Omega’s New Watches for 2023: Everything You Need to Know

Seventy-five years ago, in 1948, Omega first released its Seamaster, a waterproof watch for “town, sea, and country.” A lot has happened for the Seamaster since then.

It’s become a symbol of post-war cool and made plenty of waves in the ocean by tagging along on some of the world’s biggest exploratory dives. It’s even been worn by James Bond.

To celebrate the Seamaster’s 75th birthday , Omega launched 11 new variants — eight models in total, with three strap combinations. The new Seamaster 300, Diver 300m, Aqua Terra, Planet Ocean, Worldtimer and Ultra Deep have been shined up and show off a new Ocean Blue varnished dial — and a whole new Ploprof Diver shows off original designs.

If you love Omega and you love the Seamaster — not to mention some cool blues — you’ll love this year’s watches.

New “Summer Blue” Dials

Omega

The headliner of Omega’s new 2023 Seamaster collection is the color. Every release features the brand’s new “Summer Blue” colorway. Many of the dials are fumée-style — that is, they change in a gradient from the center of the dial. They’re not all the same “Summer Blue,” however. Models with less water resistance feature lighter tones, while the brand’s hardcore, deep-diving watches are dark blue, like the depths of the ocean they’re fit for.

The effect has been achieved, Omega says, through the careful application of many layers of varnish, or, in some cases, it’s been allowed to flow freely across the dial. Many of the releases have interesting dial textures to go along with the colorway, and the style certainly evokes oceans and depth, and offers some beguiling hues.

An OG Ploprof diver, with a smaller case

Omega

A new Ploprof Diver might’ve made the biggest waves of this whole release. This new version resurrects the 1971 original version in its monobloc case construction and dimensions. It’s massive at 55mm x 45mm x 15.5mm, but 3mm smaller than recent versions (which measured 55mm x 48mm). Here, Summer Blue seems to reference the ocean depths with its 1,200-meter depth rating — dark blue, sliding nearly to black at the edges of the dial.

The Ploprof’s “crazy” case design somehow feels very relevant and modern in 2023, and fans will be excited to see an OG-style Ploprof surfacing. It unfortunately also includes the pricing increases associated with Omega’s new releases, and comes in at $14,300.

The Seamaster Diver 300M and Seamaster 300 get the Summer Blue treatment

Omega

The Seamaster Diver 300M was first released in 1993 and famously worn by Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond in Goldeneye (1995). That means this particular Seamaster is celebrating its own anniversary of 30 years. For this reason — and because the Diver 300M is one of the brand’s most popular watches in the Seamaster collection — many fans expected it to be the headlining model. It remains consistent with the existing models but with dial tones corresponding to its 300m water resistance.

While it now has a Summer Blue dial and blue ceramic bezel insert, this is the Seamaster 300 as released in 2021 — which included updates such as a “sandwich” dial (lume between layers of the dial). It’s the same recipe, adding its dial variant (this one perhaps the subtlest of the bunch), matching light blue Super-luminova and an enclosed Poseidon caseback

A Planet Ocean Ultradeep, with a surprise

Omega

A special version of the Ultradeep was used by the Five Deeps sea mission that descended to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest recorded depths of the ocean at 10,928 meters, in 2019. Its commercial version is rated to a shallower-but-still-insane 6,000m. This watch might have the best use of the “Summer Blue” dial of them all: In fact, it’s nearly black, and features a mapped pattern representing the ocean floor it once visited.

Weirdly, it also features an easter egg: UV light reveals a circled section of the dial’s “map” and the handwritten text, “Omega was here!” It works, we love it, and it fits this kind of insane watch perfectly.

Yet more “Summer Blue” dial watches

Omega

Omega also dropped several new versions of the Aqua Terra, which benefits greatly from sunburst-style use of the Summer Blue colors. A new Planet Ocean features deep-sea dark blue on its dial and drops the orange accents. And a new WorldTimer uses its blue to accent a map of earth viewed from above.

This blue barrage is a solid wave of releases from Omega but not a particularly major or bold departure. The techniques and execution of the new dials are often beautiful, and the concept is fun, but some fans were left blue, too.

On Omega’s Instagram post announcing the new releases, users noted price increases alongside less-than-substantial changes. Particularly, many were hoping for bracelet improvements and even more thorough redesigns. With so many new Seamasters to choose from, however, there’s still plenty to be excited about.

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