Feb 6

Written by: mnbvcx
2/6/2010 9:24 AM

The legacy of the Omega dates back to 1848, when, at the age of 23, Louis Brandt opened a comptoir d'etabilissage, a sub-contracting sales office for watch manufacture. Unfortunately, Mr. Louis Brandt passed away in 1879 and he left omega watches  his modest company to his sons, Louis Paulmovado watches   Brandt and Cesar Brandt who carried on their father's tradition of impeccable pocket watch craftsmanship. They decided to rename the company "Bienne" in January 1880. There are several names they chose for their replica watches, including "Helvetia", "Jura", "Celtic", "Gurzelen", and "Patria". With the introduction of the movement of lever of "Labrador "in 1885, the watches carried out a precision of in 30 seconds per day.

In 1889, four years, later, Louis Brandt and Fils became the largest producers of breitling watches in Switzerland, with a production rate of of over 100,000 rolex watches . But this fact did not stop the exclusivity of the watches they produced, e.g. the minute-repeating wristwatch, developed in 1892 in partnership with Audemars Piguet, and probably the first wristwatch of its kind.

A completely new procket-watch caliber movement became a brilliant market performer when it went into production in 1894. It's major points for salability were in it's easily interchangable parts, and it's simplicity of  cartier watches construction. The company's banker, Henri Rieckel, suggested the name "Omega" for the new watch. The overwhelming success of the "Omega" name led to it being adopted as the sole name for all the tag heuer watches of the company from 1903.

The Omega name made it's sports debut at the international ballooning contest for the Gordon Bennet cup in 1909. Britain's Royal Flying Corps decided to choose Omega watches in 1917 as their official timekeepers for it's combat units, as did the American army in 1918. Omega had their first victory at the observatory timing competitions in Neuchâtel in 1919 with their chronometers winning the competition. This was continued with a score of first places right up until 1971. The 1933, 1936 and 1946 competitions were some of Omega's most noteworthy.

In 1957, the "Omega Speedmaster" was created. After rigorous evaluation and testing, NASA decided to use the "Speedmaster Professional" chronograph wristwatch in 1965 as it's official timekeeper. In 1967, the one millionth chronometer was certified. Jewellers Online Payne and son UK

On 21st July 1969, astronaught Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon. As he made the famous steps quoting "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", he was wearing his Omega Speedmaster Professional chronograph. In 1972, Omega recieved their two-millionth chronometer certificate.

In 1974 the legendary "Megaquartz" marine-chronometer had a daily timing variation of just two thousands of a second, in a trial lasting for 63 days.

Omega gains its 100,000th official rating certificate for its quartz chronometer on the 18th of May, 1983. The museum was created on 16th December 1983. 1995 brought Omega a presentation for the first automatic wristwatch with a centrally mounted tourbillion. In 1999, Omega testifys it's innovation by introducing the new 2500 caliber movement looking that successfully rival to the traditional Swiss-lever escapement.

Omega also made history by introducing the first mass-produced watch incorporating the revolutionary "co-axial escapement"-invented by English watchmaker George Daniels. The perfect combination of the new escapement and a brand-new developed free sprung balance with a goal to get rid of the basic impediments to ensure the accuracy of timekeeping. The effect of the thickness and viscosity of lubricant on the balance's amplitude has been actually obviated. Considered by many to be one of the most significant horological advancements since the invention of the lever escapement, the co-axial escapement functions with virtually no lubrication thereby eliminating one of the shortcomings of the traditional lever escapement, theoretically resulting in longer service intervals and greater accuracy over time. This improvement has extended service intervals to around 10 years.

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