The Alpha Story Behind The Omega

By Author: nischit jain
Total Articles: 26
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Even the American Army chose to go with Omega Watches for their precision and superior build quality. Omega is a brand associated with all the latest James Bond movies as well. The brand also has the prestigious reputation of being NASA’s choice for its astronauts. It is also famous for the Moon Watch, which is nothing but the watch Buzz Aldrin wore during the lunar mission, thus making it the first watch on the moon.

Omega has also been associated with all the Olympic Games since 1932. It is no surprise why the brand is so prominent in almost all walks of life, mainly because in all the trials ever conducted on all the noted brands of watch makers, Omega has always managed to stand out and set new standards. The founding of the company was by a young 23 year old Louis Brandt.

He used to assemble components sourced from various manufacturers into precision pocket watches. These watches would be sold to countries like Italy, England and the Scandinavian territories. England had always been his biggest market as mechanical watches were very popular there.

After ...
... Brandt’s time, the company fell into the hands of his two sons, Louis Paul and Cesar. They decided to abandon the old method of sourcing their components from various manufacturers in favor of making them themselves. This was done because it was found that sourced components were of inferior quality and they were also not always regular in their deliveries. The brothers then set up their own manufacturing unit and started to produce their own mechanisms. This gave them total control over quality and delivery of the components and they commenced the assembly process again.

Switzerland was found to have a large supply of the much needed manpower and energy, not to mention communications infrastructure which made it a favored destination for watch makers. This also influenced the brothers to shift their base of operations to Biel/Bienne in Switzerland in 1880. From here, they started manufacturing their first series-produced calibers, namely the Gurzelen and the Labrador. These became instant successes and paved the way for making Omega one of the more recognizable watchmakers of Switzerland.

After the death of the two brothers, Paul Emile Brandt took up the leadership of the company. He set about initiating the merger of Omega and Tissot into SSIH Geneva. This group was then under the leadership of Brandt and Reiser jointly. The company grew to tremendous levels and created around 50 different subsidiaries which include Lanco and Lemania.

All the Omega chronograph movements are manufactured by Lanco and Lemania. The brand then grew further to become Switzerland’s premier watch manufacturer in the luxury segment as well.

The company was hit by the Quartz Revolution brought about by the Japanese and American brands during the 1970s and they successfully recovered after initiating research and development into the field of Quartz Watches.

The brand has been famous for having their watches become the favored movements used in space exploration. They have been revolutionary in their field of research and development by coming up with many models that can work with the highest levels of precision even in zero gravity environments. This is a feat not matched easily by other watch manufacturers and continues to be Omega’s forte to this day.