We are always enamoured with the latest shiny shiny right ! If I said this was one of the best sport watches I have ever seen (and I’ve owned and seen many), or that I think this is the best sport/diver style that Omega has ever made, that is just inviting a flame war. It is such a personal taste issue: date vs no-date; strap vs bracelet vs Milanese; bezel material … we could all go on.
In the old days, I used to buy a watch that I thought looks cool, but today, I check for comfort and usability. Something that looks cool on its own won’t last. Maybe it is too heavy, and I notice this when I sub-consciously take the watch off during the day to place on my desk. Maybe it is too bling, and I am uncomfortable wearing it with a t-shirt at a Peckham vintage sale. Maybe it doesn’t sit right.
Taking into account the above, I am now talking about my personal taste, honed over many decades, with loads of bad and some good decisions behind me
😉 The Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 210.30.42.20.06.002, aka “The Ghost” is perfection. An iconic model organically evolved by an iconic brand.
I believe that some watches just don’t look good small, particularly the Pilot and Diver genre (diver ? or sports bezelled watch, as real divers use dive computers, in fact the idea of a “tool” mechanical watch today is an anachronism TBH). I have a smaller wrist, 6.7”, but I have tried small watches to be on trend. They just don’t work for me. I tried a few 36mm, not only IMHO they look too small, they also slide around the wrist a lot, as the base is not stable. The Tudor BB 54 is not too bad as it sits well, but the small look is not to my taste. Nomos also makes small dial watches with ridiculously long lugs, so they sit ok. But none of these are for me. The one exception is my 1976 Omega Seamaster at 34mm. The brown leather strap makes it more stable and the gold case looks neat as a man bracelet, and well, it is real vintage.
Which brings me to something else, I love vintage design clues, and inspiration, but don’t like a watch that sacrifices something to be vintage. Rolex, Omega, Zenith, Tudor, etc. are not building vintage watches. They are living off a dream, but using modern materials and much better quality. Have you ever tried on a 1960/70s Rolex ? plastic glass, pressed clasps, bracelets that define the opposite of tolerance … they just didn’t build watches back then nearly as good as they do today.
Which brings me back to looking for a bezelled sports watch. I was offered a submariner recently, also looking at Glashute, Blancpain, IWC, Tudor and a few others. I don’t mention Seiko as I have loads of them
😀 however when I tried on the Ghost it was all over.
Here we have an absolutely gorgeous watch, with presence, an iconic design, one of the best three hand calibres in the industry, but more then that, it is SO comfortable. The genius is the Milanese bracelet. The standard 300m I was also drawn to, but the weight, for my smallish wrist, was borderline, going back and forth.
Let’s start with the watch. For me, watch width, the most common quoted dimension, is irrelevant, except for “does it look good ?”. The key metric is the lug-to-lug. For the Ghost it is 49mm, perfect for my small 6.7” to keep comfortably within the wrist sides but exude stability. I am generally ok with up to 52mm, and prefer nothing smaller then 46mm. I prefer bracelets to straps, that is just me, and another key determinant is whether the bracelet drops vertically at the lugs. This one does. And its flexibility wraps around the wrist like a glove.
The iconic 300m watch style doesn’t need explanation hear. The quirky helium value on the left adding bags of character. The twisted lugs, the sides curves, polished at the top of the chamfering, but brushed on the sides, has the perfect contrast between brushed and polished, showing off each. This is something the Ghost shares with my Rolex Explorer 1 40mm. I find that just brushed or just polished watches don’t show off the workmanship so much.
The titanium bezel is also beautiful, as well as being purposeful. It does remind me of the Yacht-master, but preferable to the platinum alloy I never wanted to pay for. The brush steel dial is at once industrial, and jewellery like. In the fact the design principles of this watch have merged the Jewellery, that we all crave from luxury watches, to the subtle purposeful watch we pretend it should be. Very clever. The time is super clear, aided by the generous steel wrapped lume filled pips.
In another great move, Omega has gone for a domed sapphire crystal, accentuating shadows , sparks and light bending at the edges of the glass. It is cleverness to only anti-glare coat the underside. Not only does this prevent the eventual scratching of any coating on the outside, it keeps the time clear whilst still allowing playful sparkles.
The bracelet is comfortable, flexible and good looking. It has on-the-fly adjustment just by moving the clasp. Here we have combined the looks and gravitas of a bracelet, with the simplicity and ease of a strap. It also keeps the overall package light, whilst still having a nice weight to it. No more fiddly link adjustments and mishap scratches.
I personally find titanium watches a bit too light, and a bit too scratchy, which puts me in a difficult position in terms of the range of weight I like. This Milanese bracelet manages to pull the weight down, whilst allowing the reassuring heft of a stainless steel body.
The calibre has been talked to death. It is one of the best three hander movements on the market IMHO, accurate, reliable and not half badly finished. I prefer it to the 8900 for this type of watch. Thinner, lighter and eshrews the hour hand movement which is great for dates, but unneeded for dateless, and also the occasional extra service that excessive usage of this adjustment needs.
Development points ? a tiny Greek Omega laser etched into the sapphire would be great. A GMT version would be a great development. Quick release strap mechanism ? Omega has been a bit tardy here. IWC shows the way with both bracelet link design, and a quick release mechanism which also allows for convention straps if you must!
This watch is subtle at a distance and stunning upfront. It is unusual, iconic and manages to be comfortable as well. I liked the black dial as well, but it felt like playing too safe. I went for gorgeous this time. It can be worn out, in and with a suit and swimming costume. Every so often a watch manufacture hits it out of the park – this one left the state, and its not Borough park
😁
