Manufacturer: Omega Year: Circa 1957 Reference No: 2852 Movement No: 15’383’420 Case No: 201’050 Model Name: Constellation Material: 18K pink gold Calibre: Automatic, cal. 505, 24 jewels Bracelet/Strap: Leather Clasp/Buckle: 18K pink gold Omega pin buckle Dimensions: 35mm Diameter Signed: Dial, case, movement and buckle
Catalogue Essay
The Omega Constellation was once the firm’s flagship model and was in high demand since its launch in 1952. Featuring unique diamond-shaped hour markers and further fitted with dauphine hands on a pie-pan dial, the Constellation was immediately recognizable. Furthermore, exclusively shaped lugs are also a major attraction, with early examples starring slightly rounded sides on the lugs and angular sides on later examples. The present example fitted with an attractive black pie-pan dial with applied pink gold diamond-shaped hour markers encased in an early Constellation case is a tantalizing example of the early self-winding chronometer wristwatch.
Omega's rich history begins with its founder, Louis Brandt, who established the firm in 1848 in La Chaux de Fonds. In 1903, the company changed its name to Omega, becoming the only watch brand in history to have been named after one its own movements. A full-fledged manufacturer of highly accurate, affordable and reliable watches, its sterling reputation enabled them to be chosen as the first watch company to time the Olympic Games beginning in 1932. Its continued focus on precision and reliability ultimately led their Speedmaster chronograph wristwatch to be chosen by NASA in 1965 — the first watch worn on the moon.
Key models sought-after by collectors include their first, oversized water-resistant chronograph — the reference 2077, early Speedmaster models such as the CK 2915 and 2998, military-issued versions of the Seamaster and oversized chronometer models such as those fitted with their prestigious caliber 30T2Rg.