Ten Years Later, OMEGA Still Has Perfect Timing
Omega marks ten years of Master Chronometer certification, redefining modern precision and elevating luxury through measurable excellence.
Among serious collectors, there are brands you admire and brands you trust. Omega has always aimed for both.
The story begins in 1848, when Louis Brandt founded his workshop with an ambition that feels distinctly modern: to create accuracy you could measure, not simply admire.
That pursuit shaped the maison through the nineteenth century and culminated in the nineteen-line Omega calibre of 1894; so advanced that it gave the company its name. From the beginning, precision was the point.
Omega 10 years of Master Chronometer certification. Credit: Omega
A new benchmark for modern horology
In 2015, Omega introduced Master Chronometer certification, a publicly verifiable standard that demanded more of a watch than traditional chronometer testing.
For decades, uncased movements were approved within a tolerance of minus four to plus six seconds per day; acceptable once, but not for a world surrounded by magnetic fields and constant motion.
Working with METAS, the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology, Omega devised a certification that reflects real-world wear. Fully cased watches are tested over ten days, measured in six positions, and exposed to temperature shifts and magnetic fields of fifteen thousand gauss.
Water resistance and power reserve are also verified, and each watch must maintain accuracy between zero and plus five seconds per day. It is not just a tougher test but a philosophy: the watch you wear is the one that was tested.
Innovation that earned the standard
Omega could raise the bar because it had already built the technology to meet it. The co-axial escapement ensures lasting precision by reducing friction, while the silicon Si14 balance spring resists the invisible magnetic forces found in phones, laptops, handbags and aircraft cabins.
These are not novelties but the essential mechanisms that allow a watch to perform as a true instrument.
From one model to a global signature
The Globemaster was the first to achieve Master Chronometer status in 2015, setting a precedent that now defines the brand. President and Chief Executive Raynald Aeschlimann calls it “an expression of Omega’s DNA”.
Today, more than two and a half million watches carry the Co-Axial Master Chronometer title; proof that excellence is not a limited edition. This confidence, grounded in data, allows Omega to offer a five-year warranty across all collections.
Independence and integrity
At the heart of Master Chronometer lies independence. Testing is conducted under the authority of METAS, ensuring every result is traceable and verifiable.
This transparency replaces marketing language with measurable truth, appealing to collectors who value craftsmanship proven under scrutiny.
The laboratory of precision
Omega’s Laboratoire de Précision takes that ethos further. Authorised by the Swiss Accreditation Service for both chronometer and Master Chronometer testing, it is the first facility to unite the two standards under one neutral roof.
Advanced technologies measure every beat of a calibre, while big-data analysis refines accuracy beyond traditional limits. It is science in the service of watchmaking art.
A decade of quiet certainty
Ten years on, Master Chronometer is more than a certification. It marks how far Omega has taken a nineteenth-century ideal and applied it to twenty-first-century life.
The brand has not redefined luxury as spectacle but as certainty; a guarantee that a watch is as reliable as it is beautiful.
For collectors who value engineering as much as aesthetics, this is the promise Omega continues to keep. A promise measured not in words, but in seconds that stay true.
