I've been enjoying the Omega forums and its resident characters for a while, learning a great deal from the vast breadth of knowledge and keen-eyed experts. Now it is time for me to show my first and only love and say hello. This is a trivial post in the light of other matters right now but it might provide a welcome diversion.

I'm not much of a watch buff or even remotely knowledgeable on the subject but I have always loved Omegas and admired the skills in watchmaking. When I was growing up in the 70's, my folks had copies of the National Geographic magazine at home and I'd linger, wide-eyed over the Omega ads. Life was simpler back then!

My father owned and still owns an Omega Seamaster automatic and his father did too! As a young man in my early twenties in the late 80's I remember passing a (now ill-fated) Ratners Jewellers on High St Kensington. There and then I fell in love with an Omega Seamaster on display. It wasn't just "tat" that they sold! This was the Seamaster 200 now known as the "Pre-Bond". I loved the fact that it was bold and masculine but not straight-edged or "blocky" like many other diving models. The watch actually curves to the wrist and to my eye at least retains an understated elegance. This is not least due to the fact that its size is discreet, certainly by today's standards but I would contend, even in it's own day. Alas though, my dream of ownership at that time would have to wait.

I was fortunate to land a good job a year later which took me overseas for a month and a half. On my return to London, the very same day, I happened to walk past the same Jewellers in Kensington. With a wad of American dollars left over in my pocket, I strode in on impulse and asked the bemused sales manager if he would sell me the watch in dollars at a discount. Well, it was the eighties! Out came his calculator (big) and after a bit of negotiation, out of the shop I proudly marched with my first Omega. That was in 1989 and it has been on my wrist virtually every day since then. I found out recently that this model has the rarer 1441 calibre movement which is thermocompensated and is noted as particularly accurate. I had noticed myself over the years that it kept astonishingly good time, gaining perhaps 20 secs per year. I have no idea why Omega only used this movement for a year on this model and replaced it subsequently. I gather they even swapped out this movement for another one if a watch was sent to them for any kind of maintenance. I did actually take the watch diving in the 90's and used the extending clasp over a wet-suit, and bezel to time oxygen depletion, so I feel can justify its design in entirety!

I still think it is a beautiful watch and I love that it is so obviously well made. It is a thing that has brought me immeasurable pleasure. There have been no problems, no fuss, no dramas and it just keeps on delivering me near perfect time and accompanying me on life's continuing journey. I will never part with it and indeed hope my own son will use it one day. One thing I am ashamed of is that it has never been officially serviced! I'm not even sure if it needs much as a quartz watch. Perhaps one of the many knowledgeable members could advise me on that. As the years go by I feel that aesthetically, I might also like the simplicity in design of a vintage Omega Seamaster or Constellation to wear at least occasionally. Somehow, I can't get away from the fact that this feels like infidelity in the making but it's a desire that's proving hard to ignore. I've mused that there may even be something Oedipal in the desire to wear the models reminiscent of one's father... don't go there.
Perhaps though it's best to simply say that these are just watches and beautifully crafted things to behold.

I wish you all the best of health in difficult times and thank you for reading.