Chronograph hours and minutes are displayed by two hands that run around the same, 3 o’clock sub-dial. It’s what a well-engineered column wheel chronograph should feel like, and with the vertical clutch to boot, the chronograph seconds start and stop super smooth. Pusher feel is good, if a bit unique, the piston-style pushers travel straight and give a supple clicky feedback always at the same depth. Good points are deserved by the totally silent operation and the also inaudible or, at times very barely audible, automatic winding rotor. For real nerds, the column wheel is on display neatly close to the large balance wheel, which in turn is hidden several levels into the movement. Dark grey screws and intelligently placed, variously sized texts in red add a few splashes of color. The vertical clutch means there are no coupling-decoupling chronograph wheels to elevate the show, but the curved striping on the icy silver looking rotor and plates still offer plenty of candy for the eye. It is machine decorated, but done in a decent way: excessively detailed, reaching even difficult to see places like the plates deep under the balance wheel and finished off in a silver-purple-green hue that depends on lighting and that is rarely encountered elsewhere. The 9900 movement looks stunning and – now priced under $8k – this is among the nicest looking movements at this price point. We’ll have a complete run-down on these tests in a separate article because it sure merits one. Lastly, water resistance is checked under water. Then the 8-step progress begins which involves several tests concerning timekeeping performance, first conducted on uncased, then cased-up movements, in 15,000 Gauss magnetized and demagnetized states, as well as at 100% and 33% power reserve.
Omega’s METAS-certified Master Chronometer tests include 8 steps which are preceded by Omega first sending its to-be Master Chronometer movements to COSC for chronometer certification testing. The institution insisted on having an independent office in the Omega manufacture right where the testing happens which allows them to conduct random tests and inspections. METAS certifies Omega’s testing procedures and the equipment used for it. Additionally, as a federal institute, they are of course independent from Omega.Ī common misconception is calling the watches METAS-certified. METAS is the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology, they are responsible for the dissemination of the official time in Switzerland and, as a federal institute, they certify countless important projects linked to measuring stuff. The “Master” in the name of the watch – let it be Co-Axial Master Chronometer or Omega Master Co-Axial – refers to this movement as well as the completed watch passing Omega’s extremely thorough in-house quality control procedure, certified by METAS. It is an automatic chronograph equipped with a column wheel, a vertical clutch, two barrels, and a Co-Axial escapement with silicon parts and an operating frequency of 4Hz. The Caliber 9900 (and 9901 with gold rotor and bridges in gold cased versions) is the latest and greatest Omega can do with a movement. Many try but just a fraction of recent big-brand-releases pull this off so neatly.
Tastes differ, but if you want a steel-cased, modern Speedmaster that steps away from the regular monochrome/basic aesthetic, I strongly believe the Speedmaster Racing adds just enough to the mix to make it much more lastingly interesting, without compromising wearability or the seriousness that is rightfully expected from a watch that many are eyeing as their only watch that they wear every day of the week.Īpart from – possibly exclusively my personal – issues with the minute track’s legibility, the Speedmaster Racing is one exceptionally handsome looking watch that balances well between spicing things up and remaining perfectly wearable on an everyday basis. The overall design, as a consequence of all these elements, is one that, at last, is far from boring, but I wouldn’t call it desperately over the top either.
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