Not long ago, bright colours were the preserve of “fashion” watches, with luxury brands – including traditional Swiss watchmakers – sticking almost exclusively to a more reserved palette of gold and silver. But things have changed. The watch industry survived the quartz onslaught last century, it has survived smartwatches this century, and it is feeling free to express itself. Rainbows of colour are springing up among Switzerland’s oldest and finest brands, and Omega has just injected several more shades to the mix, with 10 new models in the Aqua Terra range.

Compared with some brands, Omega’s ranges are pretty straightforward. Four lines: two sporty; two dressy. Most of the fancy stuff comes in the Constellation and De Ville lines. Then the sporty ranges are Speedmaster – the chronograph best known for going to the moon – and Seamaster, the tool watch famed for being worn by Daniel Craig as James Bond. The Aqua Terra is a Seamaster sub-brand, introduced 20 years ago to offer a more versatile everyday option. Gone is the regular Seamaster’s hefty rotating bezel, giving the Aqua Terra a more slender profile.

The Aqua Terra comes in a whole range of case sizes, from an entry-level 28mm quartz version, right through to a GMT Worldtimer witha 43mm case. The new watches are in two sizes in the middle of the range: five at 34mm, and five at 38mm. The colours take inspiration from land and sea – in keeping with the original ethos and the name Aqua Terra. Omega has got creative with the descriptions, so there are saffron and sandstone, lagoon green and lavender.

Catching the eye immediately is the 38mm terracotta – a bold reddish colour – along with the purplish lavender on the 34mm case. But there are also the more restrained blues – sea blue on the 34mm and Atlantic blue on the 38mm– and the subtle sandstone, which is available in both case sizes. Saffron, on the 38mm case, is an orangey-gold that contrasts very well with the stainless-steel case. Aside from the different colours, there is a small style difference between the two sizes: the 38mm has hour-markers in a trapezoid shape; the 34mm’s hour markers are shaped like the tiny hull of a boat.

The new dials are made of brass, sunbrushed and lacquered, and the colours are applied using individual vapour-deposition processes. All but one uses physical vapour deposition (PVD), a process widely practised in the high-end watch industry where a solid material – eg diamond-like carbon – is vaporised in a vacuum and deposited on the target surface. The terracotta dial, by contrast, is made using chemical vapour deposition (CVD), a technique not usually seen in watchmaking and more often used in the production of tech-industry semiconductors.

The new models, which are available in stores from November, are fitted with Omega’s 8800 chronometer-certified in-house movement with co-axial escapement. That innovation, designed by the late British watchmaking genius George Daniels, increases accuracy by reducing friction in the watch’s beating heart. The automatic movement has a 55-hour power reserve and is engraved and finished with a Geneva-wave pattern that can be seen through the open caseback. There is also an attached, three-link, stainless-steel bracelet that has been redesigned with rounded links.

A regular Seamaster comes with a hefty 300m of water resistance, making it a proper diving watch. The Aqua Terra does not have designs on such depths, but it boasts a perfectly respectable 150m water resistance, along with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, and an anti-magnetic movement resistant to magnetic fields up to 15,000 gauss. So, it is still a watch you can take pretty much anywhere, save perhaps deep-sea diving or operating an MRI scanner.

But this is not a watch about numbers. Omega has an enviable position among luxury watch brands. Fans have ranged from JFK and Gianni Versace, right through to George Clooney and Prince William, and in terms of name recognition it is incredibly strong. But Omega is never seen as flashy. And very far from being a fashion brand. With watchmaking credentials that are second-to-none, Omegas are bought by people who know what they like, rather than who want to show off. That said, if you maybe want to show off just a little, a splash of colour certainly can’t hurt.

Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M Co-Axial Master Chronometer 38mm, £5,420; omegawatches.com