A new acoustic testing method developed by the Laboratoire de Précision enables Master Chronometer certification of a two-hand watch for the first time.
It uses an acoustic testing method combined with optical hand-tracking, developed by the Laboratoire de Précision and certified by METAS.
Two years after the announcement of the Laboratoire de Précision, Omega introduces the Constellation Observatory Collection.
The collection’s movements and watches undergo both Chronometer and then Master Chronometer testing without the need for a seconds hand.
For the first time in watchmaking history, a two-hand hour and minute watch has achieved Master Chronometer certification.
The Constellation Observatory
Since 1952, the Constellation has represented Omega’s commitment to certified precision.
The Constellation Observatory Collection marks the next step in this legacy, with two new calibres.
The 39.4mm watches unite decades of Constellation design heritage with modern precision testing and exclusive materials across the collection.
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” says Omega president and CEO Raynald Aeschlimann.
“The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete.
“It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification,” he says.
The precision test
The Laboratoire de Précision operates as an official independent certification body, responsible for its own measurement technology and management, certified by METAS for the Master Chronometer and officially accredited by SAS as a testing laboratory for the Chronometer.
Its structure ensures impartial and confidential results that the broader watch industry can reference.
The Laboratoire developed a wireless, self-contained testing unit that consolidates all Chronometer and Master Chronometer certification processes into a single device.
Powered by Dual Metric technology, the unit continuously captures the sound of each tick and tack while recording environmental parameters: temperature, position, magnetic fields, and atmospheric pressure throughout the full 25 days of testing.
Traditional testing relied on photographing the position of the seconds hand, capturing one result per day.
Dual Metric Technology generates continuous data from the first second.
The acoustic signature can isolate frequency irregularities, temperature and pressure sensitivities, positional variation, and amplitude fluctuations.
Watchmakers can identify not only that a variation exists, but where and when it occurs.
The watch’s heritage
The Omega Constellation Observatory Collection reinterprets Omega’s defining aesthetic codes.
The design language traces to the 1948 Centenary, which laid the foundation for the Constellation.
The dodecagonal pie-pan dial followed shortly after the launch of the first Constellation, with the Constellation Star at 6 o’clock and the Observatory medallion on the caseback.
The guilloché finish appears on the facets of the pie-pan, a detail established with the early Grand Luxe models.
The faceted kite-form indexes and dauphine hands draw on earlier Constellation models.
The dog-leg lugs distinguished Omega models of the era.
The nine-row brick pattern on the 18K Moonshine Gold mesh bracelet draws on vintage brick bracelets of the Constellation’s formative years.
Two new calibres feature across the collection, each built on a skeletonised rotor base with polished or shined bevels, rounded outer zone on the rotor and an applied Constellation Observatory medallion.
They are presented in three categories: Grand Luxe, Luxe and Standard.
Calibre 8915 Grand Luxe pairs the 950 Platinum-Gold edition.
It features a rotor base in 18K Sedna Gold in fine spiral finish with polished outer zone.
The Observatory medallion is in 18K white gold, laser-ablated, with its dark blue sky enamelled with aventurine glass and highlighted by eight stars, the Observatory dome filled with translucent white opal enamel.
Calibre 8915 Luxe movements are designed for the 18K gold collection, including the first use of an 18K Moonshine Gold rotor and balance bridge in Omega’s history, in addition to the usual 18K Sedna Gold.
The rotor base bears the Geneva waves in arabesque with horizontally brushed outer zone.
The medallion is in 18K corresponding gold with laser-ablated elements, contrasting mat and polished finishes.
Calibre 8914 Standard is a replica of Calibre 8915 Luxe in rhodium-plated finish, powering the O-Megasteel watches.
