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Omega Replica

OMEGA : Globemaster Master Chronometer AnnualCalendar

Basel2016OmegaGlobemasterAnnualCalendar3

At Baselworld 2015 Omega introduced the 39mm Globemaster in stainless steel, Sedna, platinum and bi-coloured version.s A year later and at Baselworld 2016 they launched a new Globemaster Annual Calendar to add to the family.

Movement-wise, it is a Co-Axial Master Chronometer powered by the in-house developed and manufactured Calibre 8922 (and 8923 for the limited edition model, which has a Sedna gold rotor). As it is METAS certified, it is labelled as ‘Master Chronometer’. For those who do not know, this newish certification was established by Omega and METAS (the Federal Institue of Meterology) because they wished to go beyond COSC-certification. Click on the link above for all details. Sixty-two references are now Master Chronometer certified and Omega hopes to certify nearly all its mechanical replica watches as Master Chronometers by 2020.

At a larger 41mm, it comes in stainless steel with a tungsten carbide bezel and blue dial, Sedna, bimetal (stainless steel and Sedna), and also a platinum version.

When the first photos of this came out the responses online were mixed, and these focused on the writing on the dial. There is little question that in terms of legibility, it leaves nothing to be confused about, but the placement and typeface of the writing caused a lot of animated discussion. As always, I had a response but not a definitive one, as replica watches are mostly objects about which it is best not to have a definite opinion until you can see them in the metal. I was in the camp of those who didn’t find myself drawn to the writing, and I wondered why they decided to do it that way. Sometimes, even if something is not to your taste, if you are able to ask why something was done and understand this reason, then things are different.

So when I got the chance to see them I asked the question. The answer was continuity; they wanted to have the text there and the choice of font was on the basis of it being the same as the ‘Globemaster’ text on the dial. Which is totally fair enough, having too many typefaces on a dial can get a bit tricky and messy. The month indicator hand on the dial for the calendar function is nice and discreet, and if the goal of the pie-pan dial’s design is legibility of functionality and to make it basically as foolproof as possible for someone buying it (bearing in mind that many who buy it may not be familiar with annual calendars) then it meets those goals. The one thing I would note is that it is interesting that the decision was not made to make the month indicator hand another colour, for contrast.

The platinum Globemaster Annual Calendar (shown at the top) has both a platinum case and platinum clasp and has some heft, as you can imagine. The platinum case and clasp are milled from an alloy of platinum (950Pt) and gold (20Au). The dial is also (sandblasted) platinum with 18 carat white gold markers filled with burgundy enamel. On the reverse you can see that the burgundy theme is carried through to a burgundy enamel Central Observatory medallion on the movement, which also has a Sedna gold rotor and balance wheel.

As mentioned at the outset, the new Globemaster Annual Calendar comes in stainless steel, Sedna gold, bi-metal (stainless steel and Sedna), and platinum. The platinum version is limited to 52 pieces only and comes on a burgundy leather strap which I was told is inspired by Chesterfield chairs. Australian RRPs are as $11,300 for stainless steel, $14,200 for the bimetal model, $31,150 for the Sedna, and $63,000 for the platinum edition.