And I am liking it a lot.
Just when I thought I could keep myself sober from watches for a year or two, Omega launched a timepiece at Baselworld 2011 that I could not find a reason to dislike … the new Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph.
You might have noticed that I am rather obsessive-compulsive when it comes to watches and designs. I came close to buying the outgoing Planet Ocean Chronograph a few times but the slanted date window and the smallish hour totalizer were bugging me. Besides, I felt the watch wore too big on my 6.5" wrist. I didn’t feel like pushing it, especially when the dial design is not totally to my liking.
I told myself to be patient and that perhaps one day Omega will come out with just the watch that I’ll like. And now they have.
Naturally enough, the choice for me is to get the all-black version of the watch as I want this new purchase to be able to serve the daily wear function.
The "oversize" issue was dutifully dismissed. Yes, it’s too big and too thick for my wrist but I wouldn’t worry about that anymore. For me now it’s the matter of owning a nice watch which is too large for my wrist or not having the opportunity to own and appreciate it at all.
The matte black ceramic bezel turns crisply in one direction with pronounced clicks throughout.
Combined hour and minute totalizer is the star of the show for many and the dealbreaker for others. The concentric rings inside the subdials are barely visible to naked eyes. Orange chronograph minute hand moves constantly in small increment unlike conventional chronographs where it moves once at the turn of the minute.
The matte dial has a particular sheen to it. Dates are printed quite thick almost like an emboss but this photograph does not bring out that detail well enough.
A parade of metallic hands over the continuous second subdial at nine.
Let’s not forget also that the lume is blue for the most part of the dial, with the exception of green lume on the minute hand and the bezel dot. It’s a nifty and practical idea but I’m not crazy about it. I hope the lume material will age to the same and not different yellow 15 years from now.
This column wheel chronograph movement offers 60 hours of power reserve. In a year or two, we should learn from the collective owners if it is as free of problems as the earlier in-house movements.
So far the chronograph function has performed flawlessly and it resets without a problem every time. A few more reports like this should send Caliber 9300 on a good start. And after two or three years of mass usage, we will know for sure if this is the new workhorse the manufacturer and the users can have full confidence in.
Omega’s presentation says you cannot damage the chronograph mechanism if the reset button is in advertently pushed when the chronograph is running. And the manual still says the chronograph buttons on Seamaster chronograph watches with depth rating of 300 and 600 meters can be operated underwater. I have tried none of these so far.
As for accuracy, after 15 days of record keeping, the Caliber 9300 in my new Planet Ocean Chronograph is found to perform satisfactorily to +/- 1 second per day.
Up close and personal with the new POC. You may notice that the black bezel is not really black. It is somewhat grayish and that becomes more pronounced in this shot where the sky was bursting with Andaman sunlight.
And it certainly does not look out of place either when the occasion calls for a dressier attire.
I am so glad I waited for this new release. It is as if the patience pays off and this 45.5 mm beast is my reward. This will be my last watch purchase in quite some time. It’s time for me to take care of other, much neglected interests in life. After all, I have been too obsessed with watches and nobody should be allowed to wear a watch on both wrists like this anyway!
The above photograph was taken on a catamaran yacht at the local launch event for the new Planet Ocean collection. Sitting comfortably on the other wrist was the 2009 reincarnation of the beast known as the Seamaster Ploprof.
Oh the pleasure of owning both ... :)
Having worn the new POC for over two months now, I can say without reservation that I could not find anything to fault this watch apart from its relatively large size. Wearing comfort is good and build quality excellent for the money. Together with class-leading specifications, the new Planet Ocean Chronograph is easily an ideal sports watch for anyone with a wrist to match. Highly recommended.
