Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, literally means ‘great O’, as opposed to Omicron which is ‘little O’. So for a watch brand created in 1848 by Louis Brandt, there will always be much to live up to.
Currently part of the Swatch Group, the sky is the limit according to the company’s vice president Raynald Aeschlimann. Sitting at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, an Omega Constellation Double Eagle Titanium watch, made especially for the World Cup, wraps itself alluringly around his wrist. Aeschlimann is fairly young for a man of his position. Constantly reiterating that for Omega there is no limit, his accent is as distinctive as the dynasty of watches below him.
Founded almost two and a half centuries ago, Omega watches have been recording history ever since. Perhaps the greatest moment in Omega’s Speedmaster model’s existence, was on the 21st of July 1969, at 02:56 GMT when, as the whole world looked on, it became the first watch on the Moon.
But nowadays, Olympic sponsorships and Bond commercial agreements aside, Omega’s value is in pioneering mechanical innovation. In 1999, the company made history by introducing the first mass-produced watch incorporating the co-axial escapement. The significance of this invention is unquestionable. You see the co-axial escapement functions with virtually no lubrication, thereby reducing friction and resulting in longer service intervals with greater precision over time. “We always work with our friends from the same group with the same spirit, to achieve the best technology,” confirms Aeschlimann.
Yet for such a bullish company, their historical finances have not always been so perky. Following the First World War, Omega merged with Tissot in 1930. This fixed matters temporarily, for the merged group, named SIHH, grew by absorbing and creating some fifty companies. By the seventies, SSIH had become Switzerland's number one producer of finished watches and number three in the world.
But once again Omega was vulnerable to a monetary crisis and, following the recession of the late 1970s, SSIH had to be bailed out by Swiss banks. In the end salvation was found through another marriage but this time to Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG), principal manufacturer of ébauches (unfinished movements produced for a range of other Swiss watch assemblers) and owner of the Longines and Rado. This union, entered into in 1983, formed a new holding company named ASUAG-SSIH which was later bought out by the Swatch group. The latter is today's top watch producer in the world and Omega remains one of its most prestigious watch brands.
But Omega harboured ambitions beyond watches, “We were approached by many women,” explains Aeschlimann, “They would ask us why we aren’t making jewellery to go with the watches.” So Omega got into jewellery too.
One of the keys to Omega’s marketing success has been the celebrity endorsements via its ambassador program. Indeed Aeschlimann speaks as passionately about the watches, as he does about Omega ambassadors. When asked what comes first, the time-keeping aspect of Omega or the ambassadors, he alludes to the latter.
“To be honest, when we are selecting ambassadors we go for the feeling that we have towards that person. We have been working with Cindy Crawford for ten years now, Nicole Kidman too. They stand for elegance.”
He goes on, “The ambassadors are our family, both exclusive and linked to us. Whenever we need to, we meet with them and ask them what they like. They are part of our family.”
So what has Omega got in store for us in the future? “In the luxury world today, you have to transmit some kind of additional value and we are constantly working on that,” Aeschlimann reveals. “We can talk about phones, watches or jewellery, these are all things we can do.” And on that note, the interview ended as it began – with the affirmation that Omega has no limits.
