on land. Omega launched the lifestyle watch in 2002, giving homage to original Omega Seamaster that first appeared in 1932. The watch for the active lifestyle possessed a minimalist look and was configured with anti-shock technology and a resistance to water to 500 ft.
A teak pattern dial was incorporated to the design in 2002 and quickly defined the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra. Greater technological strides led to a magnetic variation that equipped the watch in 2013 with a magnetic resistance up to 15,000 gauss. Last year, the redesign of the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra showed up not just an aesthetic refinement but also an even more advanced mechanism for precision and performance.
Pushing Limits
The transformation of the latest collection of Omega’s Seamaster Aqua Terra unfolded in different stations set-up on both land and sea. The first station by the Beach Club provided the opportunity to appreciate the cleaner dial with the relocation of the “water resistance” indicator to the caseback. The date window, formerly at 3 o’clock, moved down to 6 o’clock for a more symmetrical alignment. The new Aqua Terra sported a new conical crown and the distinguishing teak pattern on the dial, previously vertically oriented, now runs horizontally.
The second station was a boat ride to a floating gazebo where the Omega Seamaster aqua Terra was submerged in a bowl of water to demonstrate the water 500 ft. resistant feature.
Back on land, golf carts were provided for the transport to the Spa facility where the demonstration showed the anti-magnetism properties, using non-ferrous material in the movement itself, revolutionizing the course of anti-magnetic watchmaking. The fourth station highlighted the Master Chronometer certification, having passed the most stringent testing of the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology. Every watch goes through eight examinations for accuracy and function and Omega met the criteria to achieve the Master Chronometer certification.
Night Full of Emotion
A barefooted president Aeschilmann stood under a white canopy on the beach at the fifth station. It was the product reveal set against the backdrop of sand and sea, resonating the name of the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra. Later in the day, he led the way to a spectacular dinner on the beach with the Omega logo set in the water. Robert Blancaflor laid out more than 5,000 flickering lights on the sand to enhance the sense of enchantment and awe to the whole Omega experience. There was live music, endless champagne and fireworks in the night sky. An after party followed at the beach club, a fitting finale to a memorable presentation. It was as Mr. Aeschlimann had said, that an Omega watch was about emotion and that night, there was plenty abounding.
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By Anna Isabel C. Sobrepeña
