OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean ULTRA DEEP 6'000M

Whoever said the big Swiss brands weren’t interested in a depth rivalry! Possibly the most disruptive production diver’s model to come out Bienne since the Ploprof has just plummeted passed Rolex’s DEEPSEA, making its descent down to 6’000 meters leaving the aforementioned Swiss rival floundering 2’100 meters above. This is the new Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep the new kid on the abyssal block with its 45.5mm case constructed from high-performance materials like TITANIUM Grade 5 or O-MEGASTEEL as well as its patent-pending designs.

The very first Omega ULTRA DEEP diver’s watches made horological history in 2019 when they reached the deepest points on Earth. 

Now just three years on and all the tech that made those dives possible has been drawn upon to create an outstanding new Seamaster production collection known as the Planet Ocean Ultra Deep 6’000m.

Omega’s historic relationship with the ocean began in 1932 when they created one of the first ever water-resistant watches and what was arguably one of the first ever diver’s watches (at least that was available to non-military personnel), the Omega Marine. 

Characterized by its nifty dual case design, the excellent water-resistance of that timepiece became sought-after by seafaring explorers forging a path for Omega’s many future diving endeavors.

Then with the release of the earliest Seamaster in 1948, the Swiss brand’s love for the sea was rekindled, leading to the launch of the Seamaster 300 in 1957, their first true professional divers’ watch. Since then many more Omega legends have followed including the iconic Seamaster 600M Ploprof which saw a rerelease as the SM1200 and the Seamaster 1000 for major explorations, as well as the popular Seamaster Diver 300M – famously worn by 007 James Bond since the mid 90’s. The OG Ultra Deep first plunged into history in 2019 with its indestructible features, such as a case completely machined out of forged Titanium Grade 5, robust ‘Manta lugs’ that enabled an innovative way of securing the watch, and a Sapphire crystal with a conical loadbearing design inspired by a submersible’s viewport. In April of the same year, 3x Ultra Deep’s accompanied the explorer, Victor Vescovo on a MISSION to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Originally recorded as 10’925m (35’843 ft.), the depth was later updated to 10’935m (35’876 ft.) and is the deepest any human or watch has ever dived.

Two of the Ultra Deep’s were attached to the submersible’s robotic arm, while a third was strapped to a data-gathering unit known as a Lander. 

Thanks to their ingenious build and design, all three watches completed the 12 hour long dive without any problems and safely resurfaced completely unscathed.

We know well the two incredible stories in which Rolex made similar ventures into the Mariana Trench to put their prototype diver’s to the ultimate test; most famously in 1960 with the DSS strapped to the Bathyscaphe Trieste submersible, manned by Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant, Don Walsh.

Then many decades later in 2012 with the Deepsea Challenge watch which was strapped to James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenger submersible. 

The DSS never spawned any sort of production model serving mostly as bragging rights which it held for many decades; nevertheless it did inspire the HELBERG CH1 among other watches.

The Challenge watches however (which I was lucky enough to handle IN PERSON in Guam) were steroidal variants of the already existing Sea-Dweller Deepsea production watches that included the commemorative D-BLUE edition that followed. 

These 3’900m little cousins of the Challenge watches would remain as close as any collector could get to actually acquiring anything closely resembling the actual Challenge watches.

Today Omega has taken the happy approach of creating an entire collection based on their modern-day deep ocean trench diver, the Ultra Deep. 

The collection offers a Titanium Grade 5 model whose likeness most closely resembles that of the OG Ultra Deep from 2019.

Meanwhile Omega has also created O-MEGASTEEL, a mega steel alloy offering more brawn and beauty (over regular steel) for a further seven models of the new Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep.

Powered by Omega’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer Caliber 8912, all models in this epic new deep diving family are Master Chronometer certified at Switzerland’s highest standard of precision, performance and magnetic-resistance. 

In addition to this, Omega’s Ultra Deep was ocean-tested to a depth of 6,269m (20,567ft) in the Mariana Trench in 2021.

The markings ‘For Saturation Diving’ have been included to meet with ISO 6425 standards for saturation divers’ watches which is certified by Switzerland’s independent testing body, METAS - a premiere in the watch industry. It is unclear whether the watch uses a covert Helium Escape Valve (which I can’t see anywhere) or like Seiko’s Marinemaster SAT diver has been hermetically sealed to such a degree that it mitigates any potential breaching of the case by tiny Helium molecules thus eliminating the need for such a valve. Thoughts? I thought the last word in deep mechanical watches had already been clearly and definitively articulated by H2O Watch’s TEN MILES and 25’000M models, and in truth it was but we must remember that awesome as these watches are, they are niche models produced by a niche brand. When it comes to the large Swiss luxury brands (those household names) of which there are only two battling in the abyssal zone which lies between 4’000 and 6’000 meters, Omega has just spoken the last word (at least for now).

Not only did the Omega OG Ultra Dive outperform the Rolex Challenge watch on every level in terms of form and function but it gave rise to a tangible collection of new Planet Ocean Utlra Deep watches. 

However we should not forget that this year (2022) is the 10th anniversary year of the Rolex Deepsea Challenge watch so let’s see what happens on that front. ;)

In the meantime, what do you think?