Cast your mind back to the Paris Olympics in the summer. For most, it was a spectacular sporting event, with interesting asides such as how AI was used for heating pools, or why the Paris mayor defied poop threats to swim in Seine. For the watch world, however, the gold medal for news came not from track or field, but the stands, as former 007 Daniel Craig sat, camera in hand, sporting a never-before-seen Omega.
That new Omega, one of two new Seamaster 300Ms—one black dial, one silver—is finally available from today. The two divers move away from Omega’s ceramic style of recent years, and instead develop the aesthetic of the Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition seen in No Time To Die.
The two 42mm watches feature the same domed sapphire crystal, lending a vintage aesthetic, but most notably adopt the same mesh bracelet from the Bond watch. The two dial options are joined by two straps, so you end up with four looks—making the full tally a stainless steel model with a black aluminum bezel and black aluminum dial; stainless steel model with a grade 5 titanium bezel and a brushed PVD stainless steel dial; and both come on either stainless steel mesh bracelets or rubber straps.
Waterproof to 300 meters, Omega’s co-axial master chronometer caliber 8806 offers up 55 hours of power reserve (how long it keeps ticking after you stop wearing it), and can be seen through the sapphire crystal on the caseback.
The new divers should give Swatch Group a much-needed boost as declines in China sales have seen profits fall dramatically. These pieces are not only well executed, looking as if they have been in the Omega lineup for years already, they are aggressively priced at $6,500 for the mesh bracelet version, and dropping to $5,900 for the rubber strap model (£6,100 and £5,600 in the UK).
After the phenomenal success of the MoonSwatch, which you can now buy online, these new Seamaster Diver 300Ms look set to be the perfect entry point for those looking to upgrade to Omega. Yes, they are not the cheapest in the Seamaster line, but at only $300 more than Omega’s entry-level diver, they seem like a clear choice. WIRED’s pick would be the black-on-mesh bracelet, and we suspect many will feel the same.
Omega is making a habit of leaking coming watches via Daniel Craig. Die-hard Omega fans spotted a then-unreleased white dial version of the Speedmaster on Craig’s wrist at a New York exhibition in November 2023. The 42mm, $8,100 (£7,600) hand-wound watch finally joined the core collection of Speedmaster Professional references in March earlier this year, making it the first time Omega had offered a white dial option outside of now-discontinued limited editions.
Then, just a few days ago, Craig revealed yet another upcoming model at Sunday’s Governors Awards in LA. He was spotted wearing an unreleased Omega Seamaster with a burgundy bezel, black dial, and mega-stylish Milanese bracelet.