Tokyo 2020
It was 1932 that Omega supplied a timekeeper and 30 chronographs certified by the Neuchâtel Observatory for the Los Angeles Olympics. This was the first time that a specific manufacturer was designated as a timekeeper of all the Olympic disciplines.
Since then, the Maison has gained unparalleled experience in sports timekeeping. Nowadays, it is known both for the competence of its timekeepers and for the state-of-the-art systems it uses.
It almost makes you smile to think of those 30 chronographs from 90 years ago, capable of fixing ‘only’ to a tenth of a second.
That is, however, when it all began: "Without those chronographs in 1932, we would not have had the opportunity to continue our adventure until the present day", says Alain Zobrist, CEO of Omega Timing, who is back on track during Tokyo 2020.
The figures of this year’s Olympics: 400 tons of equipment, 200 km of cables and optical fibers, 530 timekeepers, 900 qualified volunteers, 85 general scoreboards, 350 scoreboards dedicated to specific disciplines. All of this for 339 competitions in 33 different sports.
In these ‘new’ Olympics, technology has made even more strides forward. The introduction of motion sensors and positioning systems will allow the collection of a wide range of data in real time, providing a global understanding of the dynamics that led to the victory of an event.
In athletics, for example, you will be able to watch the 400 metres knowing exactly the actual position of all the athletes at each lap; and the 100 metres knowing who has made the best acceleration at the start or exactly when the winner has reached top speed.
On the occasion of the Olympic Games, Omega usually introduces special models, as part of its sportiest collections. These include the Seamaster 300M, considered ‘top’ in the world of professional divers, thanks to the very high performance of both the case (equipped with, among other things, screw-down case back and crown and helium escape valve) and the Co-Axial movement Master Chronometer, guaranteed to be resistant to magnetic fields of up to 15,000 Gauss.
by Dody Giussani