OMEGA

Founded in 1848 by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds as an assembly workshop for precision pocket watches. His sons Louis-Paul and César joined in 1877, renaming the company Louis Brandt & Fils. In 1894, they developed in-house manufacturing with interchangeable components, launching the Omega caliber. The Omega Watch Co. was officially established in 1903. The company became Olympic timekeeper in 1932. Britain's Royal Flying Corps adopted Omega watches in 1917, followed by the U.S. Army in 1918. In 1965, NASA selected the Speedmaster for manned space missions. On July 21, 1969, the Speedmaster was worn on the lunar surface during Apollo 11. SSIH, Omega's parent, merged with ASUAG in 1983 during the quartz crisis. Nicolas Hayek led a private investor group to acquire the combined entity in 1985, forming SMH, renamed The Swatch Group in 1998. In 1999, Omega introduced the first mass-produced co-axial escapement, based on George Daniels' invention. In 2015, the company launched Master Chronometer certification with METAS. In March 2022, Omega collaborated with Swatch on the MoonSwatch.