Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer Review

I just want to say a belated happy new year for 2023. There was at least a 9-month gap since I have posted in Watchcrunch, but I'll try my best to be more active.

I've been going through hard times, and took some break from the watch world, but found myself to recover. Also, my bad for the long month delay, a lot of things just tend to happen to me (both good and bad) which makes it quite difficult to focus on things. But usually on the toughest of times and moments (and some of the most rewarding moments too), this watch is usually the one that is on my left wrist, and by looking at it…what it symbolizes to me is that I can go through dire situations, and can still come back from it, and overcome.

I'm just saying all these random things because it's been over a year and a half (at the time of writing) since I bought this watch, and it's been through a lot with me too...as explained earlier. Before I got this watch, I heavily researched every existing world timer watches in existence (this was around 2019-2021 period, until I finally bought the watch).

The reason why I was really focused on getting this watch, was because I was deciding between the Grand Seiko SBGA407 (Skyflake) and this watch (Omega Worldtimer) to be the first luxury watch I ever purchased. I ended up picking the Grand Seiko first and picked this up just about a year later. But I kind of regretted it because it had a price increase from the boutique compared to when I originally saw it (as of writing, it had 4 price increases). Also, I am someone who works and communicates on people around the world. Even my phone screen has multiple time zones. Thus, I really wanted a Worldtimer watch.

A quick description of a Worldtimer complication: it's a GMT watch on roids. Instead of indicating a further 2nd (or 3rd time zone if it has a bezel to do it with), a Worldtimer will indicate EVERY 24 major timezones across the world. Whether it's the GMT zone (in the UK where I currently live), to Japan, to America, Australia, Central Europe, Philippines/China, Middle East...I can go on. The watchmakers usually decide to pick a major city within that time zone and will "represent" that timezone. That's why you'll commonly would see London or Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo and so on.

In this particular Worldtimer where you usually see Paris after London, it was replaced with Bienne (Biel, where the home of Omega is).

The only ones that I was aware who makes worldtimer watches were Patek Philippe…(but I wasn't much of a fan with their Worldtimer system of having only 2 hands), Vacheron Constantin had the Traditionelle Worldtimer at the time), and the Overseas Worldtimer (in terms of serving the function of the complication, it's the best one at that time in my opinion only because it's one of the only worldtimers in the world that features EVERY time zones in the world on one dial…but was way too big for me), however both models are now discontinued. The "normal" Overseas is already too big for me on a bracelet, let alone the Overseas Worldtimer. There's also some from Breitling, Montblanc, Jaeger-LeCoultre and most recently Nomos but they didn't look as practical (as in active wear, everyday use kind of situations) or feel as durable as the Omega Worldtimer. There was an interesting article I read about worldtimer watches, and what a “true” worldtimer is about. But this review is based on my experience since I bought and owned the watch, and facts are that the Omega Worldtimer does its job…which is to tell the time around the world on the 24 hour “major” time zones.

Hence, I'm writing a review about it. Again, I will be objective about this review as I did with my previous review...and any further reviews I make in the future.

There are a few variants of these Omega Worldtimers; the first one being a limited edition watch in platinum which came out in 2017 I believe...with the 3 main shades of gold (yellow, white and rose) are also part of the watch. Then a couple of years later, they released it in both stainless steel and Sedna Gold (as Omega calls it).

Also, it looks just a bit big for me when I wore it...which I will explain later. I consider the Omega Worldtimer my “wrist limit”. 

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 Price

 All my watch reviews will be relative from its price point to its value for the watchmaking involved.

I was originally planning to buy it with the rubber strap (it was £7100 with the rubber, and £7600 for the bracelet). But what happened in 2021 was that they had a price increase (£7600 for the rubber strap, and £7780 for the bracelet, when I bought it). In 2022, they increased the price twice (£7900 > £8130 for the rubber, and £8130 > £8500 for the bracelet). As of time of post in 2023, their retail price will increase again which is currently (at time of post) now retails for £8900 on a rubber strap and £9200 for the bracelet option. For reference, the full Sedna gold version was £33000 when it was released, and it now retails for £37,940 > £39,900 > £42900 as of time of writing...which is actually insane. Looking on watch prices in 2023 on RRP is just quite painful to look at, and it’s bound to go higher I think. Since the full Sedna gold version of the Omega Worldtimer is basically 5x the asking price of the stainless steel version (when you can just buy the stainless steel version), I decided to just ignore it. There's a lot of better watches you can get in that price point (or in some cases, multiple watches around £40,000). The main difference between my version and the full Sedna gold version is the metal used on the case and bracelet, dial color, the balance bridge (crown, and rotor) being gold…but apart from that, it’s the exact same watch with the same specs. Also, gold is a lot heavier too.

Now, knowing that there's been a consistent price increase of Omega watches that I'm aware of, it would just keep going as long as Rolex keeps increasing their prices on their watches. They do dictate the Swiss watch market after all. The tough thing is, if we're comparing this watch against other watches in the same price range...then we can be here all day. I don't think everyone cares about Worldtimers in general, they're just cool to look at.

But if I compare it to other worldtimers, I believe the value of price of this watch is insanely good. This is a watch that looks a lot more expensive than what it is, and there's not a lot of Omega Worldtimers when I enter Omega boutiques or AD. The only exception is the Omega HQ...they literally have everything there that's in current production. If you think about it, not only the watch is a Worldtimer...but it's also METAS certified. It can go to the waters much easier compared to any Patek Philippe worldtimer for example, while it's also antimagnetic to insane levels. It also feels like one of the toughest worldtimer watches out there compared to everything else I have mentioned so far, and the watch is still hovering just around £9000 in retail.

So I have concluded that for anything under £10000, the Omega Worldtimer in stainless steel is the "best valued" mechanical worldtimer in the watch world. I truly believe it's this very watch. Now I'm not exactly sure if this is a positive or a negative, but the watch does look a lot more expensive than what you pay for it.

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 Quality

 I will go through every part of the watch that I can point out, from exterior to interior.

The watch itself is machine made, but there is some hand finishing involved too...it's just not as apparent as say, the Ed White Speedmaster. The movement itself looks really nice in my opinion, and will cover that a bit more in the m"Movement" section of this review.

Starting with the case. I think the stainless steel case is great! There are many factors of brushed and polished finishing throughout the case and the bracelet...which is great in my opinion. I really like that the sides of the case were brush finished as it makes it really easy to rest the watch on surfaces without worrying about potential scratches (unless it's really obvious). The bracelet also has polished center links and brushed side links, up to the end of the clasp which is brushed finished with the words OMEGA written on it.

The bracelet version features a double deployant clasp, which must be clicked in order, and it's opened with 2 triggers to be pressed simultaneously to open the clasp. Whereas the strap version is just as cool in my opinion, because although it's a standard deployant clasp...the extra length of the strap would be tucked inside instead of outside like usual.

The watch features a flat sapphire crystal front (with a smooth bezel) and features a hesalite crystal on the inner dial of the watch which moves and indicates the hours to the corresponding time zones presented on the watch. Usually, other world timer watches will have a button to "shift" the time zone you are interested in...like the ones you find in Patek Philippe (as far as Louis Cottier's version goes), and that system is the most common one of the modern worldtimers. But in this watch, the cities are locked in place (which I will mention in the "dial" part of the review).

The watch has a 15 bar/ 150m water resistance with a screw-down crown. The watch crown features 2 crown positions; in zero/ neutral position, you can wind-up the watch to keep it running and increase its power reserve. The power reserve of the watch is about 60 hours in my experience, and it's an automatic watch.

For this watch, I advise having a watch winder unless you don’t mind winding this thing...because winding this watch by hand is really tough, especially when you haven't worn it when the movement isn't moving. I've held hundreds, and thousands of watches and this piece is up there in terms on being really tough to hand wound from the crown.

Another thing that can be tough with this watch is the date setting; usually, worldtimers doesn't have a date window but these ones from Omega does feature one in the 6 o'clock position...which is great in my opinion. It doesn't snap at midnight, and usually starts hovering just after 11 o'clock PM. The positive is that the date can easily go ahead or before the given date you want to adjust (so adjusting the time backwards can also move the date back for example). The downside is that there's no quick set date. If you're behind to say...like 3-4 days, it's going to be hard to adjust the crown all the way to the time. There’s also a minor thing that does bother me about the watch; sometimes the hour hand doesn’t land on the exact point that suppose to indicate where the hour should be. I’m not sure if it’s because of the quick hour GMT options, or whether there’s a fault on the watch itself.

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 Dial

Now the dial of this watch, is really, really interesting. It has an outer shade of blue. But in the middle, there's a flat version of the world focusing from the Northern hemisphere of the watch. That very part of the Earth was actually created on a grade 5 titanium plate, and was formed using a laser!!!! (also the word “Seamaster” is laser engraved in yellow gold printing)

That ladies and gentlemen, is really cool. The Omega symbol and logo seems to be printed on the dial in a white/ silver color and it’s nice and visible.

There's an inner disc in the dial that indicates the day/ night cycle and runs in a 24-hour ring (which is also color-coded on sky blue from 7-18 hours, and dark blue from 19-6 hours). There are also hour markers for each 24 time zones (the remaining 12 has small blue triangular arrows pointing at them between the actual hour markers) and each of them has a lume. The only problem about it for me is when I'm adjusting the time; because there's no minute tracking on it, I can only rely on the minutes within the multiples of 5 to adjust the time accurately.

The cities that's surrounding the dial are either written in white which indicates that the zone does observe daylight saving hours (these zones are Auckland, Sydney, Athens, Bienne – the home of Omega, Azores, Rio, Puerto Rico, New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and Alaska) or blue (which you have to deduct 1 hour behind those time zones during daylight saving times. These zones are Noumea, Tokyo, Beijing, Bangkok, Dhaka, Karachi, Dubai, Moscow, South Georgia, Honolulu and Samoa), with the exception of London (which represents the GMT time zone) is written in red.

Now here's a tricky thing about the dial of the watch and want to explain my experience about dials. It's a 43mm watch, with a big dial...which I think it's kind of necessary for this watch because of all the information that is required to be displayed on it.  Fortunately, the watch dial in majority is blue with some vertical lines that somewhat reminds me of a hot-air balloon or a cross map for some random reasons. For me, I see it as a further extension of the "sea" surrounding the Earth...if that makes sense.

I tried on the Sedna Gold versions, and they looked a lot bigger to me than my stainless steel version. That's because it has a white dial. I learned from the people on Chopard that darker-colored dials tend to make the watches not look as big than a watch with the same diameter size in a white dial. It's also been a bit of a problem to me when I tried wearing a Vacheron Constantin Historique American 1921 in 40mm and that thing looked a lot bigger than the Omega Worldtimer when I wore it.

It's actually interesting how dial colors can really affect the size of the watch in a person's perspective, rather than what's actually written in the specification sheet.

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 Movement

I've mentioned parts of it in terms on this watch. I also care about watch movements being in-house (depending on its price point, and what the watch is) and for something like this…I will care haha, and this Omega is certified 100% in-house. The Omega 8938 caliber is unique only to these Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer watches, and no other Omega watches so far (at time of writing) uses this caliber. It has a double barrel, hence it's a lot of work that goes through this watch.

It has a Co-Axial escapement, free sprung balance with a silicone hairspring. What more can you want from a mechanical watch? It's really good. One of my favourite things about this movement is the ticking sound it makes...it's very satisfying to hear. It's a Chronometer, and it's METAS certified.

METAS is pretty insane I had to say (in a good way), and it's a really good standard to have for a mechanical watch. My favourite is its resistance to magnetic fields. It can just bypass any security checks and I don't have to remove my watch for any of those type of scans. Even my belt will get detected, but not the watch. Also, when I got sent to hospitals wearing the watch, I don't really have to worry as much about it, and I can go through x-rays or just walking within wards and not feel anything wrong with it. The same can be said when I have to go through airport scans when I started travelling again (or anything that requires a security scan).

So that's my experience with METAS, in terms on trying things like that. It's also water resistant as mentioned before, and I've went swimming with it before with no issues. The watch itself has a display case back (which I heavily prefer over a sealed case back), and the movement finishing of this watch is actually nice for it’s price point. I’ve compared this thing next to some Audemars Piguet watches and the finishing of this movement is pretty much on-par (minus the gold rotor from self-winding AP’s), Omega watches will come with a gold rotor and balance bridge when the watch case is in a precious metal…but that also means more than double of its price point on retail.

It’s not Geneva-seal level of finishing but it’s still nice to look on these Omega movements. But to their stainless steel counterparts, it’s actually fairly difficult to find a watch within the same price point to have a significantly better movement finishing compared to the Omega movements. I wish it could’ve been finished much better, but for Omega watches you’ll only see super high-end finishing on their pocket watches or their “masterpiece” watches…which can truly back-up on it’s labelling.

What I would be really intrigued from now onwards for Omega movements is their recently announced Spirate movement, which is probably one of the most imperssive feats I have ever seen in a mechanical watch. Hopefully I could get hold of one in the future.

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Wearability

Despite the measurement on paper saying that it's a 43mm watch, it actually wears smaller than a Rolex Submariner for example, or the Omega Speedmaster '57 on a bracelet...this is mainly due to the lug-to-lug size being not as big (I have a small wrist, so this is my size limit for myself on a luxury watch).

For me, it's very comfortable to wear. It also feels premium. Despite looking like a dress watch to the eyes of many, it's actually easier to match the watch with almost anything from casual clothes onwards. I go through work, restaurants of different levels, shops, high streets, public transports and I've been completely fine for it. 

It's definitely one of those watches that I could just wear anywhere, I can even wear the watch wearing a t-shirt and it's completely fine. No need for a bodyguard or anything like that haha, no one will mug you for it (unlike some experiences I had with other watches). It’s just the world we live in today, and to be honest, those who doesn’t really know anything about watches will not realize what it is. It’s a very low-key Omega watch in my opinion, and it’s something you do not see every day. Ever since I’ve owned this watch, I’ve only met 2 people who had the exact same watch and was really cool to meet others who has the Omega Worldtimer.

It's quite compact for me as well and worn it on practically any occasion minus activities that requires moving a lot and involving arms (though I could still play some games or dance while wearing the watch for example, but I won't wear it when I'm doing handywork repairs or play basketball with it). This also applies to the look of the bracelet. I really like the butterfly clasp (though it’s really a double deployant…I think that’s the correct term for it, or correct me otherwise) with a twin trigger lock, it feels solid and very secure on both clicks; so when it opens, the main twin trigger will open (it will only open by pressing both) and the inner part has to be pulled off, and both of them are solid (but not as strong as the one with the twin trigger…that will click and would feel secure. The bracelet links is fixed by screws; there is no micro-adjustment but there are some half links that can be removed to have a more accurate fitting on the wrist. The bracelet itself feels solid, with a polished center links and matt finished outer link (though the side is also polished).

Having said that, because of the polished bezel and center links of the watch, it’s very visible when it gets scratches…to the point that I prefer having croc straps or rubber, since at least on those it’s not as painful to see. I also learned that I definitely prefer straps over bracelets once I owned this watch for over a year and a half now, mainly because I can never have an exact fit on my wrist with a bracelet (whereas on a strap, I can always have the perfect fit).

It wears class, and there's no pressure wearing them too. It can go and fit from the common ground through the elite levels of events as well. Which is great in my opinion.

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Design

Despite being an Omega watch, it doesn't "look" like an Omega watch from the distance (unless you can really recognize the Aqua Terra case). The bezel is polished, and it has the bevelling that are present to all Aqua Terra lines, with a mixture of brushed and polished lines. Chances are, there’s not much hand-finishing involved in the watch but there’s some hand/ eye co-ordination with a machine done to the case. Prior to deciding which version to get originally, I wanted it on the blue rubber strap when I found out about it in 2020, but after the price increases…I decided to go with the bracelet because I’m planning to buy a strap for the watch in the future. These bracelets are just insane scratch magnets and seeing all the scratches just bothers me haha. I’ll probably replace it with a strap after I either get the watch serviced or just repolish. My only problem with the default rubber strap version is that the strap will not curve fully down, therefore it will wear bigger than the bracelet version. Since the watch case is basically what I consider to myself as my “wrist limit”, I won’t be able to wear that properly. The domed bezel of the watch is also polished, and it’s easily hit by anything. Basically, if it’s worn, any form of scratches (from hair-line level to severe level) is virtually unavoidable. When I started getting into the hobby, things like these really bothered me but at the same time I learned to just accept and run with it. But that doesn’t mean I’m also cool with my watches getting damaged either…so I try my best to care for my watches; regardless of their price points and what they’re meant for.

But what I really like about the design of the watch is that the world is on center, and it looks really awesome from the distance. Not a lot of people truly notice what the watch is, unless they’re familiar with the model. It’s not exactly the Omega watch that you will see frequently, and I like it for what it is.

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Overall

Like all Omega watches, this also comes with a 5-Year Guarantee, but due to the 8939 caliber, everyone that I met from Omega boutiques to HQ mentioned to me that something like the Worldtimer would take about 8-10 years minimum before it requires true service. Now I’m actually curious if my watch can withhold that. My dad’s Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra (first generation) was bought in 2004…and was not serviced until 2021, which is ridiculously impressive.  The watch itself is not something you would see in every Omega boutiques or AD’s when you walk in a store, but some of them you’ll be able to see these now and then. But based on my experiences with Omega and observing their watches, they’re very robust and reliable.

Now for the negatives; the hands doesn't align sometimes on certain hours which is kind of weird…but they look really cool. I’m not sure if it’s because of the GMT hand function (when you adjust the hour hand after unscrewing the crown, it can just jump through hour markers) or it’s just meant to be like that.

Also, it lights up blue…which I really like. For some reasons, I just prefer blue lume over green, maybe because I’ve seen green lume too many times. The size is also hard to criticize mainly because of what the watch is supposed to be, it’s a lot of info to be placed in the dial. But I was impressed on its lug size as the Omega Worldtimer (a 43mm watch) wears smaller than a Rolex Submariner for example (which is a 41mm watch) or a 41mm AP Royal Oak. The watch also doesn’t have a quick-set date, which is an absolute pain if the watch runs out of energy. This is because the crown of this watch is really tough due to the double barrel you have to power-up; so trying to wind up this watch from the crown is not easy.

If you fall behind days, you literally have to adjust the watch from the 2nd position of the crown until you catch up to its day as the 1st position will only shift the GMT hour of the watch…which is very, very convenient when you travel in order to adjust your local time. The inner 24 hour disc will serve as the reference time as each hour will align to the reference cities surrounding the watch within the dial, making it much easier to adjust the watch on whichever local time you want to be in. That’s much easier and faster than literally pressing a button just to go around the reference time zone one by one (like how the Patek Philippe Worldtimer watches operate).

On that note, the Omega Worldtimer will be more practical, durable and rugged in comparison. In that point of view, given how much a Patek Philippe Worldtimer costs on retail (and the discontinued Vacheron Constantin Worldtimers for now); not only the Omega looks great in value for its stainless steel version, but it also looks more expensive that what it is…but with the economy these days, the inflation and exchange rates getting weaker from 2023 onwards, this watch will catch up to what it’s truly worth as time goes on and its price just increasing as the years go by.

Apart from those points, what I like about this watch is that it ticks fast; you can hear the beat and you can feel the beat. This was actually the first automatic mechanical watch that I’ve ever bought for myself, so I guess it’s just those first experience. It’s also a watch that can be used at any occasion; it can be a dress, casual and sports watch based on it’s profile and appearance. I honestly don’t believe that a perfect watch exists, and any watch can be improved. So on this case, I think the Omega Worldtimer can be improved by having a rotating city disc on top of the 24 hour inner disc, a quick-set date and having some anglage in their movement finishing. But honestly on its price point when I bought it originally, it’s very, very hard to fault it for being under £8000 for what the watch does and what you get out of it. Honestly, it should be a £10,000+ watch in my opinion.

It's immense value on what you could get for this watch, there are cheaper Worldtimer watches that operates fairly similar to the Omega Worldtimer (like the Nomos Zürich World Time…which I believe is now one of the best value-for-money worldtimer watch…or that CIGA Design Blue Planet) but those won’t be as “tough” as the Omega watch (having said that, those watches are also really cool and great value for money).I guess I just like world time watches in general haha.