Teddy Baldassarre
Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Review: Breaking Down the 20th Anniversar
The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean has represented a sweet spot in the now-sprawling Seamaster collection, a rarely achieved intersection between extra-rugged build and unapologetically luxurious design. The latest revamp of the two-decade-old series, which launched in late 2025, doubles down on both while also striving for new levels of comfort and wearability. Here’s a closer look, starting at the beginning. [toc-section heading="Origins of the Seamaster Collection"] Omega began making watches in 1848 (originally as La Genérale Watch Co.) and for its milestone 100th anniversary, a few years after the end of World War II, the brand founded by watchmaker Louis Brandt launched the first watch by the name of Seamaster. Not really a “dive watch” as we’d define that term today, it was marketed as a watch for “town, sea, and country” - i.e., a gentleman’s dress watch that just happened to be more waterproof than any other such timepiece of that era. (Omega had been dabbling in making wristwatches water resistant for more than a decade at that point, having released the Marine, below, an early divers’ watch with a sealed, rectangular double-case design, as early as 1932.) What distinguished the Seamaster from its contemporaries was its adoption of an innovative, O-ring-gasket device that sealed the crown into the case to prevent moisture from entering. Omega had developed that design for the tool watches it made for the British armed forces during wartime,...
