Omega Begins Counting Down to the Tokyo Olympics with a New Seamaster

A new watch from Omega that touts their partnership with the Olympics is not surprising. Along with the Bond franchise, the Olympics is one of the most important and long standing of Omega’s corporate partnerships, and, for lack of a better term, they milk it for all it’s worth (we’re only two months removed from the last Omega x Olympics release). What is somewhat surprising is when Omega unveils an Olympics watch that’s subtle, attractive, and not immediately identifiable as a partnership piece. That’s what we seem to have here in the Seamaster Diver 300M Tokyo 2020 Edition, which was unveiled this week. This is a simple and straightforward Seamaster that, in spite of decorative caseback to mark the strange occasion of the 2020 Olympics (which in April of ‘21 still have yet to take place), could easily sit next to any Seamaster that’s a permanent part of the Omega catalog. 

The new Seamaster was officially launched on Tuesday to mark the beginning of the 100 day countdown to the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games. This, of course, is an Olympic event like no other, as it was delayed a year due to the ongoing pandemic. But with vaccines getting into arms and the world beginning to return to something approaching “normal,” there’s an expectation that the 2020 Olympics will finally take place, albeit under the strictest safety precautions imaginable. 

The watch itself is somewhat conservative for an Omega special edition. What they’ve done is simply take a white dialed Seamaster and change the accent colors on the dial and bezel from black to blue. I think it’s a color combination that works really well, and the fact that it doesn’t immediately have me humming the “Olympic Anthem” when I see it is a positive in my view. The caseback does include an Olympic logo to mark the occasion, which is to be expected and entirely appropriate for a watch like this. In general, I know I’d personally be far more open to limited and special edition watches to mark significant events if they kept the mention of those events confined to the caseback, and I have a feeling that many other enthusiasts would agree. 

Like the other watches that make up the current crop of Seamaster Diver 300Ms, this one features Omega’s Calibre 8800 beating away inside, which of course is METAS certified. And the other design features of the Seamaster 300M are present as well, including the polished ceramic dial with a laser-engraved wave pattern, and the controversial helium escape valve that protrudes from the right case flank. This watch comes mounted on Omega’s Seamaster bracelet, which is a bit of an awkward, non-tapered design in my opinion, but throwing this on the blue rubber strap Omega offers with the other Seamasters in this line would look pretty sharp, and likely be a lot more comfortable to wear. 

The retail price for the Seamaster Diver 300M Tokyo 2020 Edition is $5,600. More information can be found here.