Omega De Ville Central Tourbillon – Anti-magnetic and Master Chronometer Certified

To most of us, Omega is a name often synonymous with the Speedmaster, Seamaster and to a certain degree, James Bond. However, once in awhile Omega comes up with something so far away from what we are used to, that we have no choice but to be enthralled. Introducing the Omega De Ville Central Tourbillon. It is the brand’s first tourbillon that will be able to keep ticking away perfectly even under a magnetic field of 15,000 gauss, and the first to bear the Master Chronometer certification.

To be clear, this isn’t the first time Omega has made a central tourbillon watch. In fact, they have a long withstanding history with this complication. They were the first to have a wristwatch tourbillon in 1947 which went on to win precision competitions at European Observatories. The first central tourbillon came in 1994 and this year, 26 years later, a new De Ville Central Tourbillon is launched.

At a glance, this thing is an absolute beauty. The combination of a 43mm 18K Sedna gold (Omega’s rose gold alloy) case and the sunburst dial with a black PVD finish are incredibly striking, but not as attention-grabbing as the tourbillon cage sitting smack dab in the middle of the dial.

The fascination with the watch will grow as you take a closer look to realise that the hands appear to be floating around the fluted ring of the tourbillon. To achieve this, Omega used a technique that is not quite unlike how Cartier makes the hands of their Mystery Clocks seem to float in mid-air. The hands of the Omega De Ville are secured to discs that are driven by a gear system located at the one and two o’clock position as seen below.

The central tourbillon rotates once every minute and thus its function also doubles up as the second’s hand for the piece. Flipping the watch on its back reveals a huge and clear caseback to admire the finishing on the Calibre 2640 which has bridges and a main plate of 18K Sedna gold. Because it is a hand-wound movement, there also isn’t a pesky rotor to obstruct the view of the power reserve indicator, which is 72 hours or three days, made possible thanks to the twin mainspring barrels peeking out from underneath the bridges.

The Omega De Ville Central Tourbillon will not be a limited edition but each piece will be individually numbered. For the price, which is equally as stunning as the watch itself – MYR 666,500 – you will be getting a 5-year warranty and it will be delivered in a special box that includes a travel pouch and watch crown winder.