The 2024 Paris Olympics are One Year Away, and Omega is Celebrating with a Special Edition Seamaster

It’s a fact of life in the watch world that every big brand is going to leverage corporate partnerships, celebrity endorsements, product placements, and other various synergies to get their name, and watches, out into the public square. I’ve always been fascinated by how watches are marketed and sold to us, and there’s one brand in particular that has been particularly adept at familiarizing the public with their product in a very specific, high level way. Omega seems to be everywhere. They have arguably the most famous celebrities in the world on their billboards (George Clooney and Nicole Kidman top the list), they’re part of one of the biggest film franchises of all time, and, oh yeah, there’s that whole bit about the moon landing. I guess a watch was involved? Anyway, they seem to have a presence in every corner of the culture that is watch adjacent, and nowhere, in my opinion, does it make more sense than their long standing relationship with the Olympics. 

We’re a year out from the 2024 summer games in Paris, France, and Omega is taking the opportunity to remind us of this particular partnership with the release of a watch meant to start the countdown to next year’s games, the Seamaster 300M “Paris 2024” Special Edition. What we have here is an execution of the current generation Seamaster Diver 300M in stainless steel, on a bracelet, with a white ceramic wave pattern dial and a Moonshine Gold timing bezel. The watch has a resemblance to another recent Olympic watch issued prior to the Beijing 2022 winter games, which featured a similar style bezel in titanium. The gold used here, of course, is an Olympic nod itself, and along with the logo for the Paris games found at the end of the running seconds hand, the material serves as the primary indicator that this is an Olympic themed watch. That’s right – no multi-colored representation of the Olympic rings to be found here.

Unlike some major brand partnerships that can seem almost arbitrary, Omega’s role as the official Olympic timekeeper is uncommonly meaningful in the world of corporate tie-ins. Omega has been an Olympic partner since 1932 when the games were held in Los Angeles, and Omega stopwatches were used in competition. In the decades since, many Omega developed technologies have become standard at the Olympics, including touch sensitive pads used in swimming events to stop the clock, and starter pistols that are electronically mated to precision timing devices. The use of watches and other timekeepers in the context of competitive sports is a very real-world application of timing technology, and Omega in many ways has been at the forefront of modernizing sports timekeeping through their work with the Olympics. The many Olympic  themed watches they’ve made over the years are a reminder of this. 

The new Seamaster 300M “Paris 2024” Special Edition has all the same specs as a standard Seamaster 300M. It comes in at 42mm in diameter with a case height of 13.7mm, and it runs on Omega’s Caliber 8800, which is METAS certified and features a coaxial escapement and silicon balance spring. Normally you’d be able to see the caliber through an exhibition caseback on a Seamaster 300M, but this special edition has a closed caseback featuring the logo of the Paris games in relief. 

The retail price for this new Seamaster is set at $8,700, and it’s available only through Omega’s Paris boutiques. Omega