Exactly seven days ago, Omega launched the Chronoscope, the latest addition to the Speedmaster line, at a world event held in Milan. I cannot therefore refrain from telling you about it. I must say that Omega's international launches are a pleasure, especially for the technical content of the presentations. Thanks to product director Gregory Kissling, it is possible to delve not only into the aesthetic and strategic choices that lead to the creation of a new watch, but also the more exquisitely technical ones. Although this time there are few decisions dictated solely by technique.
It was a nice physics refresher, however, to hear Kissling explain the workings of the three measurement scales in the centre of the new Speedmaster's dial, although the equations he wrote on the blackboard were far too simple for the engineers present and far too complex for the pure journalists. Thus, this time Gregory somewhat lost the attention of the 'audience'. Perhaps it would have been better to direct the discourse to why the Speedmaster family should be expanded further.
In fact, the new Chronoscope was born out of an obvious desire to enrich the two-counter Speedmaster range with a new size: 43 mm against the 44.25 of the other models. But the decision to reduce the diameter of the case when crowding the dial with the three snailed scales for telemeter, tachymeter and pulsometer cannot be explained. But the idea is there and so is the realisation, with a hand-wound calibre made with a single bridge for the barrel and gear train: the 9908 derived from the 9900 automatic. The purists were sceptical, faced with a Speedmaster with graphics of yesteryear, taken from models of the early 1940s, when as early as 1943 the introduction of the Speedmaster projected the brand into the future. The three displays, however, already present at the same time in a 1941 Omega watch, belong philosophically to the "Speedmaster", as they consider this quantity in all its meanings: from the pure tachymetric measurement to that of distance (thanks to the telemeter, which works according to the known speeds of two phenomena, such as light and sound), to the frequency of the heartbeat, which is nothing other than what we call the speed of our heart.
At the end of the day, it is a watch to think about and discuss, which in terms of price is 100 euros below the Speedmaster Racing, making it the entry price of the two-counter range.
Dody Giussani
