STYLE Edit: Omega’s superb new Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime fuses a chronograph and minute repeater in the most complicated calibre the Swiss luxury watchmaker has ever made

Nov 28 , 2022

Omega’s exquisite new Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime fuses a chronograph and minute repeater. Photos: Omega Olympic

Omega has made several leaps in horological history, from the first minute repeater wristwatch in 1892 to pocket chronographs at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics

The Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime combines both of the complications for the brand’s most complex calibre; and has also released its new Speedmaster Chrono Chime

With a century and nearly three-quarters’ experience of crafting the very finest in Swiss mechanical timepieces, Omega has been there for any number of landmark moments in horological history.

In 1892, for example, the brand was responsible for the first ever minute repeater wristwatch, while in 1932 it created the pocket chronographs that were used to time that year’s Los Angeles Olympics, marking its debut as the games’ Official Timekeeper, a role it has held ever since.

Now, both of those complications have come together on a watch that pays tribute to the aesthetics of the era, while pushing on the boundaries of technical possibility.

Omega’s Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime features the newly developed Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 1932.

At the heart of the Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime sits the newly developed Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 1932, the most complicated movement the company has ever made. Featuring both a fully integrated chronograph and a minute repeater, it was created from scratch for the watch, in a process that took six years and involved no fewer than 17 different patents.

It comes with a case in Omega’s own Sedna gold, which surrounds a grand feu enamel dial with a small seconds at 6 o’clock and a 15-minute recorder at 12 o’clock. It also features Arabic numerals and a minute track in black petit feu enamel, alongside central hour and minute hands and subdial hands in blued PVD, as well as a blued CVD central seconds hand and a red split-seconds hand.

Omega’s extraordinary new Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime, a ringing tribute to the exceptional skills of the Swiss brand’s watchmakers.

The silver guilloche inner bezel and subdials, meanwhile, come in Omega’s exclusive acoustic waves pattern, which represents the soundwaves the watch produces. It does so via the minute repeater, which makes itself heard via double hammers with an insert of hardened steel and gongs made of Sedna gold, creating a sound reminiscent of the bell that signals the last lap of an Olympic race.

In addition to the Olympic 1932 Chrono Chime, Omega has also created a version of its much-loved Speedmaster line powered by the 1932 calibre. The Speedmaster Chrono Chime features a chime at 8 o’clock and split seconds at 2 o’clock, and comes in a special walnut presentation box with resonance plate.

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