We couldn’t have the Olympics without some pretty accurate timing devices, and today it’s Omega who are the main brand associated with Olympic timing of all kinds. While they have been present at the majority of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games since 1932, they aren’t the only company to have provided timing devices and commemorative watches. This article will outline Omega’s involvement and some of the other great watches from the games where Omega missed out.

Timing the first modern Olympic Games

The first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896, and the judges for the various events brought along their own watches. This caused many obvious problems, given the likely variations in quality between the different stopwatches in use. These will all have been pocket watch sized Chronographs. There aren’t any records of any particular watches used.

The Olympic Association realised they needed to have a more standardised approach and Heuer was commissioned to provide watches for the games in the 1920s. The Heuer Mikrograph was provided, which was able to time down to 1/100ths of a second. This was a huge improvement, but interestingly the Association took a step backwards in 1932 when Omega first arrived on the scene.

a large 1930s mikrograph pocket watch style chronograph with bright white enamel dial and small nuimbers around the ourtside with think black hands with crown and pusher on top restingin beige cloth case

Omega’s First Olympics

Omega won a contract for these games in Los Angeles, providing 30 identical Chronographs and a watchmaker to service them during the games. They got very high praise for their technical performance, despite only timing to 1/10ths of a second, a worse measure than those used from Heuer. They did however then continue to be the official timekeepers for the next games, and then again from 1948 to 1960.

Omega stopwatch with ratrrapante function made for the 1932 olympics with white enamel dial red logo and black numeals and hands and the pusher at the 11 o'clcok position

The First Commemorative Watch

The first watch to feature the Olympic rings came at Melbourne in 1956, a Seamaster made for high-ranking officials with the rings on the dial, and one with XIV for the 16th games on the dial made for everyone else. It’s beautiful!

series of pictures of gold omega seamaster watch with olympic rings and cross of merit on fthe dia, godl hands and engraved caseback from melbourne 1952 olympics

The Tokyo Games and Seiko

With the 1964 games being held in Tokyo, it is unsurprising to know that Seiko were the main sponsors and produced a great range of watches to go with the games, including a monopusher Chronograph known as the Chronostop and a Worldtimer. The company had to work hard to get the timing equipment ready for the games as they had none of the technology to begin with. It was the first games to use electronic photo finishes and trial the touchpads in the pool for the swimming competition. Visiting journalists commented that it was the High-Tech games!

seiko worldtimer for the 1964 olympic games with silver dial with blue and blakc edge, red highlights and black cities around the edge of the dial in a steel case and bracelet with a 5 o'clock crown

Munich and Longines

The 1972 Games saw Longines become the main timekeepers for the games alongside German brand Junghans. They used their Conquest range to produce a great monopusher chronograph in celebration.

blue dial Longines Conquest monopusher for the 1972 olympics with bright organse chrono seconds hand, subidal at 3 o'clock, steel case and blue strap

The Moscow Games

The 1980 games in Moscow saw a fantastic range of watches issued by Soviet Watch Companies, with the most famous being Raketa, who made some striking colourful watches with different Olympic motifs on the dial.

Swatch join the party

At the Sydney games in 2000 the official watch was a Swatch. While there is no doubting the quality and reliability of Swatch watches, they aren’t famed for their technical prowess or precision, so it’s interesting that this partnership came about. They have continued to produce a range of watchs for every summer games since then. Here is the Paris 2024 Collection.

light blue green swatch watch for Pairs olympics 2024 with darker green dial bright white hands and pink second hand

The return of Omega

From 2006 onwards Omega have cemented their place as the watch partner for the Olympic games and we’ve seen a great range of their models made as Limited Editions.

gold watch with gold hands silver dial and black numerals on brownm strap for the Pari 2024 Olympics from omega with guillochse dial in the centre and sector markers at the edges

Conclusion

Olympic watches are a much broader set of watches than you might imagine. There are a fun and varied niche of watches to collect, and with many more to come in future, it’s going to remain interesting as they find new ways to celebrate the Olympic Games.