Tour de force: Omega De Ville Tourbillon Numbered Edition

This ground-breaking new timepiece combines Omega's technical expertise with sophisticated aesthetics

Watches & Jewellery 19 Jun 2020

Omega De Ville Tourbillon Numbered Edition

Swiss watchmaker Omega is known for its urbane association with James Bond, as an essential piece of technical kit for astronauts travelling through space – and walking on the moon – for sports timekeeping, for innovative watchmaking and desirable design. And it’s definitely no slouch in the precision and accuracy department, either.

At its heart, Omega has built its reputation on revolutionary watch movements. Having created the first wristwatch tourbillon calibre in 1947, the brand introduced the first self-winding central tourbillon wristwatch in 1994, with the gravity-defying complication positioned in the middle of the watch.

Timepieces featuring a central tourbillon are pretty rare in the horological universe. It’s a field that Omega leads, and the brand has further advanced tourbillon craftsmanship with the announcement of its first Master Chronometer-certified manual winding central tourbillon, the new De Ville Tourbillon Numbered Edition. Omega’s experts have crafted a tourbillon cage that can keep rotating even under a very strong magnetic field – in other words, it could survive a trip through a hospital MRI scanner, let alone withstand the magnetic effects of everyday items like laptop, phone, automatic doors. What’s more, the tourbillon’s speed has been set to allow one revolution of its beating heart per minute, allowing a display of seconds. These superior achievements have resulted in certification by the Swiss watch industry’s highest standards of precision and performance, no mean feat.

Living up to its impressive tech credentials, the new timepiece’s looks are also very easy on the eye. Beautifully designed, its sleek 43mm case is robed in 18ct Sedna gold, the brand’s signature warmly hued red gold. The ‘sun-brushed’ face is made from Sedna too, but coated with a PVD treatment to produce the black dial, all the better to highlight the tourbillon, beating at its heart. The attractively neat timepiece oozes panache, not ostentation, completed by a black leather strap with buckle and crown logo picked out in 18ct Canopus gold – another proprietary alloy, Omega’s version of bright white gold. Packing a powerful innovatory punch on the inside, encased in elegant style, it embodies what Omega stands for.

£134,780; omegawatches.com