Most big watch releases we see these days find innovation in case material, size, movement, dial configuration, and just overall design. We see a lot of industry firsts, but it’s rare for one of those firsts to be an actual new class of watch.
Housed in an 18K Sedna gold case modeled after the first watch ever worn in space, OMEGA’s new Speedmaster Chrono Chime is a groundbreaking feat in watchmaking. A timepiece six years in the making, it combines two age-old functions — a minute repeater and a rattrapante, or split-second chronograph — into a single unit. The brand-new movement, Calibre 1932, is by leaps and bounds the brand’s most advanced yet and a nod to the very pocket watch chronographs used during the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (if you can recall).
A split-second chronograph takes your standard chronograph to another level, allowing you to record “split time” while keeping the master stopwatch running. The chime pusher, when activated, will gong out the elapsed time. The minute repeater and the rattrapante are among the two most intricate watch movements in existence. They are few and far between individually, but no brand has ever combined them both into a single watch until now. Of course, it’s very appropriate that OMEGA makes these unprecedented mechanics visible through the transparent caseback.
Along with the Speedmaster Chrono Chime, OMEGA has released an Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime edition using the same movement. The former is expected to be priced at 450,000 CHF (~$456,310) and the latter at 420,000 CHF (~$425,886).
