Line History
The roots of the Constellation go back to 1948, the year of Omega's centenary, when the brand produces in limited edition the "Centenary": the first automatic watch certified as a chronometer in the company's history. The success of that experiment leads, in 1952, to the launch of the Constellation as a true collection in its own right, fitted with caliber 354: from the earliest examples, the sealed case back carries the famous medallion with the dome of the Geneva Observatory and eight stars, each corresponding to a precision record achieved by Omega in the chronometric competitions of the astronomical observatories of Geneva and Kew-Teddington, in England — the direct source of the line's name.
In the 1950s and 1960s the Constellation stands out for its celebrated "pie-pan" dial (shaped like an inverted baking pan), with a flat central surface that connects to an angled outer band: a design that increases legibility and becomes one of the aesthetic signatures most loved by the brand's vintage collectors. In 1964 the so-called "C-shape" also debuts, a case with rounded flanks recalling the letter C, while in 1969 the first models with an integrated bracelet arrive, in line with the watch design trends of the era.
The most recognizable chapter in the line's recent history opens in 1982 with the launch of the Constellation "Manhattan": the case features four screwed claws that protrude from the sides, designed to firmly secure the sapphire crystal and, alongside their openly decorative function too, becoming the collection's most immediate distinctive trait. The Manhattan gains great commercial popularity in the 1990s, helped also by the "My Choice" advertising campaign, with ambassadors such as Cindy Crawford, helping to steer the line toward a largely female audience, a positioning it still maintains today in current collections.
In 2015 Omega introduces the Globemaster, which explicitly recovers the original pie-pan dial aesthetic and becomes the first line to carry the newly created "Master Chronometer" certification issued by the Swiss federal metrology institute METAS, with additional resistance tests against magnetic fields up to 15,000 gauss: a return to the Constellation's chronometric roots using the brand's most advanced technical standards.
Technical Specifications
Main Executions
The eight stars on the case-back medallion are not a simple astral ornament: each one represents a specific precision record achieved by Omega at the observatories of Geneva and Kew-Teddington, a kind of chronometric "trophy case" engraved directly on the case back of every example in the collection.