With the Olympic Games Paris 2024 fast approaching, long-time official timekeeper Omega has marked the final 100 days with a pair of commemorative references. They take the form of the Speedmaster Chronoscope, with a gold, black and white theme that takes after the official colours of this edition of the Games.
Both have silvery white opaline dials, black subdials and a ceramic bezel, as well as hands and numerals in Omega’s proprietary 18k yellow gold alloy, Moonshine Gold. This alloy is a paler, cooler hue than regular yellow gold, and is much more resistant to corrosion and dulling with time. The pair differ in case material—one has a steel case (from RM45,250), while the other is in Moonshine Gold (RM156,400 on leather strap and RM245,800 on bracelet). The casebacks feature a stamped Paris 2024 logo in the style of a medallion.
These new references join the pre-existing line-up of the Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope, which debuted in 2021. The Chronoscope is inspired by ‘snail’-dialled vintage watches, which are characterised by information-dense dials that had multiple circular tracks to aid in calculating certain quantities with the chronograph seconds hand. The best known of these is the tachymeter, which can be used to calculate an object’s speed by recording the time it takes to travel between a fixed distance. It is emblematic of the Speedmaster, and will be found on the bezel of all classic models, the Chronoscope included.
The Chronoscope has further indications printed in concentric circles on the dial itself. These include a telemeter, which is used for calculating distance by measuring the time elapsed between a visual and audio cue. For example, the flash of lightning and the sound of the accompanying thunderclap, which will be perceived by a distant observer at different times due to the difference in the speeds of light and sound; as well as a pulsometer, which is used for calculating a person’s heart-rate by counting a fixed number of heartbeats. Although the Chronoscope only has two subdials, it is still a three-register chronograph, with the 3 o’clock subdial pulling double duty as minutes and hour totaliser, and the 9 o’clock subdial is the running seconds, as usual.
There is a distinctly vintage vibe to the Chronoscope, with the busy dials harkening back to a time when watches were essential measuring tools. It is also an appropriate homage to the Olympic Games, with which Omega has been associated since 1932—a time when chronographs such as these were a lot more commonplace than they are today.
