July 3, 2013 | Watches & Jewelry The Latest
Omega ETNZ watch.
The caseback of the ETNZ watch features the sailing team’s logo.
Just 2,013 ETNZ watches have been made.
Example of the steps involved in making the ceramic bezel for ETNZ.
—ROBERTA NAAS, ATimelyPerspective.com
We recently brought you a behind-the-scenes look at Emirates Team New Zealand and the new AC72 catamaran set to compete in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Races for the America’s Cup. Behind the team is Omega, which has been a a proud sponsor of the team for years. Now it has released the new 44mm Seamaster Diver ETNZ Limited Edition watch.
“The new watch is the model that was first unveiled in 2001, the Aqua Terra, but with updates,” says Stephen Urquhart, president of Omega, in a private interview. “We listened to the team about design and functions they wanted.”
Among those updates: the polished and brushed steel case sports a matt black ceramic bezel ring. Offered on a black rubber strap with red Omega on it, the watch celebrates the red and black colors of the team. The screw-in caseback is embossed with the ENTZ logo and the watch number and “Challenger for the 34th America’s Cup” are engraved on the caseback. Just 2,013 numbered pieces are being made.
The COSC-certified chronometer column-wheel chronograph watch (with 30-minute chronograph recorder) also offers the five-minute countdown to the start of a regatta in increment indications. The self-winding timepiece is powered by the Co-Axial Caliber 3330, equipped with a SiL4 silicon balance spring. Making it ever more versatile, the ETNZ watch features a helium escape valve for professional diving to 300 meters. The watch will retail for just about $6,000.
Founder and editor-in-chief of ATimelyPerspective.com, Roberta Naas is a veteran award-winning journalist in the watch industry with more than 25 years of experience. She was the first woman watch editor in the US market—breaking in to an “all boys network” with a pioneering spirit that would be her signature to this day. Naas brings responsible, factual—yet always timely and insightful—reporting of the watch industry to the forefront.
