Omega
Omega was founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1848 by Louis Brandt. He assembled precision pockets watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen. After Louis Brandt’s death in 1879, his two sons Louis-Paul and César took over the company and moved the headquarters to the Gurzelen district of Biel, where the headquarters are still situated today. By the time of Louis-Paul and César Brandt’s death in 1903, Omega was one Switzerland’s largest companies, with 800 employees and 240,000 watches produced annually.
In the 1960s, the company was involved in a notable space age rivalry with Bulova Watches to be selected as the ‘first watch on the moon’. Ultimately, the Omega Speedmaster Professional chronograph wristwatch (known as the “Moon watch”), was designated by NASA for use by the astronauts in all manned space missions, becoming the first watch on the moon on the wrist of Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin - forty years ago, on July 20th, 1969.
In 2007, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph, the Omega company unveiled the commemorative Speedmaster Professional Chronograph Moonwatch. The watch had the distinctive features of the first hand-winding Omega Speedmaster introduced in 1957. It was sold in a limited edition of 5,957.
In April 2007 a Swiss bidder paid $351,000 at auction for an Omega Platinum Constellation Grand Luxe, Circa 1953.
This is the highest ever auction price for an Omega watch and was among the 300 lots up for bid in the historic Omegamania auction, conducted by the world’s leading luxury-watch auction house, Antiquorum. Omegamania was the first-ever auction devoted solely to the Omega brand generating a total of approximately $5,540,000.
If you have an Omega watch, and would like to know how much it is worth, Borro.com will be happy to provide you with a reliable valuation.
Borro.com offers asset backed loans against personal valuables such as Omega watches.
DID YOU KNOW…?
A chronograph watch is identified by it’s stop watch function and 3 dials…
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