Omega timekeeping technology at Seoul 1988, the “first computerised Olympics. Photograph courtesy of Jean-Jacques STRAHM. It’s easy, in today’s era of pervasive corporate tie-ins, to assume that a sporting “partnership” is merely a polite term for “sponsorship”, defined, before anything else, by the deepest pockets. When it comes to Omega’s role as Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, however, the depth of the Swiss watchmaker’s skill matters more than anything else. Omega has been keeping track of time on track and field with split-second accuracy since the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Of course, the scope of the role has changed a little in the past 90-plus years. Omega sent one watchmaker and 30 stopwatches to the 1932 games, while the 2020 games in Tokyo saw the brand deploy 530 timekeepers and a staggering 400 tonnes of equipment — a telling snapshot of how the scale of this grand sporting event has changed over the times, and how timekeeping technology has evolved with it.
Perhaps more than any other arena, the Olympics epitomises the importance of time in human endeavour. Accurate timekeeping is not coldly analytical or routine — it speaks to celebration and triumph, passion and defeat. The Olympics is a theatre where a lifetime of training and achievement can be distilled into fractions of a second. It is through these few heroic and historic moments that Omega’s infrastructure is there to serve. The watchmaker’s ongoing development of increasingly accurate timing devices serves to honour these great sporting moments.
The technology of timekeeping has proved surprisingly fluid, as the definition of victory has become increasingly precise. In 1932, Omega’s chronographs were capable of accuracy to 1/10th of a second — impressive for a completely mechanical device. Things have changed a little today. The London 2012 Games saw Omega deploy its Quantum Timer for the first time in cycling and aquatic events. Sixteen independent clocks are incorporated into the hardware, and, thanks to a micro-crystal embedded in the timing mechanism, this machine is accurate to one-millionth of a second, allowing for a closer-than-ever reading of peak athletic performance. Precise chronometry is only one part of the equation, though.
Omega’s timekeepers have also developed ever more effective tools to communicate timing data to officials, scoreboards and the athletes themselves. Take, for example, the starting pistol. While historically, it has been an effective tool to signal the start of a race, there were issues. It relied on sound, which travels slower than light — meaning that, in theory, people closer to the sound of the pistol have a fractional advantage over people further away. There was also a margin of error between the sound of the pistol and the start of timekeeping. That’s why today’s starting device comprises a flash gun and a sound generation box, linked directly to timing devices.
Omega’s quest for accuracy is driven by necessity; with every Olympiad, the margin for victory gets tighter, making increasingly fine fractions of time matter. This level of significance of its chronographs. Using as its base the justifiably iconic Speedmaster design, this model offers an unconventional twist on the traditional chronograph layout.
Most chronographs follow a familiar design language of multiple subdials, each with a dedicated timing increment, often along with a dedicated scale. The modern sports chronograph is a great example of a homologous design — the form and appearance are clearly defined to serve the function of being able to quickly and accurately measure and read elapsed time. The Speedmaster Chronoscope manages to add to the story. Omega has reached into the archives and created an interpretation of the Speedmaster that, in addition to the familiar external bezel scale (here a tachymeter for timing distance over time), has a series of central scales inspired by historical Speedmasters. There’s a pulsometer, used to measure a pulse, and a telemeter for measuring your distance from sound (handy if you want to work out how far away lightning is). The dial also has an additional tachymeter right in the centre of the dial.
These special Olympic models are offered in steel or Omega’s proprietary alloy MoonShine Gold, a subtler take on traditional yellow gold. The Olympic angle is quite restrained — there are no rings on the dial, but rather a nicely stamped caseback honouring Paris 2024. It’s a fitting tribute to a genuine partnership of precision timekeeping and athletic excellence
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