Last week we looked into the watches James Bond wears in the films. Since 1995, they have all been from Omega, one of the largest Swiss watch brands currently owned by Swatch Group. In particular, they are a series of Omega Seamasters, which is Omega’s range of tool watches designed for diving. Whether or not people use them for diving, the factors that make a great dive watch remain popular. Tough cases, clear dials, good waterproofing and a bezel or outer ring for timing all make these watches very useful.

Omega is one of the oldest and most prestigious watch companies in Switzerland, and so was able to celebrate its 100th anniversary way back in 1948. It did this with the launch of the Seamaster as a waterproof automatic watch. It was designed to compete with Rolex’s hugely successful Oyster Perpetual, and incorporated technology invented in World War II, namely rubber gaskets. Seeing their use in submarines, adding a rubber gasket inside the watch case much improved the sealing regardless of the case design. They are still in use today to seal your watch.

Omega Seamaster from 1948 in Steel, Photo Credit: True Facet

In this amazing test of exposure to the cold, Omega strapped a Seamaster to the outside of a plane as it flew over the North Pole. The amazing photo is from the Omega website here.

Omega Seamaster strapped to outside of a plane for a flight over the North Pole to test cold resistance

There are many hundreds of Seamaster models from the last 70 years. In 1957 the company moved to take advantage of the boom in the sport of scuba diving by releasing the 300 Professional. When first released it could withstand water depths of 200m, however now it can easily withstand 300m.

The Most Unusual Seamaster, the Ploprof

To keep up with ever increasing depths that people wanted to dive to, Omega worked hard to improve their technology and make their watches safe in very very deep water. In 1970 they produced an extraordinary looking watch, the Ploprof 600. The name comes from the French for diver: “Plongeur Professionel”.

Omega Seamaster 600 "Ploprof" from 1971

This was followed by models rated to 1000m in depth, and today’s version can go as deep as 1200m. The unusual shape is entirely for the benefit of divers, as the crown on the left-hand side will not rub against a diving suit, and it is protected by steel crown guards. This is an enormous watch, at 55mm across, and is definitely the most unusual Seamaster.

While vintage watches would not be safe to take to these water depths, all new watches are tested to past their official depth rating by Omega before they leave the factory, in a testing process we wrote about here. A very impressive accomplishment!

Today’s Seamasters

Today, the Seamaster range is huge. It contains the dressy Aqua Terra range, including the fantastic Worldtimer, a favourite of The Watch Collectors’ Club Founders. There is also the Planet Ocean, which includes chronographs, or stopwatches, for those in need of a tool watch, and a large selection of heritage models based on watches made in previous decades. The core of the range remains the Professional 300m, now also named the Diver 300m.

This is the same model that James Bond wears today in his latest film, however he wears a very special edition. The watch was designed in conjunction with the actor Daniel Craig, and the association with Bond is extremely important to the company. There are a few things to highlight that separate it from the rest of the range.

Omega Seamaster Diver 300m No Tme to Die James Bond in Titanium

The No Time to Die Seamaster Diver 300

Firstly, it has a case and bracelet made of Titanium, not steel. Titanium is much lighter and stronger than steel and has a duller sheen to the metal, making it look less polished. There is a current trend for titanium cased watches that shows no sign of ending soon.

Secondly, there is a small arrow on the dial by the 6. This is known as a broad arrow, or more technically, a Pheon. This is to reflect James Bond’s character.