OMEGA Superior to Rolex!!

Perhaps. Not sure. Thing is, amongst enthusiasts Rolex marketing and resulting brand equity might had ended up playing against them, but we cant forget the quality of their core offering. Yes the 42mm Speedmaster is half the price of a Daytona. But a 40mm, 12mm thick automatic, chronometer chronograph is pretty hard to come by at this price point. And while one can disagree with where the Submariner has gone in recent years (size increase, maxi case, etc), it's had an influence and mark on history that a Seamaster can only try but catch up to, no matter how many James Bond movies get released.

But hey, what do I know. I'm a Grand Seiko guy.

As a kid growing up in the lower middle class in the 70's & 80's, I did not have the same interest in watches that I do now, the internet wasn't a thing, an encyclopedia was not going to discuss the ins & outs of the watch world. Therefore, well into my adulthood is when I first knew there was a thing called an automatic watch. This was the late 90's before I had any idea there were different watches than battery analog, battery digital and hand wind (yes, I had no idea about quartz)! Add in EcoDrive (for the longest time, I thought EcoDrive was just Citizen's name for an automatic) and I knew barely nothing about watches.

But the one thing I KNEW was that Rolex was THE watch to show that you had made it in the world of business. Countless TV shows & movies said it was so. At one time I aspired to own a Rolex. Why? simply because it was the IT watch. If it was the IT watch, it must be the best right? Wrong. As has been discussed, they are good watches; but you can get better watches for less from Omega, Christopher Ward and other brands.

Rolex's marketing has been in hyper drive for decades and until someone can break through the wall of messaging & out-market Rolex, millions more kids will still be as naïve as I was about Rolex; even with the advantage of the internet.

Yeah, that’s why I wanted everyone to know I’m not knocking Rolex as their a staple in this industry as much as Rolex and they know how to market. And Rolex was the first to waterresist but Omega was the first to commercially be able to put them out and I feel like both are heavy hitters in water resistance. I don’t feel like Rolex has anything over them per-say.

When the Quartz crisis hit Rolex pivoted to the AP route and went up market, they went from tool watches with a few random gold ones to marketing as the watch of leaders of industry and countries wear. They barely looked at quartz and kept the focus on mechanical but now higher end, and as reliable as possible.

Everyone else with very few exceptions went to quartz and tried to justify why you should pay so much more for the same movement that was in a $10watch. The result was cost cutting and some regrettable designs. It took a long time for companies to recover, I would take a Rolex from the 70s-2010s over Omega, but anything after the 8800 movement family came out and I will take Omega over Rolex, but that is less than a decade old, if they keep it up Omega will be in a good position to remind Rolex about the sword of Damocles.

Omega has some really amazing watches behind them. But unfortunately that is the thing. Behind them.

I have owned and own some Omega’s and Rolex’s. But with current prices and comfort Rolex is the better bang for the buck.

Why Omega cannot get a proper bracelet solution is beyond me.

And now when there are even waiting lists for Omegas as well….. not sure what to say(?).

Technically they are really good but so is Rolex. And with s lot of the research that Rolex put into not only the actual watch but the equipment and the material sourcing. I find it to be the better brand. Sorry Omega but until 2015 you were really great. Massive low point has to be the colour AT’s

This sounds inspired by TGVs latest video where he hit many of the same notes.

I have 4 Omega watches, no Rolex. When I started seriously collecting, and went to check out Rolex at ADs, I found empty cases and snooty salesmen. As I looked at Omega, by contrast, I was treated like I was valued at my AD. As I compared the watches directly, by the specs because Rolex is unavailable by their choice, Omega won again and again. I will FOREVER have Omega in my collection, while I refuse to chase Rolex. I am extremely satisfied, and saved many thousands of dollars all at once. I want watches and not marketing hype.

I don’t think anybody mentioned this and I just want to make this statement for the record that Omega is not responsible for the development of the Co-Axial escapement rather, that was Dr. George Daniels, who then sold his invention to Omega for use in their series production movements. Oh, there’s also another revolutionary escapement that was made by Grand Seiko called the Dual Impulse Escapement, and that is definitely a candidate for true innovation in watchmaking. You also missed stated COSC standards. Rolex holds themselves to a tighter standard that they refer to as a “Superlative Chronometer” which is the -2 to +2 seconds a day vs. regular COSC accuracy standard of -4 to +6 seconds a day. If you wanna look at it mathematically, Rolex still has the tighter standard of only four seconds a day versus a five second daily deviation standard with METAS. In my experience- my Rolex “Superlative Chronometers” are actually better at keeping accurate “atomic” time as they’re able to lose the second or two gained during a day of wearing the watch by placing it crown up by my bedside. While the watch sits there overnight, it loses the extra time it gained during the day making it super accurate over the course of a 24 hour period. A METAS certified watch will never lose time gained. Now, it’s definitely easier to adjust the time on a METAS watch as all you need to do is pull out the crown to hack the seconds and wait a couple seconds for reference time to catch up. I’m not saying that Omega doesn’t offer phenomenal technological value for money in their price segment. Because they do. I love Omega. I’m currently waiting on a 321 Ed White. I adore Omega. Just wanted to set the record straight on this post. The Co-Axial escapement is also helpful when it comes to servicing times as Omega has been able to lengthen the service intervals and keep maintenance costs down.

I honestly think Tudor is positioning themselves to compete head on with Omega. Their implementation of METAS into the Black Bay line is only going to continue to evolve and grow Tudor into a full fledged competitor to Omega.

Omega has some catching up to do on its bracelets. I’m dying to get a Globemaster, but I can’t justify spending that much for a watch on a bracelet with no micro-adjustment whatsoever.

I have both.

The Rolex watches I have are ones that Omega don't really have a true alternative. The Omega I have does have a Rolex alternative and beats it quite handily IMO.

I like both brands, but Omega is my favorite watch brand overall.

Again, there are some things that Rolex has done the Omega hasn’t and Omega has done things Rolex hasn’t. The argument comes down to the accuracy which Omega pulls out on front. The main point of a watch is knowing the time as accurate as possible. Omega does that better than Rolex. I’ll give you the bracelet though. Omega has a few nice bracelets (New Speedy, titanium seam master NTTD) but my favorite bracelet is a rolex bracelet.

I used to say that since Rolex was hard to get. But when I finally got one I did appreciate it a great deal and would get a couple more when the time is right. It does suck that they are hard to get, but you are right, Omegas time piece is SO accurate! I’ve gone days with my speedy and was spot on time. No deviation at all. My NTTD Seamaster was a couple seconds ahead after a few days.

I do find one are that I’m not as pleased with in regards to OMEGA and that is their bracelets as @Deskdiversthlm mentioned. I will NOT get a Seamaster with that traditional SM bracelet. Looks cheesy and cheap.

I did mention COSC but also listed as -2/+2 but even then, Omegas testing and certification is a stricter one.

Also got the Tudor BBPro recently. Beautiful GMT.

Thanks for sharing more info!!

I have two omegas and both have BEAUTIFUL bracelets but there are a lot of pieces I’d love to get but hesitant because of the cheap and cheesy looking bracelets.

Which pieces of each do you have? Which two do you have that you find as alternatives where omega beats it out?