BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
The Omega Seamaster, we recently covered six new editions of the Planet Ocean which is now a modern-day icon as far as I’m concerned. The comments were quite split; some of you loved them, some liked them but were put off by the dimensions, while some of you didn’t seem to understand why they’d only sell them in their boutiques. Only one or two of the 30+ comments seemed to mind the green colouration, though, and that’s good as the latest new Omega is a sub-40mm watch, in green, that you can buy from any (legitimate) Omega dealer you like.
The Seamaster Aqua Terra is Omega’s go to sporty dressy watch. It’s got 150m of water resistance and most of its models come in stainless steel, but the watches lack the diving bezels and helium escape valves that make the regular Seamasters what they are: professional diving tools. It’s good that Omega thinks of the people who’d like an Omega with some sporting credentials but maybe don’t want a Speedmaster, their other most iconic piece. Yes, I know the Constellation exists, but I think it should continue to exist in the same sphere as the Aqua Terra.
Onto the watch itself, it’s a 38mm x 12.2mm stainless steel affair. As one would expect from a major brand like Omega, you can have it on either a green-coloured rubber strap or, for a little extra, you can have it on a stainless steel bracelet. The bracelet has polished centre links, which I’m not sure how I feel about. I know it seems like a small detail, and it classes the place up in some ways, but it seems a little less practical than the all-brushed appearance these had years ago.
One place that doesn’t need extra polishing is the dial, which is green with horizontal lines and applied markers. The dial of the Aqua Terra looks fancy, it looks like it costs more than the watch’s asking price, which we’ll get to in a moment. Behind the green dial is the self-winding calibre 8800. This is an in-house movement with a co-axial escapement beating at 3.5Hz with a 55-hour power reserve; it also has a Master Chronometer certificate attached to it, which indicates that it is highly accurate and resistant to magnetism.
The watch can be purchased on either the bracelet or the rubber strap. The price of the watch on the strap is $6000 or $6300 on the bracelet. It’s a permanent addition to the Omega collection and can be purchased from wherever you can buy a new Omega.
