World’s Deepest dive
The first manned descent to the bottom of the ocean featuring five deep expeditions, is the product of Victor Vescovo’s creative work, the first person holding the world’s record for the deepest dive ever made in the ocean. Victor Vescovo dives down nearly 11 km deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth in the Pacific Ocean. This dive was made possible with Vescovo’s submersible the Deep Submergence Vehicle. But there was one more thing featuring this dive: the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean. A robust timepiece in the series to withstand extreme water pressure. It was manufactured to support the victor’s daring expedition and made it possible to record the world’s deepest dive. The depth was recorded as 10,927.9m deep in the ocean within a mission duration of 12 hours.
OMEGA has been making Dive watches for years, since 1932. But it was challenging to create a watch using futuristic technology that takes the brand’s dive watch series to another level and can withstand extreme pressure to survive the requirements of The Five Deeps Expedition.
How did OMEGA survive in the deepest dive?
In-depth Analysis:
The fully-featured watch with exceptional longevity requires in-depth analysis, OMEGA’s project team investigates through the details, with multiple deep-down simulations and after going through every detail, the brand succeeded in taking dive watch technology to another level.
Straps For robotic arms:
The most essential part of the watch to create strong and tight holding straps to be worn over the submersible’s robotic arms. So, it has to be firmly fixed over the submersible rather than the straps could lose contact with the submersible and be lost in the deep ocean.
To lower the risk of overwhelming material limitations at full ocean depth, as the straps can be overwhelmed with traction loads in bulk, the lugs were left open. It is inclusively fixed with the titanium case-body. It was known as “Manta Lugs “due to its unique look.
Material:
Grade 5 titanium Hull, an anti-corrosive metal to withstand the enormous pressure and stronger than regular steel, is used in the manufacturing of the Bezel, Case body, case back, and the crown. DSV was also made from forged grade 5 titanium, you can’t find any better material than the body of a submersible for a full ocean watch.
Less than 30mm Thick:
It was an overwhelming challenge for the company to manufacture a slim watch less than 28mm, keeping the resistance level, it took ingenuity and skill by the experts to manage the thickness of the timepiece less than 30mm. Liquidmetal, used to make high-performance parts, making it possible to reduce the sapphire’s thickness.
Water resistance of 15,000 meters:
In Barcelona, at the Triton Sub’s facility, it is where the watches are tested to face extreme pressure. Ultra-Deep Professional was kept under the pressure parallel to the depth of Mariana Trench, but following the standards to be extra sure. A 25 % margin was added to the depth, which meant that the timepiece had to give exceptional performance even at the un-imagine depth of 1500 bars. The whole test was performed under the supervision of DNV-GL for the necessary certification purposes.
OMEGA Marine’s DNA
Credit: OMEGA
OMEGA is the world’s most influential luxury brand, and Seamaster professional is the most innovative version of its robust collection of Seamaster. The design and manufacturing of the Seamaster were inspired by “The Marine “, OMEGA’s first divers’ watch made for everyone. This series was specially designed for under-water experiences and had won many awards. The first diving record made by Seamaster was in 1955 with 62meters depth in Australia by Gordon McLean.
Whether above the waves or under the waves, it always comes with the elegant device for everyone following its motto to create a watch for a distinctive feature using futuristic technology.