The Omega Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition

This coming Friday, on July 26th, the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will ignite a summer of sporting action in the heart of the French capital. For the 31st time since 1932, Omega will once again fulfil the role of Official Timekeeper, also extending to the Paralympic Games, where the brand has been Official Timekeeper since 1992. Besides the astonishing technology deployed to time the event, Omega has been releasing already two dedicated watches for the games, the Seamaster Diver 300M Paris 2024 and the Chronoscope Paris 2024. A third one has just been presented, the Omega Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition, paying tribute to the gold, silver and bronze medals, as well as bringing back the ultra-cool CK 859 concept. 

We’ve explored the highly impressive technology behind Omega’s role as a timekeeper in an in-depth video. Now it’s time to go back to the roots, with a new watch. And one that’s fairly special, being based on the CK 859 re-edition, a watch that we’ve praised here at MONOCHROME for its vintage design, but that unfortunately didn’t stay long in the collection and has been discontinued about 2 years ago. It might not be known by many, but there’s already been an Olympics-themed variant of this watch in the past, with a Sedna gold edition made for the Beijing 2022 Games.

For Paris 2024, this classic-looking, nicely-proportioned, historically-designed watch is back, with some major updates. Inspired by the gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to the best athletes of the competition, the new Omega Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition incorporates all three materials into one dedicated model. The 39mm case, with a typical 1930s coin-edge shape – flat central case, raised flat bezel, slightly Calatrava-inspired – is here made of Omega’s exclusive Bronze Gold alloy. Made by adding 37.5% gold (thus hallmarked as 9k gold), as well as palladium and silver, it can be worn in direct contact with the skin and offers a soft pink hue. It is a stable alloy that won’t get verdigris oxidation (like classic bronze). Other than its material, the case retains the same proportions and design as the classic and now-gone CK 859 watch – 11.7mm thickness, 46.2mm lug to lug, and 30m water-resistance.

Another difference with the classic CK 859, the caseback is here solid bronze gold and decorated with a stamped and frosted Olympic Games Paris 2024 medallion. There’s also a tribute to this classic wristwatch from 1939, with a mention “BG 859” combining past and present. The watch is worn on a brown calf-skin leather strap, closed by a sandblasted Bronze Gold buckle with a polished vintage Omega logo in positive relief.

While we’ve talked about bronze and gold, silver is missing… As with the classic CK 859, the dial of the Paris 2024 Bronze Gold Edition is made of solid Ag 925 silver, giving it a rather unique colour and sheen. The dial, which retains an overall identical sector layout, now features a Clous de Paris pattern at the centre, a tribute to French craftsmanship. The dial is further decorated with a circular brushed pattern on the minute track and small seconds subdial track at 6 o’clock. The dark grey Omega logo uses the historic design and font. Finally, the hands are crafted from 18k Sedna gold and coated in Bronze Gold PVD.

Hidden under the specific caseback, the Omega Paris 2024 Bronze Gold is powered by the in-house, hand-wound calibre 8926. Designed as a tribute to the emblematic calibre 30T that equipped the original 1939 reference CK 859, this movement incorporates all of the brand’s modern technologies. Featuring two barrels, it offers a comfortable 72-hour power reserve and runs at a 3.5Hz frequency. It is Master Chronometer certified, features a silicon balance spring, a co-axial escapement and is highly resistant to magnetic fields.