Meet The New Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep In Titanium (Live Pictures)
Remember the Seamaster Ultra Deep from 2019? It is the Omega watch that played a role in Victor Vescovo’s “Five Deeps Expedition”, and went down to 10,927 meters. Now, in 2022, Omega introduces a version of that watch you can actually wear (as the 2019 piece had a thickness of 28.5mm). Meet the Seamaster Ultra Deep in titanium. It’s part of the Planet Ocean collection and able to go as deep as 6,000 meters, or 20,000 feet.
I saw and tried on the 15,000m water-resistant Ultra Deep when I was in the Omega Museum in Biel, Switzerland. It’s an incredibly impressive watch, and definitely not suitable for normal wear. One could have guessed that the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean collection would receive a little make-over or update, and that Omega would be doing something with the design cues of the Ultra Deep. And so the brand did. The result is this Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep in titanium. It’s a 45.5mm watch with a thickness of 18.12mm. The lug-to-lug is 56mm. That’s still not small or even modestly sized, but neither is the PloProf. And did you know that the Planet Ocean Chronograph was even thicker?
Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep In Titanium
Omega decided to split the new Seamaster Ultra Deep into two collections. One consists of just this titanium watch, and there are three references in stainless steel with symmetrical cases. This article is about the titanium version though, the watch that comes closest to that Ultra Deep that went down to 10,927 meters for 53 hours and 52 minutes in May 2019. Omega tested the new Seamaster Ultra Deep in grade 5 titanium at 7,500 tons of pressure. Omega can do this in-house with testing equipment that allows the brand to test watches at an equivalent of 15,000 meters deep.
One of the coolest things about this watch is the manta lug design, just like on the 2019 model. It also makes it only wearable on the supplied NATO strap that comes with the watch (or any other NATO strap for that matter). If you want to wear it on a rubber strap or stainless steel bracelet, you need to find solace in the stainless steel versions of this watch that Omega is offering. The hardware on the NATO strap is also titanium, and the clasp has a special shape that perfectly matches the shape of the case and its manta lugs.
The case back has been engraved and the black parts on it have been achieved by laser engraving as well, rather than with black chrome (which is not that good for your skin).
Titanium dial
The dial has a “Ti” marking, indicating its titanium construction just like the case and hardware on the NATO strap. The uni-directional bezel with a 60-minute scale is made of ceramized titanium. The hour markers and hands have a type of brushed finish that looks really neat when observed with a loupe. The seconds hand features a gradient color that changes from white to blue at the tip. For the 45.5mm Seamaster Ultra Deep, however, Omega achieved the effect by blue gradient painting. It matches the blue markers at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock and the words on the dial printed in blue.
ISO 6425-Certified
There are a number of watches out there that meet the requirements for dive watches set by the ISO 6425 standards. However, only a few watches are actually certified to this standard. The Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep boasts an official ISO 6425 certification. As such, it has passed nine specific tests regarding visibility, magnetism, temperature cycling, water resistance, general shock resistance, the resistance of attachments, a free-fall test, a salt spray test, and a helium gas overpressure test. On the case back, you will find the wording “For saturation diving”. Only ISO 6425-certified dive watches may feature this text.
Patents Pending
The 45.5mm titanium Ultra Deep has an asymmetrical case, and currently, four patents are pending for the construction of this watch. Two of those pending patents relate to the construction of the sapphire crystal (which is a whopping 5.2mm thick). One patent is for the conical design of the crown to ensure optimal stress distribution. And last but not least, there’s a patent pending on the case back construction and its gap for the gasket. Combined, these aspects prevent the Seamaster Ultra Deep from requiring a helium escape valve or monobloc case in order to make sure nothing happens to the crystal when the watch is in the decompression chamber after a saturation dive.
Caliber 8912
Omega’s in-house-developed caliber 8912 ticks away inside the Seamaster Ultra Deep. This movement is based on the caliber 8900, but this caliber doesn’t feature a date. It has two sequential barrels which offer 60 hours of power reserve. Of course, this movement has achieved Master Chronometer certification by METAS. As such, it guarantees an average accuracy of +0-5 seconds per day and magnetic resistance to more than 15,000 gauss. Then there’s the Co-Axial escapement and a free-sprung balance with silicon balance spring. Though it’s a nice-looking movement, it hides under the titanium case back. This caliber also finds a home in the titanium Seamaster Ploprof 1200M and the Seamaster 300. Fittingly, Omega also used the 8912 in the Seamaster Ultra Deep from 2019.
Final thoughts
Upon seeing this watch in the flesh, I decided that I want to own one. It is the first Planet Ocean that I actually like, and the fact that it is so close to the original 2019 Ultra Deep makes it very desirable. The diameter is 45.5mm and the thickness is 18.12mm. But since I wear my Seamaster PloProf 1200M quite often as well, I think I can get away with it. The NATO strap that goes underneath the case makes it sit even higher on the wrist than 18.12mm, but that’s OK. The steel version is very nice as well. I was able to try all versions, and I like the orange-bezel model a lot. But, one has to make choices, and so I will decide that this Seamaster Ultra Deep in titanium is the one for me.
My assumption is that this Ultra Deep is also the new direction for the Planet Ocean collection. Let’s see if Omega will update the smaller Planet Ocean watches with new designs that are similar to this Ultra Deep.
The price of the Omega Seamaster Ultra Deep in titanium is CHF 11,400 (without tax). Find more information on the Omega website.
