I just bought the newer quartz Seamaster Regatta. It's fantastic, but Omega has done a terrible job advertising it! Mini review...

Hi,

This is a mini review of the 216.92.46.79.10.001. tl;dr (sorry it’s a LONG post!), it's IMHO the best an-digital quartz made, it has real improvements over the X-33's (I have had all gen's apart from the Marstimer, and I have also had a Breitling B-50).

BUT Omega has made next to no info about it available, so I don't think people know the nice little things. Does it justify the cost? Well, no Swiss watch does at retail, let's be honest, but it is obvious in person what makes it more expensive than the Marstimer and regular x-33.

Anyway, here is the longer version (with a bit of waffly context so you know where I am 'coming from').

I've been shopping for a watch for a good few weeks; having sold off my small collection a few years ago when I hit some hard times, I wanted something for everyday and something special as I inherited some cash. I the past I had a Gen1, 2 and Gen 3 X-33 and I loved it, but I had to sell stuff as I said, so I have always thought about a replacement, and I had been saving for one.

However, I also just inherited some cash and that meant I had, for me, a very high budget; about £10,000 - I'm in the UK - (this is the sort of budget I've never had). So, I have been 'researching' for a good while (so many browser tabs open!!). I looked at lots of pre-owned (but nearly new or ex display) stuff. I wanted something that felt 'special' and a bit different. AD's were not giving much discount for the big brands, but as I said there were good pre-owned options and the odd sales offer. Lot's to choose from.

One option was also a brand new x-33 and keep the rest of the cash.

Today I visited my local Omega Boutique (which is actually Omega operated and owned), and while looking at the new Pilot Speedmaster, I said I'd love to see the Regatta one day. To my surprise the salesperson said they had one in the back - the only one they received since release (and he said as an Omega owned boutique they tend to get three of everything – today they had a cal 321 Speedy if someone asked for it).

Anyway, in the end, the Regatta blew me away, and I bought it! Here is why (and the real review)...

Stuff I love
1. It's grade 5 ti not grade 2 like the X-33's
2. The bezel is ceramic not aluminium of the Marstimer.
3. It is noticeably thinner than the x-33's, while just as loud.
4. The quick-change strap is nice (and it will look good on the red I’ll buy eventually as well).

4. You can move through functions BOTH by turning the crown and by pushing it. This is a fantasic, you can scroll backwards and forwards to reduce all the pressing, or you can press as well for ease. Also, the crown doesn’t change function until you give it a little press, so nothing can be accidentally changed.

5. The crown scroll has a little physical click like an Apple watch. It feels really nice, it is not vague like the Breitling Aerospace.

6. The display is excellent, you cannot see the digital gaps, so it looks more like high dpp graphics than a usual quarz.

7. The backlight is also very nice, really even with no dark patches, but also not blinding.

8. The hands move SO fast, so moving them away is almost instant (and very cool); they don’t scroll, but instead instantly ‘flick’ into position. Omega are using really fast hands motors.

9. On mine the hand alignment is perfect (and interestingly the manual says it does a hand alignment check once a week at 3am on a Tuesday).

11. The watch can be put to sleep to park the hands, but the first button press out of that becomes ‘analog’ only mode. Also when you put it in sleep mode, you can leave a little personalised message on the display.

10. Some of the functions are well thought out and nice:

- All alarms can be set to UTC, T1, or T2, but alarm 1 is a ‘quick alarm’ that can be set for working days, or weekend, or one repeat, and two other alarms are ones that can be set for any day or time in the future (I gave up scrolling the years trying to find the limit of when you could set them).

- the chrono has a flyback and split time, but so too does the countdown, and timer. The 'timer' is a sperate mode from the countdown, and is sort of like a chrono, but one that can be set to have certain ‘repeat alarms’ or start point.

- The chrono and countdown can be set for the hands to show the time, or the hands to show the chrono timing. In countdown mode you can still see the digital time (not in chrono if it mirrors the timing).

- the watch remembers the stage you were at on the last page. So, for example if you prefer the g-force sensor, rather than the temp sensor (they share the same ‘page’ in the menu, but the g-force is level ‘2’), or the pulsometer or tachymeter to the standard chrono, next time you are back to that page it remembers the function.

- Yes, it has a g-force sensor (!) and thermometer, like a mad g-shock (and likely as ‘accurate’ for these readings, but it’s still fun).

- while the red button is primarily for activating the Regatta timer, and it is somewhat useless for someone being a bit of a ‘Walter Mitty’ like me and just enjoying the watch, it actually makes a good ‘easy-access but hard to get wrong’ count-down timer, as it has a way of quick logging progress (‘buoys’).

- the chrono, temp sensor, and g-force sensor save the last 100 (!) records.


I think that covers most things. But there is one really cute ‘easter egg’. The watch has a reset function. So I tried it. When it comes back from its little test sequence and everything is reset to default, the date and time is set to…the date and time of the moon landing 😁


Negatives?...

1. I am convinced a space version is coming, the way the manual is worded makes me think this is the platform for the next x-33. And that will be a bit annoying as this still obviously has no replacement for the mission timer (though the alarm that can be set to a future date is not bad for, say, reminding you of a future flight). I think a space version will be incredible.

2. Cost obviously! For about 40-50% less it would be streets ahead of the Casio Mr-G's and I still can’t believe I paid this for a quartz! But…I love it. I might be mad, but so be it! Its just feels quite unique, and special. I am not sure anyone else will appreciate it, but the watch is for me, not to impress strangers.

3. It’s quite loud! In a silent room and not covered by a long sleeve top, I can hear it ticking on my wrist from about waist up. But there is a hack for when sleeping (countdown mode keeps the hand still until you start it).

In the end, if you got this far, yes, I might be mad, I am not sure it really looks like an Omega that cost this much, but it feels like it to me and I am very pleased. I just can’t believe how little there is out there about it! IMHO it is the best swiss ana-digital watch I’ve ever used.

p.s the Boutique also gave me a free voucher for a maintenance service once the warranty runs out, a gold 50th Anniversary Speedmaster Fisher Space Pen, notebook, and haha the original shipping ‘coffin’. They also said, service or not, I’ll never have to pay for battery changes if I bring it back to them.

Pictures, please.

Your watch sucks!!!! (But please do show us a picture)

Pics are here (it was too dim to get a decent pic yesterday). I’ll also try to figure out a quick gif or vid of the lightning quick hand movements. Also, having played around with it more, I got some of the above wrong:

- the difference between the countdown mode and timers is that the countdown mode is the regatta mode (so allows ‘buoy’ logging and ‘race’ counting up) but it’s not called regatta. In everyday use this is better than the x-33 regatta version; on that you pressed the button and it was quite fiddly to use it as an everyday countdown. But on this one it’s both very easy to set, and very easy to add minutes or take minutes away while the countdown runs, no need to stop and re-programme it.

The other thing that’s good is when you press the red button - before starting the countdown/regatta - the watch acts as if you are just at that stage of the menu, so you can still get to all the the other functions from there. No need to go in and out of the regatta as a special mode. It just one level of the ‘countdown timers’

- it is a in specs actually a touch thicker than the x-33 so I was wrong there, but it feels thinner. It’s almost as if the slightly larger and more rounded Seasmaster case shape spreads the thickness better.

- the loud ticking is not the watch per se (I thought it was because of the motors for moving the hands so quickly) but is the resonance chamber working. Pull the watch off your wrist and it is much quieter. Linked to this the alarms are a little louder than the x-33, or are a ‘louder’ sounding tone, but it might be a more effective chamber.

- buttons are not quite as stiff as the x-33, but they are still clicky. They feel like they have less ‘throw’ if that makes sense.

- the backlight is a tiny bit uneven, but still better than any quartz I have seen; not as bright as the Gen 2, but more like an OLED backlight you get on some SLR top displays. It has has no buzz like the Gen 2.

- the crystal is supposed to be inside and outside AR, but it doesn’t seem like outside AR to me. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking (I don’t like outside AR, but most brands use it), but it’s very mild if it is on the outside as well.

Anyway here is a wrist shot, and a couple of others, as I’ve also tried to attach them and a vid of the hands moving and backlight

Thanks for the detailed review and video. I had no idea Omega had made so many quality of life improvements to their quartz movements. The improvements you’ve described seem like they’d go a long way to improving usability for a watch chock-full of features!

The module in the X-33 Marstimer already has a lot of new features added and came out pretty recently. It was a significant development to add all the Mars time features to it.

I would be surprised if they came out with a new X-33 so soon.

If they do - they could certainly have a variant of the module with different programming to have the X-33 features like MET, PET, etc. I don't think they would drop these features because the ISS astronauts speak highly of those aspects of the X-33.

I do agree the display has Gen1/2 X-33 vibes - it looks really nice and sharp and easier to read in different lighting conditions. The digital display on on Marstimer can be hard to read in some situations, a bit of a step down from the Gen1/2 in my opinion.

If I could find a gently used Gen1/2 X-33 vs the beat up examples that often come up for sale I would probably add it to my collection.

I see that this watch has 50m of wr versus the X-33's 30m.

I enjoy my Marstimer a lot.

Admittedly I have a personal connection since I have hardware that I contributed to that is on Mars (Curiosity rover) so it's neat to be able to see the local solar time where the rover is.

And I still work in the space industry, the various timers are really useful on launch day.

I think they could probably sell a few more if they advertised them more and if boutiques had them on display with the other Speedmasters, with some stories highlighting the use on ISS.

There are less High Accuracy Quartz models in the industry in general then there used to be, I appreciate the 10 second a year accuracy without depending on GPS, Bluetooth, or a radio time source.

This is fair, but I just meant there are G-Shock MRG’s not fair off this price, which have slower movement motors and fewer features. If someone is a ‘HEQ’ nerd, it’s a bit sad that even the Omega release video gives next to no details

All this is so cool. Also, you have to dig into watch blogs to know a number of the features on the Marstimer are patented.

Yeah, I get this for sure. As a Gen 2 fan, I always liked the curved LCD in that, it set it apart from the Ana-Digital style of Aerospace and G-Shocks. But I also think a current x-33 layout with a positive display would be great.

Oh im inclined to agree with you, it would be very soon - and a bit of a shock - to drop the current x-33 so soon. I was just using the logic that that display is technically a better LCD, so they invested in that, it seems odd to invest in this module (which can obviously be modified to add the Marstimer / x-33 functions), but all that just for a one off regatta version.

Also, it’s interesting that the wording of the manual for the red button is ‘Favourite Function: Regatta’. It just made me think there could be a re-wording to ‘Favourite Funtion: Mission Timer’. And of course, they did an x-33 regatta that was a mod, so I just figured they might do it in reverse.

But having said all that, the z-33 was a one off, so Omega has also shown they are happy to drop watches with unique features (the Americas Cup Chrono with the chronograph lock as well, for example).