For the cynical among us, it’s becoming difficult to remain enthusiastic when Omega men’s replica announces the results of yet another archival plundering. We all enjoy a good look back into the past, but there’s a limit, a time to move forward with our lives and on to something new, right? So when news broke of the arrival of a Seamaster 300 reissue, the collective groan from replica watch-weary enthusiasts was palpable. Was that dismayed exhalation justified? Is Omega’s copy-paste approach to replica watchmaking wearing thin?
On the face of it, yes. Omega’s mimicry of Porsche’s photocopier method of design may seem nothing short of lazy, but once the context is realised, Omega Seamaster Replica motivation can be greater understood. From 1919 onwards, Omega absolutely dominated the Observatory Trials, a series of competitions held around Europe that sought to find the most accurate movements ever made. In 1931, Omega won all six categories at the Geneva trials; in 1936, Omega’s calibre 47.7 achieved a score unbeaten until 1965; in 1961, the replica watchmaker set two new records and occupied the top four slots for a single category. Omega was king.
When the quartz revolution happened, there was chaos. Titans of replica watchmaking crumbled to dust as cheap, plastic replica watches with cheap, plastic movements became the affordable timepiece of choice. Some replica watchmakers made it through, Rolex being one of the few left unscathed. Omega was not so lucky, despite a decade or so of pushing boundaries with both mechanical and electrical technology—including a trip to the moon and the rescue of Apollo 13—and its tenure at the top came to an end.
It was then a slow crawl back from the brink. Many supreme replica watchmakers had to do it, and Omega was not immune. Under the guidance of some of the best business minds in replica watchmaking (Nicolas Hayek, Jean-Claude Biver), Omega has resurfaced and found its feet once again. Think of this repopulation of modern vintage as restoring a back catalogue; where Rolex has maintained a continual presence of its historical models among its product lines, Omega has had to fill in the gaps.
