2008 is a
Landmark Year for OMEGA
At BASELWORLD 2008, OMEGA highlighted watches which reflect both their tradition and their pioneering spirit. While every watch produced by OMEGA is created to the highest standards of contemporary horology, they are ever mindful that each of their timepieces is a proud descendent of a noble watchmaking history, which can be traced back to 1848. While OMEGA is proud of their rich heritage, each new OMEGA watch demonstrates their determination to challenge themselves.
OMEGA’s launch of its Co-Axial Escapement in 1999 signaled a revolution in contemporary mechanical watchmaking. It represented, in the words of its inventor George Daniels, “the first practical new watch escapement in the 250 years following the invention of the lever escapement by Thomas Mudge in the 18th century.”
In 2007, OMEGA introduced its Co-Axial caliber 8500/8501. Each component was designed specifically for the caliber 8500/8501 from inception. Not content simply to create an exclusive Co-Axial caliber, OMEGA optimized the precision of their Co-Axial Escapement and free sprung balance by improving the design and using a larger (13 ligne) movement.
In 2008, OMEGA has taken the next step in its quest to create state-of-the-industry mechanical watches produced on an industrial scale: the introduction of the Si 14 silicon balance spring, named for the chemical symbol and the atomic number for silicon.
Silicon is nonmagnetic so the performance of the Si 14 balance spring is not disturbed by exposure to magnetic objects. This physical property of
silicon allows watches with the Si 14 balance spring to deliver significantly better chronometric performance than balance springs made of traditional
materials.
While the performance of mechanical watches tends to deviate over time as a result of small every day shocks, these disturbances have very little effect on Si 14 silicon balance springs.
There is substantial freedom in the fabrication of balance springs made of silicon which allows the Si 14s geometry to be modified for optimal isochronism, the quality of oscillations occurring in equal periods of time. This isochronous quality reduces the amount of deviation in the watch’s accuracy.
The Si 14 silicon balance springs are introduced in the De Ville Hour Vision Annual Calendar watch and in the Seamaster Aqua Terra Ladies’ OMEGA Co-Axial Collection.
