Why I Purchased It: Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M – Reprise

Deciding to purchase the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra wasn’t precisely a no brainer (my favourite type of brainer). Right here’s why I purchased this timepiece and the way I really feel about it after a yr.

The writer’s Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M on his wrist

Earlier than we check out the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra in additional element, although, I wish to introduce you to the sphere of semiotics.

Of type and performance

I don’t envy you in case you have ever had the misfortune of being invited to dinner at a semiologist’s home. You might have earned my deepest sympathies.

You’ll probably be handled to a dialog drier than the fish you might be served and, sooner or later, it’ll flip to ornamental veils.

The ornamental veil isn’t headdress however the area present between an object’s operate and its design. Intensive evaluation resulting in complicated theoretical explanations exist, apparently.

This area, this ornamental veil, encourages debate round an object’s nature and its that means. A instance of that is the Alessi Juicy Salif by Philippe Starck.

Alessi Juicy Salif by Philippe Starck

Alessi has produced and has bought round 1,000,000 Juicy Salifs, but the gadget is virtually ineffective at juicing oranges and lemons.

French anthropologist André Leroy-Gourham believes the notion of useful approximation to be essential in providing a purpose for an object’s existence, and that there has all the time been freedom within the interpretation of the connection between type and performance.

Our fascination with watches has little or no to do with the examine or understanding of time itself. Watches are devices that measure time and are often designed to mirror that; nevertheless, the will for watch designers to push the ornamental veil results in a large variability in legibility.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra: when life provides you lemons

Does the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra, a watch marketed to be worn on a yacht or whereas taking part in water sports activities, drape an ornamental veil over its wearer’s wrist or can it truly juice a lemon?

After a yr of proudly owning mine, I’m blissful to report that it may.

Launched by Omega in 2002, it’s a handsome, informal sports activities watch that includes George Daniels’ co-axial escapement, which was industrialized by Omega and built-in into Swatch Group ETA-produced Omega calibers within the Nineties.

Omega believed within the co-axial and developed the expertise to be used in strong in-house calibers. A sports activities watch is the proper proving floor, and the Aqua Terra was one of many fashions to learn from the model’s technological progress.

The primary watches have been trendy however impressed by previous designs. Lengthy, twisted lugs and arrowhead fingers got here to outline the look of the Aqua Terra assortment, which was an aquatic-themed watch equally snug on land.

Because the actions have been upgraded to in-house calibers dial patterns turned extra elaborate, with crucial fashion replace coming with the “teak-pattern” dials. These have been embossed with slim, longitudinal traces evoking the teak decks of luxurious yachts that got here to outline the look of the Aqua Terra assortment.

The motion grew in thickness and diameter as did the circumstances. The co-axial calibers weren’t with out points, and with every replace to their reliability got here a slight styling change to mark the progress: date window frames have been discarded in favor of unadorned cutouts, heart hyperlinks have been polished, and ending enhancements have been provided.

The daybreak of the Grasp Chronometer certification from the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology heralded a redesign unveiled at Baselworld 2017, bringing with it a reimagining of the Seamaster Aqua Terra’s look.

Till that time my curiosity within the watch was lukewarm; nevertheless the expertise, new design, and end raised my thermostat previous tropical.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M: dial and fingers

The Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M dial options latitudinally engraved furrows of intermittent depth streaked throughout the three-dimensional dial. A wealthy lacquer and metallic sunburst end within the central dial leads the attention to hour indices resembling the prow of a yacht. Radially aligned, trapezoidal and tall, the indices proudly show their faceted bows with polished sides and vertically brushed prime surfaces.

Dial of the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M

The fingers and indices are Tremendous-LumiNova stuffed, whereas the metallic dial displays off the perimeters of every like a distant mirage.

The dial imparts a calmness to the Aqua Terra not current in earlier fashions that I ascribe to the horizontal traces on the dial.

The calmness, a sense of being grounded, is enhanced by the gently domed sapphire crystal held in place by a extremely polished conical bezel. The dial’s utilized Omega emblem, vertically brushed on prime and polished alongside the perimeters, sits proudly beneath the only 12 o’clock hour index (a double index would have been pleasant right here for my part).

Dial textual content is surprisingly terse, decreased to asserting it’s a Seamaster with a technically superior co-axial escapement and Grasp Chronometer certification. At 6 o’clock is a well-executed precision-cut date window with bevels extending all the best way all the way down to the date disk. And I’m significantly happy that the date disk matches the colour of the dial.

Though slim, the date (in Futura font just like the minute numerals) is very legible.

The dial’s “teak deck” sample consists of “planks” with shallow spacing between every and a wider furrow between each three. This each generates attention-grabbing and deep shadows and creates margins for visible mass to decentralize and increase outward, creating the impression of a bigger dial. This rhythm permits the dial to be loved like a lyric relatively than mere graphic subject.

The fingers are a splendidly multifaceted affair.

The lengthy and skinny second hand, bisected and polished with a spearhead lume plot, reaches comfortably into the minute observe markings. The pentagonal counterbalance is identical size because the spearhead.

The minute hand incorporates three surfaces with the main and trailing edges polished and a plateaued central column brushed alongside its size. Ditto the hour hand.

The minute hand boasts an arrowhead at its tip, broad and squat, and fully full of lume. The lume on the hour hand is inside its central physique.

The form of the fingers is dauphine in idea however freshened to mirror the watch’s trendy sporting credentials and manufacturing strategies. The breadth of the hour hand’s terminal is identical as that of the hour indices.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M: case and bracelet

The case accommodates the present Omega co-axial structure with out an excessive amount of paunch, whereas intelligent design makes it seem slimmer than it’s.

The slab sides of the case are horizontally brushed in a rough grain, easy to the contact however tough in look, which supplies it a really dwelling really feel, nearly like wooden, and supplies texture you possibly can really feel with a fingertip. The case options Omega’s lyre lugs, which, true to the namesake instrument, compose natural curves framing the case.

The lugs are polished on prime with round brushing angled towards the bracelet. All of the floor modifications are crisp, and all of the traces generate visible rigidity. That is finely detailed design work deserving full appreciation.

The identical round brushing continues on the underside of the lugs and case, and a thick, wave-pattern motif with alternating brushed and polished surfaces surrounds a case again set with a beneficiant sapphire crystal. The bezel of the screw-in case again pronounces the mannequin title and water resistance.

Crown of the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M (picture courtesy topperjewelers.com)

The generously-sized conical/pear-shaped crown is absolutely polished apart from its finial, which incorporates a elegant Omega signature relieved on a blasted end convex subject. The crown’s knurled grip alludes to an summary helm, a element changing into extra obvious in use. The crown screws right into a slight recess within the case aspect so it each appears and wears smaller than it’s.

The bracelet hyperlinks connect to the case with finish hyperlinks sitting flush with the case band, cascading out in staggered three-link formation. The middle hyperlinks and aspect surfaces are polished whereas all the pieces else is vertically brushed.

Folding clasp of the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M

The clasp is a sequential folding twin arc with push-button actuators for launch. There may be an engraved Omega emblem on the brushed clasp, and the underside structure of the rocker arms is polished and curved for ergonomic consolation and operation.

I are likely to err towards the toolish-end of the luxurious watch spectrum. I recognize these watches’ no-nonsense method to time telling and their come-what-may perspective to timekeeping. No ornamental veil for me.

The technical deserves and aesthetic virtues come collectively in a harmonious bundle that’s far more than the sum of its elements.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M: why I purchased one

The query when contemplating to purchase was what would a watch designed for all times on the excessive seas and dinners at yacht golf equipment do for me? The closest I ever acquired to a yacht was proudly owning a pair of Sperry boat footwear, and I imagined it might be dishonest of my wristwatch to proclaim Seamaster once I didn’t even dwell close to a pool.

Aqua was within the title, however so was Terra. And whereas The World Is Not Sufficient for James Bond, I believed that the Aqua Terra is likely to be sufficient for me. And in any case, Bond made do with one (see Commemorating 56 Years Of Bond, James Bond: A Full Rundown Of Watches Worn On Display screen By The World’s Most Well-known Fictional Spy and The On- And Off-Display screen Watches Of Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan).

I took the plunge. The Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M was a birthday current to myself: a wristwatch that wouldn’t essentially be valuable however a strong, well-made, legible, and water resistant every day companion.

The broad case band, horizontally brushed, hinted on the sporting aspirations of the watch, however the polished sections within the now-shortened lugs and bracelet heart hyperlinks imparted barely dressier pretensions, softening its picture with out damaging its character. I didn’t thoughts.

Being extremely reflective, the fingers and indices motivated me to pick a black dial, which might soak up a few of the gentle, leaving the fireworks to the remainder of the {hardware}. In vivid gentle, the black dial seems iridescent as a consequence of its metallic sunburst sample.

The case again design ensures that the watch sits barely proud on the wrist, leaving the lugs by no means fairly involved with pores and skin. After they do contact, there’s the polished bevel ready.

The writer’s Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M on his wrist

At 38 mm in diameter, the watch sits properly on my wrist, projecting a picture of traditional proportions. It’s a picture I can’t shake. Within the 12 months I’ve had the watch it has by no means faltered, all the time maintaining time effectively inside its chronometer-rated promise, aided by the free-sprung silicon stability that makes a magnetized stability spring a fear of the previous.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M: from open highway to open sea

I’ve taken my Seamaster Aqua Terra to the top of the world, a dinner at a yacht membership (sure, actually), on the open highway, and on the open sea. The brushed end has held up effectively, if not exceptionally effectively. The polished bezel has scars from doing battle in opposition to prepare commuters and automotive doorways. The clasp has scraped in opposition to my keyboard extra instances than I care to confess, nevertheless the watch nonetheless appears remarkably good.

Most significantly, legibility and luxury all through all of this has remained glorious. The luminescent fingers are vivid and blue when the theater lights dim, immediately and distinctly revealing themselves all through the evening.

The arrowhead minute hand makes it simple to learn the time exactly and with out effort. The crown’s operation is extremely easy and exact with a very good quantity of really feel within the fingertips whereas being sturdy, well-weighed, and responsive when altering the date or adjusting the time.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M

The Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra is a splendidly composed sports activities watch with luxurious attraction that carries itself simply that little bit higher than this wearer ever might.

The black dial fits most events, the brushed and polished end goes with all the pieces, and I’d fortunately purchase a Seamaster Aqua Terra once more, ornamental veil be damned.

For extra data, please go to www.omegawatches.com/watch-omega-seamaster-aqua-terra-150m-omega-co-axial-master-chronometer.

Fast Details Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M Ref. 220.10.38.20.01.001
Case: 38 mm, stainless-steel
Motion: computerized Caliber 8800 with co-axial escapement and free sprung stability that includes silicon stability spring; official METAS certification as a chronometer, 3.5 Hz/25,200 vph frequency; 55 hours energy reserve
Capabilities: hours, minutes, seconds; quick-change date
Worth: $5,700/€5,300

* This story was first revealed on September 17, 2019 at Why I Purchased It: Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M.

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