Omega Adds a New “Orange” Seamaster to the Collection
The Omega Seamaster is one of the most enduring of watch collections. Over the course of decades, it’s become akin to a household name, as long as your household includes at least one watch collector, or a fan of Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig era James Bond. It’s also one of the most fussed over of all sports watches. As popular as it is, it seems like fans of the collection (and its detractors, of course) always have gripes. That’s watches, obviously. But the overwhelming variety in Seamaster World over many years lends itself to sniping about the smallest details. The latest entry into the collection, a new Diver 300M in orange ($6,500), keeps the tradition alive.
It’s a bit of a misnomer, I think, to call this an “orange” watch. The watch is black, with notable orange accents on the seconds hand, the cardinal hour markers, and the strap. Like other recent Seamaster releases (the bronze-gold burgundy release from earlier this year, the James Bond 60th anniversary watch from 2022, and last year’s monochromatic releases teased by Daniel Craig at the Olympics) this one features an aluminum bezel and no date complication. It also forgoes the wave dial for a more subtle, lightly grained matte black. It’s all quite subdued for a watch supposedly defined by citrus.
Much of the commentary around this watch in the days since its unveiling centers on the bezel. It seems many would have preferred an orange bezel that would have clearly evoked the classic Planet Ocean reference 2209.50.00. I’m usually not a fan of this type of armchair quarterbacking and believe a watch should be evaluated for what it is rather than what it is not, but I have to say that I think in this particular case the commenters have a point. An orange bezel would have made for a fun throwback and made this reference quite a bit more distinctive in its own right.
The Seamaster collection, as of today, feels a little fractured, and I have to wonder what the real flagship Seamaster is at the moment. Is it the ceramic dialed and bezeled Diver 300M? Since its inception, this has felt like the contemporary incarnation of the watch that so many of a certain generation of collector aspired to in the 90s. But the introduction of the new aluminum bezel models, with or without wave dials, are truer to the spirit of the 90s references. And now that we have several of them to choose from, it communicates that Omega, as a brand, sees these watches as central to their overall strategy.
And then there’s the size. Every Seamaster release of the last few years has been accompanied by a cry for something smaller, thinner, and with a more modern and sleek bracelet. This orange variant, like every other 300M, measures 42mm across. That’s not unwieldy or anything, but a crop of competitors have come to market in recent years in sub 40mm sizes, and Omega doesn’t really have an answer. A smaller Seamaster seems like an inevitability if you believe Omega is listening to feedback from the community.
Like virtually every recent Seamaster, the new orange variant is sure to inspire hot takes, detractors, and enthusiastic supporters in roughly equal measure. That’s part of the fun of following these releases to be sure, but it also speaks to an opportunity on Omega’s part to synthesize all that feedback into a watch that the most engaged collectors really want. You can’t please everyone, but in the case of the Seamaster, it might not be a terrible idea to try. Omega
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