Best Omega Watches of 2024 That Are Rugged Yet Refined

07.11.2023 21:19

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Omega is usually the second fine Swiss watch brand that immediately springs to mind (after Rolex) for most serious watch collectors. But the company actually got its start 57 years before Rolex, in 1848, and its legacy is second to none. JFK wore an Omega tank watch at his inauguration, and the Omega Speedmaster was the first watch worn on the moon. This is why, not coincidentally, Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional, is our pick for the best Omega watch overall as part of our 2024 Watch Guide.

Omega makes a lot of different watches, from racing models to dive watches to six-figure, diamond-studded timepieces. So, to help narrow the field, we present some of the best Omega watches you can buy now.

Best Omega Watches at a Glance

Best Omega Watch Overall: Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional
Best New Dive Omega Watch: Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M
Best One Watch Collection Omega Watch: Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M
Best Vintage-Style Omega Watch: Speedmaster Anniverary Series First Omega in Space
Best James Bond Omega Watch: Seamaster 007 Edition
Best Omega Dress Watch: Constellation Globemaster
Best Omega GMT Watch: Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M GMT

Best Omega Watches of 2024

Best Omega Watch Overall: Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional Watch

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The most collectible Omega is also the one you can wear with anything, whether dressing up or down. Owning one of these is in itself a pinnacle of watch collecting. Not only is it the most iconic Swiss chronograph besides the Rolex Daytona, but the Omega Speedmaster was the first watch worn to the moon. If there’s anything that could rival Paul Newman, it’s a trip to space.

This particular model is the direct heir to that voyage and is modeled after the 4^th generation watch worn by the Apollo 11 astronauts. When Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, the Speedmaster Professional was on their wrists. True to the original, it is a manual-wind watch, so you’ll need to wind it every two days. If you’re thinking of this as an investment, there’s no safer bet in Omega watches than the Moonwatch Professional.

CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Omega 3861 manual-wind
DIAL: Black
SIZE: 42mm
STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet

Best New Dive Omega Watch: Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Watch

The new 43.5mm Planet Ocean is a refinement of an already extraordinary dive watch. With a new sandblasted gunmetal grey dial and a fabric-textured rubber strap, it has never looked better. First released in 2005, the Planet Ocean 600 has established itself as one of the most robust and capable dive watches ever made. With this aesthetic makeover, it takes that capability into the realm of style. The bezel ring is made of brushed-black ceramic with a Liquidmetal diving scale. On the grey dial, the numerals, markers, and hands are PVD stainless steel with a beige Super-LumiNova for viewing in the dark—or at depth. The see-through caseback has an Omega seahorse overlay, allowing you to peep the Calibre 8900 self-winding movement.

As the name suggests, this watch has an insane 600 meters of water resistance, and a helium release valve—in case you plan to do some saturation diving. This watch was always overkill, but now it’s overkill that you can dress up or down.

CASE: Brushed stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Omega self-winding
DIAL: Gunmetal grey
SIZE: 43.5mm
STRAP: Grey fabric-pattern rubber

Best One Watch Collection Omega Watch: Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M Watch

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The new Seamaster Aqua Terra’s greatness lies in its simplicity and versatility. With an elegant lacquered black dial with Rhodium-plated hands and markers, it fits alongside understated icons like the Rolex Explorer. Though it does show off a tad in darkness, when the hands and markers reveal a blue-glowing Super-LumiNova. With a polished stainless case, and a bracelet blending polished and brushed steel, it has more crossover as a dress watch than as a tool watch. That’s not to say you can’t take the watch on a fishing trip—it’s water resistant to 150 meters. The self-winding automatic movement is visible through the caseback, and its 60 hours of power reserve will keep it going if you leave it in your drawer for the weekend.

A key upgrade new for 2024 is that the butterfly clasp is micro-adjustable. Butterfly clasps are slimmer than traditional folding clasps, but usually they’re not micro-adjustable. But with this bracelet, you get the slender benefits of a butterfly and the ability to extend it on a hot day or tighten it on a cold day. Aside from this 41mm version, it is also offered in 38mm and 34mm options—though with a different movement in the smaller versions. So, no matter your size or gender, there’s one for you.

CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Omega self-winding
DIAL: Lacquered black
SIZE: 41mm
STRAP: Stainless steel bracelet

Best Vintage-Style Omega Watch: Speedmaster Anniversary Series First Omega in Space

Omega Speedmaster Anniversary Series First Omega in Space Watch

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Seven years before Omega had their first watch on the moon in 1969, they had first watch in space—a piece long coveted by collectors on the secondary market. Just re-released for 2024, this new Speedmaster modernizes and visually improves upon the watch worn by astronaut Walter “Wally” Shirra on the Sigma 7 mission on October 3, 1962. At first glance, the watch instantly stands out for the dark blue dial, new for this reissue but available on the original 60’s run, which is here embellished with a new sunray finish. It also has an updated automatic movement (METAS-certified calibre 3861) and a stepped dial instead of the flat dial of the original, which gives the dial an added dimensionality. The hour markers and hands have a vintage-cream lume, and the domed Sapphire crystal mimics the look of the older ’60s Hexalite crystal, but with modern durability and scratch resistance. At 39.7mm, it’s smaller than the 42mm Moonwatch Professional, so it will wear better and feel more proportionally balanced on a broader range of wrists.

CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Omega self-winding
DIAL: Dark blue
SIZE: 39.7mm
STRAP: Stainless steel bracelet, leather strap

Best James Bond Omega Watch: Seamaster 007 Edition

Omega Seamaster 007 Edition Watch

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Omega is to Daniel Craig’s Bond what Rolex was to Connery’s, and this Seamaster diver is identical to the watch worn by Craig when he made his Bond debut in No Time to Die. It has a 42mm titanium case and is paired with a titanium mesh bracelet. The brown tropical bezel and dial, and the vintage-hued numerals, hands, and markers tip their hat to James Bonds of the past while still remaining firmly planted in the future with features like a helium escape valve. It uses Omega’s self-winding certified Master Chronometer 8806 movement with a 55-hour power reserve, and has a cool 007 logo laser-etched on the caseback.

CASE: Titanium
MOVEMENT: Omega 8806 self-winding
DIAL: Brown
SIZE: 42mm
STRAP: Titanium mesh bracelet

Best Omega Dress Watch: Constellation Globemaster

Omega Constellation Globemaster Watch

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The Constellation was introduced five years before the Speedmaster, in 1952, so it has a longer lineage than its famous racing watch sibling—but here's a dress watch doesn’t aspire to being among the stars (other than in Hollywood). This particular reference has a vibrant green “pie pan” dial similar to the original 1952 model, and an annual calendar function with one dedicated hand sweeping slowly through the months of the year, and the date at 6 o’clock.

The Globemaster became the world’s first Master Chronometer watch, in 2015, after passing rigid tests by METAS (the Swiss Federal Office of Metrology). At 41mm, it’s large enough to peak out of a dress shirt cuff to show off its fluted tungsten carbide bezel. Other fine details include a 18k gold Constellation star and 18k gold faceted hands and lumed indices. It comes on an elegant green leather strap and has a see-through caseback if you want to watch the movement at work.

CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Omega 8922 self-winding
DIAL: Brushed green
SIZE: 41mm
STRAP: Leather

Best Omega GMT Watch: Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M GMT

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M GMT Watch

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There’s something very cool about the impression that the black and white bezel of this Planet Ocean GMT makes. We’ve all seen Coke and Pepsi GMT color schemes, but this black and white version feels both classic and fresh at the same time. The black and white dial is bold and legible, and all the hands—hour, minute, seconds, GMT—are sharply pointed. The overall look is masculine, and at 43.5mm, it would suit larger wrists well. The fact that it has a see-through caseback lets us know that it’s not entirely about function, however, inviting its wearer to appreciate the Master Chronometer movement.

Beyond its GMT function, this is also a very serious dive watch: 600 meters of water resistance and a helium escape valve—a highly specialized function for commercial saturation diving, where divers live for extended periods in a pressurized diving bell. In other words, underwater welders on oil rigs could wear this thing.

CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Omega 8906 self-winding
DIAL: Black ceramic
SIZE: 43.5mm
STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet

More Omega Watches We Love

Best Heritage-Inspired Omega Watch: Seamaster 300

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A modern interpretation of a dive watch Omega released in 1957, this dive watch from Omega’s Heritage line has a clean and uncluttered black aluminum bezel and black dial, beige mid-century font numerals, and matching hour markers. The simplicity allows other details like the pronounced arrow tip of the rhodium-plated hour hand and the lollipop seconds hand to stand out. Even the Super-LumiNova glow has a “vintage” hue.

The 41mm case is a more modern size than vintage divers. It comes on a steel bracelet with a see-through sapphire caseback. Despite all these aesthetic choices leaning to the past, it’s still water-resistant down to 300 meters, and the self-winding movement has a 60-hour power reserve.

CASE: Stainless steel with anodized aluminum bezel with see-through sapphire caseback
MOVEMENT: Omega 8912 self-winding Master Chronometer
DIAL: Black
SIZE: 41mm
STRAP: Stainless steel

Best Celebrity Omega Watch: De Ville Prestige, Pine Green Dial

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The 2024 Oscar winner for Best Actor, Cillian Murphy, was sporting this distinctive dark green Omega dress watch when he accepted his award for his title role in Best Picture winner Oppenheimer. The gilt hands and roman numerals, the textured green dial and the dark green alligator leather strap make this, like Murphy himself, a class act that stands out among fine dress watches. It’s enough to make you think that maybe it’s time to start looking beyond James Bond for Omega inspiration.

CASE: Stainless steel
MOVEMENT: Omega self-winding
DIAL: Pine green
SIZE: 41mm
STRAP: Alligator leather and calfskin

Best Modern Heirloom Omega Watch: Speedmaster Professional Moonshine Gold

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For Speedmaster aficionados, this is a grail watch—and, north of $30k, not a normal watch to buy. Its rubber strap kinda rubs your face in the fact that this casual-meets-bougie timepiece is for collectors who actually enjoy the contrast of humble materials alongside far more precious ones. In defense of the strap, it does have an 18k Moonshine Gold buckle. The 42mm case is also made of the same 18k gold, and the dial is also made of 18k gold, which makes the black subdials stand out in an eye-catching way. It has a see-through caseback, so you can view the manual-winding movement that it shares with the Moonwatch.

CASE: 18k Moonshine Gold with sapphire see-through caseback
MOVEMENT: Manual-winding 3861 Master Chronometer
DIAL: Brushed 18k Moonshine Gold
SIZE: 42mm
STRAP: Rubber with 18k buckle

Best Omega Worldtimer Watch: Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer

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The dial of this Aqua Terra Worldtimer has enough detail going on to keep you busy while staring at it on long flights to distant destinations. There are several dial color choices for this watch, and all are fairly enthralling in their own ways, but the green dial is a standout. At the center of it is a top-down view of the continents of earth, as if you were looking down from the North Pole, and the world is topographically contoured with the finest details. Circling this globe are 24-hour indications separating day and night. Global destinations are marked around the outer ring of the dial, with London in red to indicate GMT and the rest in gold. Speaking of which, the hands and indices are made of 19k Moonshine Gold. Be warned that this watch will spark many conversations with strangers.

CASE: Stainless steel case green ceramic bezel and see-through sapphire caseback
MOVEMENT: Omega 8938 self-winding
DIAL: Brushed green
SIZE: 43mm
STRAP: Stainless-steel bracelet

What Should You Look for in an Omega Watch?

Part of the Swatch Group portfolio and made in Switzerland, Omega offers a large range of watches within four product lines: Constellation, Seamaster, Speedmaster, and De Ville—each of which has a number of sub-categories. The best-known Omega watches are from the Speedmaster and Seamaster branches of the Omega family tree.

Seamasters, despite the name, are not all dive watches, and range from Aqua Terra watches (without a hint of nauticality) to heritage models (inspired by vintage dive and field watches) to some of the most modern and technical deep sea dive watches in the world.

The Speedmaster line includes the recent smash-hit MoonSwatch, an extensive list of heritage-inspired racing chronographs, and some unapologetically modern watches, such as the Quartz-powered Skywalker, or the Spacemaster, which looks like something Captain Kirk would wear.

Constellation watches are primarily dress watches, and De Ville includes Omega’s most high-end or “haute horologie” watches. While there was historically an original Speedmaster and Seamaster, and there are still modern Omega watches commonly referred to by collectors as the Speedmaster and the Seamaster, it’s important to note that these names actually refer to extensive and diverse categories.

Another aspect of Omega worth mentioning is that if you like the look of vintage watches, you’ll find that Omega has many that are inspired by their mid-century models.

Why You Should Trust Me

I have been covering gear and style from a home base in Los Angeles and now Charleston since 2006, for outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Maxim, Gear Patrol, Playboy, Fatherly, and Men’s Journal. I first started writing about watches because I was intimidated by them. So, I used watch writing as a way to learn about the world of watchmaking and collecting.

Over the years, the articles I’ve written have given me an excuse to interview the best vintage watch dealers in the world, the founders of watch magazines steeped in the world of collecting, and the designers and entrepreneurs behind many watch brands themselves, from the smallest micro brands to Swiss conglomerates. My biggest takeaway from these different voices of the watch world is that anyone can be a watch collector. No matter your budget, the most important thing is knowing what you like and what makes you happy.