Omega Watches Throughout Time – Part One

Most of the people who are closely attuned to the luxury timepiece world are familiar with and often fans of the current collections of watches made by Omega. Among the models that draw repeated praise for men and women are the Constellation Collection, the Seamaster Collection, the Speedmaster Collection and the Deville Collection.

But aside from the strengths of current particular Omega timepieces, the Omega brand itself has its own unique strength: an impressive history and historic role in the field of horology.

The “prehistory” of Omega, as it were, began in 1848 when Louis Brandt, then only twenty-three years old, founded a watch making company in the town of La Chaux-de-Fords, Switzerland. That company’s trade was the making of precision pocket watches that were assembled from movements that were supplied by local merchants and craftspeople. These timepieces were sold all over Europe, from Scandinavian countries all the way to Italy. They were most popular, however, in Britain.

Business was quite good for several decades but when Louis Brandt died in 1879 and his sons, Cesar and Louis Paul assumed control of the company, they felt that a radical change needed to be made. Unsatisfied by the up and down quality and occasionally sporadic delivery system that had been in place in La Chaux-de-Fords, the two brothers moved their operation to Biel and started a completely in-house manufacturing system in which they could maintain near complete control of all production therein.

By 1882, the company moved yet again, this time to what was at one time a spinning-factory located in Biel’s Gurzelen district. But while three moves in four years may have suggested a possible instability of the watch manufacturers management, that notion has been thoroughly put to pasture since the current Omega headquarters are in that very same location today. But back in the 1890′s, in Biel, Omega came out with their first series-produced calibres, Gurzelen and Labrador, as well as their Omega calibre of 1894, which in particular was hugely important in establishing Omega’s place on the international watch-making map.

In 1903, both César Brandt and Louis-Paul passed away, bequeathing one of the world’s biggest watch manufacturers to the operational control of four individuals, the oldest of whom Mr. Paul-Emile Brandt, was only twenty-four years old. Omega was truly a huge company by then, with approximately eight hundred employees and a total of nearly a quarter of a million timepieces made every year, so it was quite a huge risk to leave such a behemoth to such young folks… But as we will see in part two, the risk paid off quite handsomely.