![]() Watch manufacturers continued to push the limits of water resistance for their dive watches during the 1960s and ‘70s, and Omega was no exception. Like another now-legendary divers’ watch that preceded it to the market, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, the Seamaster found its way to the wrist of Jacques Cousteau, the man almost single-handedly responsible for the growth in popularity of diving as a leisure pursuit, and went on to play a role in several record-breaking dives throughout the late 20th Century. Finally, there was the Seamaster 300, the first “Professional” Seamaster watch, which boosted its dressy predecessor’s water resistance to 200 meters (Omega was confident that the watch could handle pressures as deep as those at 300 meters, even though the testing equipment at the time could only record down to 200, hence the name) and embraced the era’s growing masses of recreational divers. The second was the Speedmaster, a chronograph for timing motorsports that would eventually become much more famous for being the first watch worn on the moon. One was the Railmaster, a watch aimed at scientists and technicians whose technical hallmark was its extreme magnetic resistance. The following year of 1957 proved to be a historically significant one for Omega, thanks to the launch of three specially designed “Master” tool watches, all of which owed some stylistic debt to the original Seamaster. In 1955, diver Gordan McLean wore the Seamaster for a record-breaking 62.5-meter dive off the Australian coast in 1956, another Seamaster took a polar-route journey across the North Atlantic strapped to the hull of a Douglas DC6. Omega’s pioneering waterproof technology centered around the use of a rubber O-ring gasket, of the type used in submarines, to seal the crown and case against leaks this type of gasket proved to be more reliable than the shellac and lead versions that watchmakers had been using at the time, and set the Seamaster on its path to becoming a full-fledged divers’ watch. The “dive watch,” as we know it in the modern sense, didn’t really exist, and the original Seamaster was instead positioned in contemporary advertisements as a watch for “town, sea, and country” - a dress watch for gentlemen that was distinguished from its many competitors by its adoption of a new waterproofing system that Omega had developed for the wartime watches it produced for British military divers a few years before. The watch, however, bore little resemblance to the one we’re familiar with today, the model worn on the screen by James Bond. Introduced in 1948, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the firm that became Omega, the Seamaster was perhaps always destined to become a mainstay of the Omega portfolio. Nowadays, it can be difficult to believe that such a diverse collection with such a dominant presence traces its roots back to just two groundbreaking models: a post-war gents’ watch from 1948 and its descendant, built for recreational divers, in 1957. The Omega Seamaster is not only a modern icon among divers’ watches it’s also the cornerstone of one of the Swiss brand’s most prominent and versatile collections: today’s connoisseur can choose between robust, sporty utility (the Seamaster Diver 300M), nautical-inspired elegance (the Aqua Terra), and understated vintage flair (the Heritage models like the Seamaster 1948), as well as an array of colorways and case materials ranging from steel to titanium to high-tech ceramics and proprietary gold alloys. Get 5% Off Your First Order Of Select Brands - Use Code "FirstOrder". Book a Consultation with our Watch Specialist Here.
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