Omega has announced the creation of a watch that is resistant to
magnetic fields greater than 1.5 tesla (15,000 gauss), far exceeding the
levels of magnetic resistance achieved by any previous watch and
solving a problem that has challenged watchmakers for centuries.
The movement was introduced at a press conference at the Cité du Temps
in Geneva on January 17th by Raynald Aeschlimann, OMEGA Vice President
and member of Swatch Group's Extended Group Management Board.
Mr Aeschlimann opened the press conference, welcoming the media and
introducing Jean-Claude Monachon, OMEGA Vice President and Head of
Product Development, Michel Willemin, CEO of ASULAB, Thierry Conus, the
Director of Research & Development at ETA and Mathieu Oulevey, a
Tribology and Materials engineer at ETA.
In his opening remarks at the press conference, Mr Aeschlimann gave credit to Swatch Group's unique ability to benefit from the
contributions of the best engineers and researchers from all of its
brand and companies. He added, "All of the heroes are here not only my
colleagues from OMEGA but from ASULAB and ETA. It was only through their
shared creativity and enthusiasm that we could introduce this important
innovation to you."
The technology developed by the team led to the first prototype of the
movement, which has been fitted in an Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra. Unlike
other efforts to combat the effects of magnetism, the OMEGA movement
does not rely on a protective container inside the watchcase but on the
use of selected non-ferrous materials in the movement itself. Several
patents are pending for the new movement.
Jean-Claude Monachon reminded the attendees at the press conference of
OMEGA's long history of technological innovation, showing slides of
highlights going back to 1894. He went on to point out that magnetism
has always been an issue for watchmakers, adding that magnets are now
more present in our daily lives than they have ever been before.
Watchmakers have to deal regularly with the issue of magnetism, as it is
necessary for them to demagnetize mechanical watches whose performance
has been compromised by exposure to magnetic fields, a problem that will
be solved with the new movement.
He explained that G. N. Hayek, the CEO of Swatch Group, challenged Omega
to create a totally non-magnetic watch and announced that OMEGA, with
engineers, scientists and metallurgists from its sister companies had
met the challenge.
Michel Willemin's presentation focused on
issues of magnetism in daily life. He gave members of the press a brief
primer on magnets and magnetism and pointed out that the evolution of
the strength of permanent magnets was a key motivation behind the
development of the movement.
Thierry Conus explained how magnetism had been dealt with previously,
including inner cases designed to limit the effect of magnetism. He
pointed out the limitations of the approach including the facts they
couldn't handle the challenge of the increased strength of permanent
magnets and that, from an aesthetic standpoint, they block the view of
the movement. He then showed a short film showing how a conventional
mechanical watch exposed to high levels of magnetism stopped immediately
and dramatically lost its accuracy. The OMEGA prototype was subjected
to even higher levels of magnetism (15,000 gauss) and continued to
perform. Testing showed that the watch was as accurate after its
magnetic exposure as it had been before.
A live demonstration was then made that offered compelling and
conclusive evidence that OMEGA's new >15,000 Gauss movement is a
landmark development in watchmaking.
OMEGA expects to present the technology at the Baselworld trade fair in
April. The new movement, the OMEGA Co-Axial calibre 8508, should be
introduced to the market in 2013.
You can compare Omega mens watches only from official retailers at menswatchshop.co.uk
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