Monday, December 9, 2013

Omega fails, surprisingly, or The Department of Redundancy Department

Okay, here's the deal: I apologize but this post about the new Omega GMT watch is going to look like I am plagiarizing from myself, re-using the same images from the last post.  This is the unfortunate product of the fact that Omega made a serious mistake with its new Planet Ocean (PO) -based GMT watch.  On the last post I ranted that Panerai wanted way the hell too much for their retro 1950s-era GMT, but here my complaint is that the new & modern Omega GMT is stupidly designed, and I will use the same two examples, the Victorinox dive/GMT and Rolex's dedicated GMT watch, the GMT Master I, to prove my point.
When I first heard that Omega was coming out with a new dive watch-based GMT, I was happy and sad at the same time: happy that they were coming out with a large-sized, easy-to-read GMT watch that is water-resistant, and glows in the dark, and sad that I had missed the boat by buying my Seamaster PO before this new watch came out, so now I can't (afford to) buy one.
The previous Omega dive watch/GMT watch was almost perfect.  Not to damn it with faint praise, but the hands, dial, and 24 hour markings were too small, when I tried it on in the store.  Originally, that was the Omega I was going to buy:

On the internet, and on photographs posted by Omega aficionados who use their high-end macro lenses, this watch looks awesome.  In person-in the store-the watch was beautiful, and clearly well-made, but its readability was poor, with my newly presbyopic, middle-aged eyes.
Omega had a large, easy-to-read GMT that was not a dive watch per se, but they had discontinued it right when I wanted a new, Swiss automatic watch.   The one I wanted was nicknamed The Great White:

Now, notice the important difference between the two watches, above: The dive watch has a glow-in-dark phosphorescent dot on the rotating dial, because you will use it as a dive watch; while the dedicated GMT (the Great White) just has a 24 hour marker (the black triangle).
So, why don't I like the new Omega GMT, that is based on the Planet Ocean?
Take a look:
Oh. My. God.  What were they thinking???  Look at where where the 24 hour triangle is: they put a luminescent, glow-in-the-dark spot, as if it was a dive watch!  So...what's wrong with that?  Simple: the rotating dial is not marked with zero to 60 minutes, for a dive function.  This watch is neither a 24 hour i.e. GMT, nor a dive watch.
Okay, so here's the part where I re-use my photos from my last posting:
Here's a watch that is fully functional as both a dive watch and a GMT; my cheapo (compared to Rolex and Omega) Victorinox:
Look at the rotating bezel: you can time how many minutes you have been under the surface.  Look at the 24 hour hand: it is pointed at the light 10, so it is 10:00 a.m., as opposed to the 22, which is 10:00 p.m.
Okay, now look at the Rolex GMT Master I (or the GMT Master II in my previous post about the Doxa 600T, which I finally got back  few days ago, thanks to the sheriffs):
Here, the rotating bezel knows that its one-and-only job is to tell us if it's 10:00 a.m., or 10 p.m., or if I feel like rotating the bezel, because I have flown into a different time zone, that's okay, too.
Any questions, Omega S.A.?
If George Clooney called me up tomorrow morning, and told me that he wanted to buy the movie rights to my novel Roadside Rest, and he paid me an obscene amount of money, I still wouldn't buy the Omega PO GMT watch.  Until they fix it by making a straight 24 hour bezel without a glow-in-the-dark marker, it is one big gigantic FAIL on par with the Hamilton Below Zero chronometer debacle.