Hidden Gems | OMEGA Speedmaster Michael Schumacher Editions | Crown & Caliber

hi i'm mark with crown and caliber and welcome to hidden gems the omega speedmaster starred life as a racing watch it's meant for the track but for reasons omega will continuously remind you of it got known for going to the moon instead but there was a time during the 90s that omega tried to push that heritage back to the forefront and they did so with the michael schumacher racing editions so let's get into it so let's start with the obvious the omega speedmaster introduced in 1957 is practically an instant hit for omega it has the first tachymeter scale on the bezel it is meant for the race track it's meant for timing cars that's what it was supposed to be there were a few drivers out there in the late 50s and early 60s who used it for racing but that's not where it became famous it became famous because some of those guys racing cars that used it were racing their uh corvettes that they then parked at nasa and took up the space those are the guys that made it famous they took their watches brought them to nasa passed nasa's tests went to the moon and if you have a choice as a brand to say hey we go racing or hey we went to the moon you picked the moon and omega did the track kind of became the other thing the little factoid we all knew hey that started life as a racing watch it never became that but if it's still in your heritage why not lean into it at some point and if you're omega why not if you're gonna lean into it pick the best racing car driver in f1's history michael schumacher in 1996 they went to michael schumacher and said let us sponsor you let's try and get back into the auto racing world and they did so using the omega speedmaster automatic or known as the speedmaster reduced in itself you could probably call it a hidden gem because it is the moonwatch brought down to a size of 39 millimeters add automatic to it it's everything you want a speed master to be easy to wear day in day out but around here we see so many come in and go out that i couldn't honestly call it a hidden gem it's pretty known and was honestly a great hit for omega but the ones that don't get that attention or love are the michael schumacher ones because they didn't come looking like an omega speedmaster they came with special coloring they came in ferrari red ferrari yellow and ferrari blue and that's because michael schumacher was a ferrari driver we've seen some of these hidden gems before like the tudor tiger that came in these fun colors but they weren't popular at the time they weren't an instant hit and these were kind of the same thing the michael schumacher branded watches they had these beautiful colors but we weren't ready for them yet colors in sport watches wasn't what people wanted in the late 90s today it is what we want we look at the rolex voice perpetual just selling out in all the colors we're seeing different color nautiluses we're seeing all these different colors come out and watches and it's become the fun thing but if we look back we can find some of these watches that were passed over the first time became hidden gems and that's the schumacher watches it's the speedy reduced the great size the classic styling but with a fun color in them they came with a great bracelet or a matching leather your choice on which one you'd prefer there to me all three of those watches they bring me joy to wear i like seeing a little color on my wrist that's not where omega stops they actually did what omega does which was make a special edition for every year michael schumacher won a title during their time sponsoring him and he's michael schumacher he's the greatest race car driver in f1 history he's tied with lewis hamilton for the most wins so he won five times in a row that meant omega put out a special edition for every year michael schumacher won a title some of them being speedy reduced especially the first year which has a really cool interesting dial that's based off a larger racing dial used on the full speed master they also came out with two michael schumacher legend editions so in total you have 10 different watches you can choose from that are michael schumacher speedmaster omega watches is that an overkill probably but what's nice about that is you get to choose which one speaks to you which one do you like which one to you is a hidden gem and which one is the one that should maybe stay hidden and for me my two favorite the one that started it all the michael schumacher speedy reduced in the three colorways or the one that was at the end the michael schumacher legends edition which instead of having a tacky meter around it on the bezel it has all the records of michael schumacher and for the hour markers it has one through seven as digits and it's for the seven titles he's won and the rest of it have stick markers and then omega does something that they do from time to time which is instead of putting in a typical movement they put in their version of the gay 1185 in it that's the same movement you find in a royal oak chronograph or an overseas chronograph this is the movement omega likes to put in sometimes that is hierology and just finds its way into a random michael schumacher legends edition watch there's a lot to that watch it's not as openly appealing as the different colorways but if you're an f1 fan and if michael schumacher is one of those guys that you look up to and you go man that's the guy i had on my wall growing up that's the ultimate racing driver to me that's a really cool watch to have michael schumacher in the later part of his career left omega and with the audemars piguet and with that omega was dealing without their top driver rolex is the main sponsor of f1 they decide you know what we're going to give that to rolex the tag the iwc it's a crowded field over there we have the olympics and we have the america's cup we do sailing in the olympics that's our sports we'll leave the speedmaster as being the watch that went to the moon because no one can compete with us there and they play to their strengths even though the speedmaster started its life on the racetrack it was a very short-lived time in f1 and that's a shame because i'd like to see omega get back to that i like to see omega say this is who we were this is who we should always be proud of we should continue to try and be on the track but until then we have the michael schumacher racing edition which to me is a hidden gem thank you for joining me as we looked at omega's history and f1 and especially the michael schumacher editions there any other watches they think we should dive into their history let us know in the comments see you next time on hidden gems

Channel: Crown & Caliber by Hodinkee

Views: 18,669

Keywords: Hidden Gems | OMEGA Speedmaster Michael Schumacher Editions | Crown & Caliber, Hodinkee, hidden gems, crown and caliber, OMEGA, speedmaster, Moonwatch, Speedmaster professional, speedmaster racing, formula 1, Michael schumacher, limited edition, legends edition, omega speedmaster Michael schumacher

Id: mFcqKMgr1Ak

Length: 7min 9sec (429 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 08 2022