Omega Aqua Terra 150m Gents 231.10.43.52.06.001

‘It may not look pretty on the surface, but deep down it’s beautiful.’ Those aren’t my words—those are Omega’s. The people there tasked with building the brand’s most advanced diver yet knew their watch was no looker, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t for strutting about with; it was for using. It was the Plongeur Professionnel, the PloProf—the Professional Diver.

For the cynical among us, it's becoming difficult to remain enthusiastic when Omega announces the results of yet another archival plundering. We all enjoy a good look back into the past, but there's a limit, a time to move forward with our lives and on to something new, right? So when news broke of the arrival of a Seamaster 300 reissue, the collective groan from watch-weary enthusiasts was palpable. Was that dismayed exhalation justified? Is Omega's copy-paste approach to watchmaking wearing thin?

1970 was an important year for watchmaking. Three years after the launch of the Sea-Dweller, 1970 was the year that introduced the only watch likely to take the fight to Rolex's behemoth: the Omega PloProf. Angled and slab-like, the PloProf was leagues ahead of its time both technologically and stylistically: it used scratch-resistant mineral glass over the Sea-Dweller's plexiglass, had a locking bezel with push-button release and a crown protector design unlike anything ever seen before. Ultimately, the Sea-Dweller was victorious in the fight to win a contract with deep-sea diving agency COMEX, but the PloProf won a different battle: it was by far the most inventive and interesting diver of that great period.

Two watch brands: one is founded half a century before the other, repeatedly obliterates accuracy competitions with clean sweeps and unbroken records, is selected by numerous global institutions to provide timekeeping—and the other is Rolex. With the five-pointed crown’s domination in this present era of watchmaking, it’s hard to believe that Rolex is, really, the new kid in town. Is it starting to show?