Omega launches what could be its most significant watch of the year
The new Aqua Terra says a lot about what the watch brand stands for.
To participate in a calligraphy, or shodõ, class in Kyoto, Japan, requires an exactness and confidence in your strokes. One line, a master calligrapher reminds us. You can’t go back and fill it in. Taking great care is important in a Japanese tea ceremony, too. You must follow the steps and sit in the ritual.
Omega chief executive Raynald Aeschlimann says the brand considered the affinities between such artforms and the ones necessary to watchmaking when deciding to launch a major new collection of Omega Aqua Terra watches in Kyoto.
“There is a good sense here of the precision, dedication … what [Japanese artisans] are famous for,” he says during a meeting ahead of the official launch. Also, as he points out, Japan is a major consumer of watches. But that’s more a strategy thing.
What Aeschlimann really likes to talk about is values.
Said values, he says, are on full display with the launch of 12 new Aqua Terra watches in the 30mm size, four of them in precious metals such as the brand’s Sedna™ and Moonshine™ gold, and some with diamond-set bezels. Dial colours include chocolate brown, deep green and mother-of-pearl, with a transparent sapphire caseback and integrated bracelet featuring the brand’s patented screw-and-pin system.
It is the first time the Aqua Terra – a sports watch launched 23 years ago – has offered this size. The brand re-engineered its certified Master Chronometer movement specifically to fit it, creating two new movements – the smallest developed by Omega. The movements took four years to develop and Aeschlimann says eventually they will be used in other watches, too. He doesn’t think real luxury, in watches at least, can come without combining technology and innovation. He also thinks value for your investment counts for a lot. “It never was about scaling down for Omega; it was important to engineer up to meet today’s diverse preferences. It’s not just about [a] labelling business,” he says of what makes a luxury item.
Still, as he points out, creating the watch was something of a technical challenge.
“Smaller is more difficult to get to the same chronometric performance … You cannot just do everything smaller if you want to become reliable, [have] precision and you want to pass all the tests. So for me it was very clear. Work on the case, work on the concept, work on the line, but don’t forget that we have a very thin movement … keep your DNA and you’re going to be successful,” he says. “You show how strong your brand is because in a smaller size you have to make it alive with details.”
And, yes, judging by the campaign, this is a watch aimed at women. However, as Aeschlimann says, the rules around who wears what size no longer really exist. For example, Wicked star and Omega ambassador Jonathan Bailey recently asked for a 25mm Constellation Mini to wear to a premiere as a bracelet. Choosing a watch now, Aeschlimann points out, is more about personality or mood.
But what he really wants to underscore is that Omega takes women’s watches seriously, whether its this 30mm version, or as many of their female clients wear, a brawny Speedmaster. And always has. The brand debuted watches for women in 1902 – a period when men were still mostly using pocket watches and “secret” watches were the option for women needing to discreetly check the time. “For us it’s very clear we are a universal brand and we appeal to everybody. So it’s not just looking at this and saying, ‘Oh, I want to take some market share there’. It’s more talking to our DNA and making it very specific for women. That’s why this movement was important, it has to be in line with who we are. And a new movement had to be Master Chronometer,” he says.
Aeschlimann hinted at this collection during an interview with WISH last year, where he discussed the many women’s watches in its archive – including some bejewelled secret watches – and how its customer base is more than 40 per cent female. “Omega has always been following and sometimes even being proactive in the evolution [of women’s watches] … we’re going to work on this next year with a lot of this time for women’s execution where we show femininity, where we show a lot of ways of creating watches that are even more than just a watch,” he said at the time.
“We’ve pioneered women’s watchmaking since 1902, from the 1937 Medicus for nurses to the 1955 Ladymatic with the world’s smallest chronometer-certified automatic calibre. We’ve never compromised on technical excellence for women, which gives us credibility that newer players can’t match.”
Omega meanwhile has just opened its ninth boutique in Australia, entering Sydney’s newest Westfield Sydney’s newest luxury precinct on Market Street. Aeschlimann says the new boutique represents a significant investment into the Australian market. He notes too that watch collecting culture has evolved.
“Collector culture has matured significantly, we see appreciation for movement complications, the use of unique materials like gems and gold and heritage pieces like the Speedmaster. Collectors build collections based on horological merit, not just brand recognition,” he says.
Omega has also, always, as Aeschlimann notes, taken its female ambassadors seriously. The impressive line-up of faces for the new Omega Aqua Terra 30mm watch include singer Tems, Oscar-winning actor Ariana Debose, Australian performer Danielle Marsh from K-pop group NewJeans and Industry star Marisa Abela. Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, the 17-year-old daughter of long-time Omega ambassador Nicole Kidman, also makes her debut for the brand as a face of the Aqua Terra 30mm. Having already walked the runway for Miu Miu, the new gig fits with Urban Kidman’s entering the public domain in her own right.
Omega has form in mother and daughter connections. Cindy Crawford – Omega’s longest serving ambassador and the designer of a line of Constellation watches in 1996 – and her daughter Kaia are both Omega ambassadors. Gerber fronted a campaign for new references of the Constellation in 2024 and both mother-daughter pairs attended Omega House during the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Aeschlimann is taking careful note of the next generation of watch buyers.
“Sunday Rose [has] been with Omega her whole life … I mean we haven’t signed her before, but we have had Nicole with us for so many years and it was nice to talk to [Sunday] and to see her at the Olympics in Paris and how incredibly dedicated she was to watches,” he says. “And that’s when we started to think, ‘Wow, I mean she has her own style’, she’s the daughter, like many kids of these people – and we’re not going to start to do a twins collection for Clooney’s kids, don’t get me wrong! It’s good to see she’s a typical example of Generation Z – hugely, incredibly informed …” he says.
The collection was celebrated as the sun set over the ancient Seiryuden Temple, sitting atop Mount Higashiyama and surrounded by lush, even wild vegetation.
Here, women in traditional kimonos chatted and guests, including the new watch’s ambassadors (minus Sunday Rose who was, reportedly, on a school excursion) and the likes of Brynn Wallner, of influential watch platform Dimepiece, took in views of Kyoto at dusk. Aeschlimann, who energetically greeted each guest, earlier described the city as being a place of “secrets”. It was a wink, of course, to the campaign for the new timepiece, centred on the keeping of secrets. But the word is also a reminder that in watchmaking – as with other things of value – often it’s what’s inside that matters most.
This story is from the August issue of WISH.
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