The Alpha and the Omega...Seamaster

For most of the Bond franchise our hero has relied upon a vast array of gadgets and technological crutches. However, in his latest incarnation, James Bond has returned to the human element of being an international man of mystery. He has put aside the rocket pack and the floating cars, and instead has learned some serious parkour and major ass-kicking. Not to mention the quick wit and confident charm that has always been a 007 calling card. Of course, he still has his a couple of standard tools to help keep him alive and stylish, one of these is his trademark Omega watch.

Throughout the history of Bond, 007 has worn a vast array of watches, but for the past few films, he has chosen to wear strictly Omegas. Of course, advertising dollars has had an influence on that, but maybe not as much as you would think. In Casino Royale, when Vesper asks if he's wearing a Rolex, and he responds, "no, it's an Omega," I said to myself, "wow, what blatant advertising." However, in a recent trip to a jewelry store to ogle watches, I met an Omega representative who told me that they did not pay for that line, it was simply a part of the script. This was extremely impressive to me, that Omega had managed to brand themselves so well as "James Bond's watch" that the writer of the film included as a prop without monetary compensation. This led me to ask, what's so special about this watch?

At first glance, it is obviously a nice watch, but after doing more research I found that I started to fall in love with the understated elegance of it. The Omega Seamaster 300m is basically the same sort of watch as the Rolex Submariner, which, with date, retails for about $5800, the Omega is listed at $3400. They are both stainless steel dive watches that are capable of going deeper than people, so that isn't a concern, but the Omega is the only one with a clasp extender to fit over your super secret spy wetsuit. Also, I got into reading about the Omega's movement, it has a co-axial chronometer movement. Now, I'm not an expert, so I said, "what does that mean to me?" Basically it has to do with the accuracy and durability of the watch, rather than having to be serviced every 5 years or so like most automatic watches, this one can go 10 years. Bonus.

On top of all of the great features of this watch, there is no denying the looks. This Omega looks comfortable and at home in any situation, from shooting terrorists in the face with a silenced Walther to bluffing a giant pot, wearing a tuxedo in a high stakes poker tournament. In my opinion, that is the epitome of Awesome, confidence and comfort in any situation. Well done Bond, well done.