BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
A few weeks ago some press photos of the now former James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, wearing what appeared to be a new model of Omega’s Speedmaster with a white dial. Today, we officially get our eyes on the new Omega Speedmaster with a white dial.
It’s coming in three versions but they’re all nearly identical, the main focal point is that dial. While some versions of the Speedmaster have had a different-coloured dial or a cool textured dial in some cases, the majority of them have a dial that’s as black as the night sky. However, white is a colour that’s always worked well on watches, it often makes them more dressy-looking even if the rest of the watch is exactly the same. The refreshed IWC Ingenieur looks particularly good with a white dial, as does Omega’s own Seamaster Diver 300m watch.
For this one, the white dial is the main attraction as I’ve said above. However, the black details contrasting it are also of note. The hands are polished and then blackened and have had lume applied to them, and that includes the seconds hand. The applied markers are also blackened with small dots of lume, and the subdial hands are black too sans lume. The only colour splashed on the dial is the cursive ‘Speedmaster’ text, a refreshing dash of life which stops the dial from becoming a little too clinical.
The stainless steel case is finished to a high standard, as you’d expect from Omega, and it measures 42mm x 13.2mm, and the water resistance is 50m. The three watches being released are identical save for their straps, you can have a black leather strap which is reference 310.32.42.50.04.001, a black rubber strap which is reference 310.32.42.50.04.002 and the last reference is 310.30.42.50.04.001 which comes with a stainless steel bracelet.
All three watches come loaded with Omega’s 3861, the in-house-made Master Chronometer movement and the next generation of the 1861 line of manual movement. It’s manually wound and has a 50-hour power reserve, the beat rate of this one is 3Hz.
The new Speedmasters look excellent with their white dials, I’d love to get a hands-on opportunity with one sometime. They’re quite pricey, which I suppose reflects their status as a luxury item rather than an everyday tool piece that just so happens to have a history of going to the moon. The price is €8600 on either of the straps and €9000 on the steel bracelet.
