Prolonged periods of mind-numbing exhaustion and banality will lead one’s mind into fascinating places. On some occasions, we turn inwards, problem solving and performing mental gymnastics regarding various tactics for the challenges in one’s life. When we do not have the cognitive reserve for such undertakings, we look outwards. We come to observe others as they move within the spaces that we share. Whether while sitting in standstill traffic, or by the bedside of a loved one as they rely on life support, details previously unseen start revealing themselves. We especially take note of those who actively choose to move through the world in a deliberate manner, carefully curating their presence, in contrast to others who could not care less.
One of the lessons which I learned from spending time with those who were going through the darkest periods of their lives was that appearances matter greatly. As the eyes of the many bedridden would open to see a loved one who was put thoughtfully together, their eyes beamed with gleeful hope. These loved ones presented the possibility of once again having not only agency in their lives and being in scenarios where they would care to look their best. In most of the cases where the older generation were looking at their offspring, the bedridden saw that their efforts in life were worth it. In these scenarios, the vulnerable are often stuck in a fugue state between the land of the conscious and a semi-transparent representation and slightly ill-fitting view of the world they once knew. When dealing with cognitively degenerative forces such as dementia, severe concussions, and infections resulting in catastrophic fevers, a well put-together loved one speaks of certainty and security. Those who showed up with outfits slapped together with the same effort as a bowel movement after a morning coffee never relayed such promise to those they visited.
The first time I put my Trésor on my wrist.
Thus, in October of 2021, to commemorate the completion of a difficult period where I spent every day in multiple medical facilities on behalf of people dear to me, I decided to get myself a timepiece. This timepiece needed to have a discernable central seconds hand for measuring vitals, be formal, and a date window for the sleep deprived days upon which I could not be trusted to recall the date when signing into various facilities. I had the correct suspicion that I had not seen the last of such chapters in my life, and this watch would be relied upon in the future. Most importantly, the watch would need to treat every room with respect, and from experience, bring a smile to the faces of the vulnerable.
I had my eye on this steel-cased Trésor by Omega since its mid-cycle refresh in 2019, and I finally had the perfect occasion to visit my trusted authorized retailer to buy it. The small seconds Trésor was released just as I walked into the store, but the 2019 release was the perfect dress watch for me, and it remains so to this date.
Immediately after purchasing the watch, I drove to meet a group of acquaintances for a meal. While sitting in Toronto’s notorious traffic, my shoulders immediately relaxed and several knots released. I completed several intervals of breathing exercises as the white gold seconds hand travelled across the glowing silver landscape of the dial. Ever since then, my Trésor has never faltered and remains one of my favourite watches in production.
The Landscape Upon Which the Trésor Resides
The timeline and production of the Trésor offers us a window as to why the watch came to be as it is today. The design-to-production cycle of any watch at this scale takes anywhere from a year and a half to four years from being first sketched to making it onto the consumer’s wrist. Upon being initially released with only precious metal cases in 2014, the revival of the historic Trésor name came at a very interesting time for Omega. Coming off the 2008 financial crisis, and soon to be heading into the multi-crisis period of the 2020s, Omega invested heavily in a new factory. Omega also deliberately took several steps forward to finalize and ultimately refine the Co-Axial escapement that they had been slaving over for nearly a decade and a half.
This new chapter saw several releases and advancements which have propelled Omega into the much sought after stratosphere as the brand Rolex. Along with the Speedmaster Mark 2, the vintage inspired Seamaster 300 were released with push-button adjustable clasps that rivaled the crown’s glide lock system. Omega, like many other brands from Switzerland a the time, decided to use their extensive back catalogues for their new releases for inspiration. Meanwhile, their mechanical movements took on the biggest challenge outside of smartwatches. With the growth of electronic devices and bags using magnets for every enclosure, Omega’s >15,000 gauss anti-magnetic movements brought the owners of mechanical timepieces a level of peace of mind never experienced before.
The mid-2010s were a period of hope. The economy was making strides in all sectors and there were hopes for a reprisal of the 1990s levels of productivity and peace in the West. This was of course until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, followed by the initial turn inwards by the United States in the 2016 election.
During the 2014 release, tastes still favoured larger watches, and this was reflected in the new Trésor’s precious metal 40mm cases, and that of its competitor’s 39mm case, the Rolex Cellini. To better reflect the gradually darkening times, Omega applied the mid-cycle treatment for the Trésor with more affordable steel cases and upgraded movements with the most recent technologies and standards. Yet the case size of Omega’s more formal offerings stayed at forty millimetres.
While other brands within the Swatch Group, which owns Omega, Tissot, Longines, Blancpain and Breguet, just to name a few, had dress watches below the 39mm case sizing, Omega to this day reserves its men’s dress watches to be 39mm and larger, as does Rolex with its current 1908. As the cost of living crisis solidified after the initial wave of the pandemic, the once reserved for enthusiast-only tastes from smaller watches started seeping into the general public. With each successive concussive impact as we moved from one crisis on to the next, more people came to attain a seething stance towards gauche acts seen as flaunting one’s wealth.
Wearing the Trésor
Wearing a large dress watch, more so than any other genre of timepiece, has a far greater impact on how one moves through their environment. Whereas a large sports watch is meant to convey a degree of ruggedness, a dress watch, no matter the size, has to remain elegant.
As one stretches a distinct facet of the design of a dress watch to its extremes in one direction, the other elements must realign to compensate accordingly to retain its formal stance and aspirations. The Trésor, French for treasure, line of watches is an interesting place for Omega to have attempted to recall with their most modern formal piece. The Tresoro was introduced as a more affordable option for South American markets in the 50s and had a variety of designs under the name. From central seconds, small seconds, to square cased watches for women, the Tresoro at a glance seems like a distant relative to its modern interpretations. They were famous for using the 30mm automatic calibre Omega movements, while all of today’s Trésors in the men’s line remain hand-wound, as the lady’s line is quartz.
The seemingly simple polished case and expansive use of negative space speaks to the restraint that the more affordable ancestors aspired to. This is where the modern watches excel and apply their elegance forward mission flawlessly. Over the years, impressions from onlookers constantly reverberated the same sentiments. The thin case, radiant dial, black alligator leather strap presented discernment, finesse and poise. The forty-millimetre case and sweeping dial will attract attention, but at a cost. Housing the dial, forces a 44.80mm lug-to-lug dimension that means that any wrist smaller than 16.5 centimetres will have trouble pulling this watch off. Smaller wrists run the risk of experiencing an unsightly overhanging of the case resembling a muffin top atop yoga pants, which are three sizes too small.
The curved springbars under the strap results in the watch seamlessly tapering on to one’s wrist. After four years of use, the strap remains almost new, thus alleviating the wear I feared when I got the watch. Its calf underside is incredibly comfortable, soft, and beautifully uniform. When sized appropriately, this fifty-seven-gram watch floats on the wrist, slipping under dress cuffs, only presenting itself when called upon.
Here the pronounced sapphire crystal is tasked with multiple duties. First, it helps the watch travel under cuffs where the case is protected from hairline scratches over time. In four years, the case has yet to receive a single scratch, and the implementation of the crystal is to thank for this. On about a dozen occasions the lustre of the case had seasoned collectors mistake it as being made of white gold. Second, its stepped design adds depth recalling vintage acrylic crystal in appearance, but modern crystals in execution in how light travels through it. At dusk or dawn, the sun’s light will enter the watch at extreme angles, easily calling to mind the same occurring through stained glass windows in churches.
Due to its size, the Trésor had received the most compliments and fielded the most questions outside of square and rectangular timepieces. The main factor which lent to as much attention being drawn was its dial.
The Dial and its Title Role
While the smaller feminine line of Trésors measuring in at twenty-six and thirty-six millimetres employ dials with large and stretched roman numerals which at times accompany subtle floral dials, the forty-millimetre Trésor’s take a different route.
While the original’s silver waffle dial has been discontinued, all of the men’s Trésors, save for the textured blue dial, have smooth dials emphasising careful use of the dial’s expanses. In the case of the watch under focus here, the silver dial is accompanied with singular elongated hour markers, and dual at the cardinal positions. Like the hands, these markers are made of a polished white gold, and they relay the time to the eyes nearly as well as a professional dive watch’s luminescent hands in all but complete darkness. The minute and seconds hand curve ever slightly near the dial’s perimeter, further aiding legibility. The length of the seconds hand and minute hand may cause some confusion initially, especially if the movement is stopped. Over time, your eyes will come to recognize the seconds hand as it seems to extend right into the case past the perimeter of the dial.
Unlike almost every other silver dial which I own and have encountered, this Trésor shares a surprising trait with the planet Neptune. This dial seems to radiate twice the amount of light that it receives, giving the impression that it is glowing. The dial does this while somehow cooling the atmosphere’s Kelvin. Most white and silver dials mirror the temperament of the various environments they travel through. This Trésor brings in a refreshing northwestern cold front everywhere it goes, which only makes it a greater delight to see whenever it slips through one’s cuff.
When walking into my trusted Omega authorized retailer, my intention for this Trésor was to step into as many formal roles as possible, hence the monochrome colourway. Over time, this dial came to mean much more, and we will touch upon this in the closing thoughts of this review.
A fair portion of the population, who care about these things matters at least, read enthusiasts, prefer their watches not to have date windows. The matching date wheel sits below a stepped opening, which the frame’s bottom parallels the curvature of the dial. Having recently handled a Trésor without a date window, I immediately came to appreciate the added depth that this complication provided. Regardless of one’s feelings about how a dial’s symmetry or aesthetics may be broken up by a date window, a timepiece is a functional tool after all, and the six o’clock positioning of the date is not only executed flawlessly here, but it has been appreciated daily.
The Mesmerizing Calibre 8910 Movement
The date can be moved forward by the advancement or backwards by the reversal of the hour hand. This allows for quick time zone changes as one crosses provincial, state and national borders while also protecting the movement from ill-advised date changes between 21:00-03:00.
Having already touched upon the antimagnetic prowess of Omega’s movements, this Master Chronometer movement has remained at a steady +4 seconds a day since its first day of ownership. Winding the movement is a joy as the perfectly sized, knurled and signed crown rotates smoothly to fill its seventy-two-hour power reserve. Like other Omega movements using dual barrels, the spread of torque of the power remains constant all except for the very end of the reserve.
There is one characteristic about this 8910 Co-Axial movement which I appreciate. This is its 25,200 vibrations per hour beat rate. While I own other Omega Co-Axial movements with this same beat rate, it is incredibly charming on the Trésor. While some bemoan its slower than the 28,800 vph beat rate which is commonplace elsewhere, I immediately came to adore it here. The vast dial accentuates the aforementioned prolonged seconds hand as it marches from one printed second marker to the next. This draws one’s eyes to the stuttering nature of the hand, and at once one begins to see the modern-day Trésor’s vintage ancestry. There is a lot of misinformation about the beat rate of a watch directly having an impact on the power reserve and accuracy. After having attended watchmaking courses and speaking to several certified watchmakers, in practice, this could not be further from the truth. Such unnuanced approaches to highly technical topics only serve those who have no interest or capacity in detailed discussions.
The industrial presentation of modern Omega movements may seem contradictory to most when taken in contrast to their traditional designs. Most fail to recognize its Islamic art inspired Arabesque pattern. In reality, the precisely machined and swirling arabesque design calls to mind the man who saved the many brands under the Swatch Group – Nicolas Hayek who was from Lebanon. The repeating, flowing, and rhythmic patterns of this art form has its roots in the natural world, and how mathematics remains at its constant. The mechanical watch is an artifact which has a heartbeat yet is entirely a human creation. There is a deeper reasoning behind the use of swirling design which when used with an automatic rotor, signals the driving force of life, which is the constant battle against and eventually succumbing to entropy.
The Trésor’s exhibition caseback welcomes the eye into a much more revealing and intimate relationship with the Co-Axial escapement than in other timepieces by Omega. The unobstructed and bare view of the asymmetric plates are pressed right up to the sapphire crystal. In other manual wind and automatic watches by Omega, the movement is more recessed, giving its own depth of character which here is laid bare. You do get a clearer view of the Co-Axial escapement rotating at first with its discomforting organic gestures, but this sense of an animate beating heart is only heightened by the unusual marriage of asymmetry and Arabesque. Though these movements are manufactured by machines, and possibly lastly inspected by a human, there is a sense of something far more profound with an additional beating heart on your wrist than any other mass-produced product prevails here.
Omega, Swatch, Blancpain, Hamilton, Tissot, Jaquet Droz, Glashütte Original, Longines, Certina, Mido and of course Breguet all owe the late Mr. Hayek thanks for being saved from the quartz crisis. At the time of writing, the ownership of the Swatch Group has come under attack from activist investors for mishandling the company, while ignoring the overarching struggles which have been plaguing the entire industry for the last half-decade.
Every single time that I get to view the modern Omega movements through their sapphire exhibition casebacks, I, as a writer and someone who genuinely loves the industry, am happily reminded of the Hayek family’s efforts in the past and now.
In Closing
The Omega DeVille Trésor, as presented in this article has served me as the best example of versatility with regards to a men’s modern dress watch. Its lucent silver dial at once dominates any stage, yet it also steps back when needed. I fall into the camp of men who prefer to play the supporting role of our companions at formal events. We, this camp of men, are all too happy to play the role of effortless accessory to the painfully curated gowns and adornments that our significant others put together days and sometimes weeks in advance. The combination of the silver dial and white gold hands proved to exceed in the role I had initially set out for it.
This Trésor’s initial purpose of commemorating the safety of those in my community quickly came to mean much more, and unfortunately, it did so alarmingly quickly. Unbeknownst to me, the brilliant silver dial mirrored the memory of loved one’s looking on to be, as promise and hope pushed away the pain from their bed sores. The incandescent nature of the dial oddly resembled the whites of the eyes of a loved one blaring with joy when they would see me for the first time that day. The staggering beat rate of the movement, both visually and audibly, reminded me of the many hours in the dark, only lit by the lights of equipment, as I sat in the stillness of fear, uncertainty of the next challenge. It tottered, yet consistent movements resembled my strained breath well into its twenty-sixth waking hour. The movement’s design itself reminds me of the chaos of life and how there is beauty within its foundations.
This Trésor is now explicitly worn when I am carrying the loved ones who can no longer be at events and venues I move through. I carry on my wrist their grief, accomplishments, and the bitter and unfair endings which life dealt them. By accident, this watch came to accomplish something which consumer products rarely do. In almost all cases, we humans seek comfort in consumption, as the addition of items and the experiences they offer cushions us from life’s hardships. It came to be the main vessel in which I carried the specific grief, frailties, and to accept that every moment spent with it on, is one of gratitude and strength derived from those whom I care for the most.
I cannot think of a more resounding endorsement for a product at the end of a review.
Specifications:
Reference: 435.13.40.21.02.001
Case width: advertised as 40mm, 39.5mm at the case, 42.80 with the case
Thickness: 10.05mm
Lug-Width: 20mm
Strap Width: 20mm tapering to 16mm
Case and Pin Buckle Material: Steel
Dial: Silver
Hands and Indices: 18k White Gold
Crystals, from and back: Sapphire Crystal with anti-reflective treatment on top and the underside
Water Resistance: 30 metres
Movement:
Calibre 8910 Co-Axial Master Chronometer
29mm
Manual Wind
25,200 bph
72-hour power reserve via two barrels mounted in series
Rhodium-plated Arabesque finishing
Three hands with a date function
Price at time of writing: $10,100 Canadian