WHO MAKES OMEGA WATCHES?

Some of you may know a little more about Omega and about their rich heritage for making watches that go to the moon, the official timekeeper for the Olympics and many more famous achievements. Most people associate swiss watches with luxury watch brands such as Omega, but very few would be able to answer the question, ‘who makes Omega watches?’. With the watch community growing and more people joining the hobby it is always good to know and understand more about the watches you buy and learn about their origins. To know who makes Omega we need to first understand who owns Omega and then where they make them so you can see the full picture. Omega is a phenomenal watch brand that creates incredible watches that many love wearing around the world. Especially when it comes to sports and with the 2024 Paris Olympics starting it makes for a nice topical article for the official timekeepers of the Olympics.

Who owns Omega watches? Well it’s a long story however in its simplest form Omega started small and grew very large, so large that the famous Swatch group took interest and eventually bought them. Omega was founded by the watchmaker Louis Brandt in the late 1940s and was established in the Swiss city renowned for watchmakers starting their companies, La Chaux-de-Fonds. When Louis Brandt first started making his watches, they were not called ‘Omega’, instead it was ‘La Generale Watch Co’. It was not until 1903 when after the death of Louis Brandt, his sons would take over the company and rename it ‘Louis Brandt et Frère - Omega Watch & Co’. This name would very quickly be changed to ‘Omega’, the watch name and brand we know today yet definitely did not start off as a big company like it is in 2024. However, whilst the two sons of Louis Brandt were running the family owned company, they soon needed more resources, specifically financial ones and they became part of the Swatch group in 1985. This essentially means that The Swatch Group is the parent company of Omega meaning that they can control Omega’ interest and have significant influence over their decision making. 

Omega, like many watch companies, would probably have liked to remain a family business and enjoy that family owned feel, but due to the quartz watches affecting the mechanical watch industry, the sons of Louis Brandt knew they would need financial help and fast if they wanted to keep their company alive. During the 1970s and 1980s, quartz movements were taking over, they were cheap to make, easy to make, and reliable watches. Suddenly the demand for a swiss made mechanical timepiece was not what it once was so watch companies had to be innovative and original with their designs in order to survive and stay relevant for their time period. 

Source : Antique Collecting

Source : Las Espigandoras

Hence the sons of the founder of Omega, who were then the owners, finally gave in and merged with The Swatch Group. Despite giving up family ownership of Omega, they were now in a much better position to make watches, invest into research and development (R&D) and expand their facilities. Which you can clearly see in 2024 has paid off as the movements in Omega watches are second to none. With technology featured in their watches which you would normally have to pay double for, Omega makes a fantastic watch with great specifications for a good price.

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However, for those of you wanting a specific name of who owns Omega it would be the CEO of the Swatch Group not the CEO of Omega. Regardless of who the CEO is of Omega, the CEO of the parent company, The Swatch Group, Nicolas Hayek is technically the owner of Omega since it is under the control of the Swatch Group. The Swatch Group owns many other famous Swiss watch brands such as Blancpain, Glashütte Original, Rado, Longines, Tissot, Breguet and many more. They have extensive experience in helping Swiss watch brands develop themselves further and really listen to each brand to cater to their needs. 

Source : Time & TIde

The Swatch Group emerged in the 1930s after it merged with Omega and Tisssot, its sole goal and desire was to help Swiss watch makers produce mechanical movements during the quartz crisis to ensure Swiss watchmaking would not become obsolete. The Swatch Group may own Omega but they are there purely to help Omega with acquiring access to resources and to give guidance whenever Omega requests.

Source : Time & TIde

Thanks to all of their financial resources Omega watches started off benign made However, despite being made and assembled where Omega was founded, after the death of Louis Brandt, his sons took over the brand in 1894, they began to move their main facilities out of La Chaux-de-Fonds and over to Bienne. As you can imagine, making a watch requires more than just one facility to design, assemble, perform tests and checks, market and ship their watches from. Hence, over the many decades of their watchmaking history they have now also expanded into another region in Switzerland, Villeret. 

Omega’ facility in Villeret is one of the most modern designed watch manufacturing buildings which is where every movement in all Omega’ watch parts are made and assembled before being transported to their facility in Bienne. Villeret is where an Omega watch starts off, the case, bracelet links, bezels, movements, crystals and dials are all made there. With 300 expertly trained watchmakers, Omega do make most of the parts themselves, they have certain parts produced by the Swatch Group such as ETA movements and hairsprings. 

And there you have it, now you know who makes Omega watches, who owns the company and where these incredible watches are made. Omega really are a fantastic company when it comes to delivering watches with impressive specifications and wear beautifully on the wrist. Thankfully ZEALANDE specialise in Omega high quality rubber straps designed to fit their watches perfectly so if you are looking for a way to have some fun with colour or opt for a more sporty strap, ZEALANDE have plenty of options waiting for you!

— James Talbot