The New (Oct 2023) Planet Ocean Dark Grey GMT Cal 8906 Titanium Ref 215.92.46.22.99.002

[savio.79]

I must admit it.
Ok, It's thick, large, expensive, but the color combo is beautiful, and AFAIK this "new" ceramic is the best among ceramics, maybe this one could erase years of "I'm afraid my ceramic case or lug could crack anytime"

 

[jets]

Omega is lost.

 

[MSNWatch]

If omega is able to make 12-13mm thick divers with lug to lug of about 48mm even if WR has to be reduced to say 200m with non-display casebacks they would open up to a whole different segment of the watch market.

 

[Wooden_spoon]

Honestly I think it’s stunning. Tactical and masculine yet with a hint of dare I say elegance. The matte dial and blacked out indices are so cool. The tech is intriguing. It must be one of the lighter divers at this size, certainly if you want ceramic.

But, too big for my wrist! Maybe if I had the arms (and cash).

 

[scapa]

Evitzee

It's not my type of watch but the diameter and thickness are just not in the mainstream today of what people are looking for. I like the looks and the technology, but the whole package would look better without the He valve at 10 o'clock. And that price is, well, interesting.

I think this is the key. I own an MM300 (15.4, but reasonable L2L) and a Sinn 206 Ar (17mm, wears smaller but there it is) and while I enjoy and wear both, I just think that the tide has turned among enthusiasts and the buying public alike, and there just isn't the appetite there once was for a timepiece that towers off the wrist, especially when something like the smaller but tech-y Sinn U50 can reach 500m at under 12mm (admittedly, less luxuriously).

It's neat, but I don't get it. Much rather the UD for less cash, or many others for far less.

 

[dsio]

Something else I would add is that this is another of these GMT divers rather than a true GMT watch. The Oreo is still the only true GMT bezel watch in the Omega lineup, the other dozen Planet Ocean GMTs all have a dive bezel.

The Oreo bezel is superb and even has a dive scale built into it so it can do double duty, there’s no reason not to use that. Failing that, they could have taken a leaf from their own history and used a rotating inner GMT bezel operated by another crown where the He escape valve is. I really don’t get why they keep putting dive bezels on these GMT watches and nerfing their practicality.

 

[thatone]

Nice looking watch but way too big and too pricey.

I don't think the caseback is what is restricting the thickness. The 3861 is a good example of this - the sapphire version has a caseback but it's thinner than the hesalite with no display caseback.

 

[dsio]

T thatone

Nice looking watch but way too big and too pricey.

I don't think the caseback is what is restricting the thickness. The 3861 is a good example of this - the sapphire version has a caseback but it's thinner than the hesalite with no display caseback.

That’s because the sapphire crystal is thinner and flatter than the hesalite, the thickness difference there is in the front rather than the back.

 

[ErichPryde]

Doc Savage

That's a whole lotta watch right there.

There's a joke in here somewhere about mass

dsio

Something else I would add is that this is another of these GMT divers rather than a true GMT watch. The Oreo is still the only true GMT bezel watch in the Omega lineup, the other dozen Planet Ocean GMTs all have a dive bezel.

The Oreo bezel is superb and even has a dive scale built into it so it can do double duty, there’s no reason not to use that. Failing that, they could have taken a leaf from their own history and used a rotating inner GMT bezel operated by another crown where the He escape valve is. I really don’t get why they keep putting dive bezels on these GMT watches and nerfing their practicality.

Exactly. Why not just make a GMT that has the water resistance of an Aqua Terra or slightly less? It makes very, very little sense to have 600 M of water resistance on a GMT.

 

[dsio]

ErichPryde

There's a joke in here somewhere about mass


Exactly. Why not just make a GMT that has the water resistance of an Aqua Terra or slightly less? It makes very, very little sense to have 600 M of water resistance on a GMT.

Well that they sort of do have, but its in the form of the World Timer Aqua Terra which comes in at 14.1 mm, reasonable and only 1 mm more than the regular Aqua Terra but still not exactly slim for a watch without a movable bezel. 14.1 is ok though imo.

The issue with this is two-fold though, the first is that the worldtimer complication once you understand it is just as good or even more useful than a true GMT bezel, but it just isn’t well known or understood, people looking for a GMT watch won’t think to consider or find in searching the world timer, despite it being perfect for them.

The second issue is that it hasn’t been marketed well at all, it’s not a watch that even comes to mind for most Omega owners and nothing is being done to popularize the idea of a world timer as an alternative to a GMT watch.

This does give you everything the GMT bezel does with less work though as long as you know which city is near the city you’re in or at.

 

[ErichPryde]

dsio

Well that they sort of do have, but its in the form of the World Timer Aqua Terra which comes in at 14.1 mm, reasonable and only 1 mm more than the regular Aqua Terra but still not exactly slim for a watch without a movable bezel. 14.1 is ok though imo.

The issue with this is two-fold though, the first is that the worldtimer complication once you understand it is just as good or even more useful than a true GMT bezel, but it just isn’t well known or understood, people looking for a GMT watch won’t think to consider or find in searching the world timer, despite it being perfect for them.

The second issue is that it hasn’t been marketed well at all, it’s not a watch that even comes to mind for most Omega owners and nothing is being done to popularize the idea of a world timer as an alternative to a GMT watch.

This does give you everything the GMT bezel does with less work though as long as you know which city is near the city you’re in or at.

I've got to say, I have seen images of the world timer but I actually don't have any idea what it is even for. Maybe Omega doesn't want to release a true GMT because it was supplant this model? But if that is the case, why aren't they advertising this as a competitor for say, the Rolex gmt? Because that is definitely a talking point in every watch Community where the general consensus is Omega doesn't have a parallel there.

Not sure I understand the marketing strategy here?

Edit: also, I thought I remember reading that the regular Aqua Terra was down to low 13 mm now?

 

[dsio]

ErichPryde

I've got to say, I have seen images of the world timer but I actually don't have any idea what it is even for. Maybe Omega doesn't want to release a true GMT because it was supplant this model? But if that is the case, why aren't they advertising this as a competitor for say, the Rolex gmt? Because that is definitely a talking point in every watch Community where the general consensus is Omega doesn't have a parallel there.

Not sure I understand the marketing strategy here?

Edit: also, I thought I remember reading that the regular Aqua Terra was down to low 13 mm now?

Yea the regular one is 13.1mm the world timer is 14.1, so it doesn’t add too much thickness. It’s also a larger at 43mm rather than the 41mm of the regular version, so it effectively maintains proportion but the larger size gives some more room to read the cities on the dial.

I’m sure the reason they don’t make an Aqua Terra GMT any longer is that it would supplant the world timer, they did previously have a GMT in the last generation without a bezel.

The World Timer really is objectively better even than the Oreo for practical reasons as you don’t need to turn a bezel to see the time difference between places or to remember the Timezone, it’s all right there, it’s just that when you search for Omega GMT watches you don’t find it as world timers of the past were sort of niche models made by Patek or JLC rather than a sensible, durable travel watch.

 

[sathomasga]

dsio

the worldtimer complication once you understand it is just as good or even more useful than a true GMT bezel

I love world timers. Not so much for the functionality, but more to remind me that we all live in a large and diverse world. I kind of wish more citizens of my country wore world timer watches so maybe they wouldn't think the USA was the center of the universe.

Of course, the United States Senate keeps passing bills to put the USA on daylight savings time permanently. If such a bill ever becomes law, it will definitely screw up worldtimers for a rather significant part of the market.

 

[Omega-Q]

I was excited about this release...until I saw the size. This is just way too big of a watch. I wished Omega would reduce the size. My favorite watch in the collection is the 321 Ed White...this one is so comfortable to wear & fits so nicely on the wrist. I hope there will be some direction in Omega's future to slightly reduce the size...

 

[Caliber561]

dsio

In this instance it’s one watch that isn’t really intended to be a big seller rather than an overall direction. As an experiment in material science its cool, but the Speedmaster Super Racing with the spirate hairspring is a more interesting direction.

This may be true, but it's still a bit of an indication that Omega doesn't see anything wrong with the prohibitive sizing of the Planet Ocean line. For what it's worth, I think that many would have found it far more impressive a demonstration of technical skill if Omega had managed to reduce the thickness of the watch, rather than just use some new-to-Omega variant of ceramic.

 

[jjjones]

nicolamilton

Anyone is happy with Omega's direction?

Not really, the Seamaster anniversary release with the blue dials were a major dissappointment.

 

[Doc Savage]

ErichPryde

There's a joke in here somewhere about mass.

Whole Lotta Rosie.

 

[savio.79]

dsio

Something else I would add is that this is another of these GMT divers rather than a true GMT watch. The Oreo is still the only true GMT bezel watch in the Omega lineup, the other dozen Planet Ocean GMTs all have a dive bezel.

The Oreo bezel is superb and even has a dive scale built into it so it can do double duty, there’s no reason not to use that. Failing that, they could have taken a leaf from their own history and used a rotating inner GMT bezel operated by another crown where the He escape valve is. I really don’t get why they keep putting dive bezels on these GMT watches and nerfing their practicality.

I can’t get your point, maybe because my English is very bad
In this novelty watch, I can see the fourth hand pointing at a 24 hour scale so I don’t understand well (my fault) why there should be a hour scale on the bezel. In that case, if I accidentally rotate the bezel, I’m changing the second time display by mistake, and I wouldn’t be able to use the watch for diving, that should be the purpose for a diver

 

[Sauzo]

dsio

Something else I would add is that this is another of these GMT divers rather than a true GMT watch. The Oreo is still the only true GMT bezel watch in the Omega lineup, the other dozen Planet Ocean GMTs all have a dive bezel.

The Oreo bezel is superb and even has a dive scale built into it so it can do double duty, there’s no reason not to use that. Failing that, they could have taken a leaf from their own history and used a rotating inner GMT bezel operated by another crown where the He escape valve is. I really don’t get why they keep putting dive bezels on these GMT watches and nerfing their practicality.

I had the Oreo and ended up selling it. The “18” on the bezel didn’t look right to me. And the line under the numbers didn’t look right at that point.

As for the new GMT, it looks great but at 17mm thick, I’ll pass. Like another said, I’d opt for an Ultra Deep at that thickness.

 

[spacemission]

nicolamilton

Anyone is happy with Omega's direction?

Cabo, you can send your cv to Bienne.