Constellation

The Omega Constellation was launched in 1952, but the story began in 1948 when the brand celebrated its centenary. To mark this occasion, Omega produced a limited series of 6000 gold wristwatch chronometers, named – simply enough, ‘The Centenary’. The success of this watch motivated Omega to produce a permanent collection inspired by it, which became the Constellation.

The first Constellation models had distinctive dials which were flat in the centre with twelve facets around the edge, each corner meeting an hour marker. This design has become known as a ‘Pie Pan’.

It is worth noting that there is some debate about the truth of the name’s origin. Long-time collectors refer to these dials as ‘faceted’ or ‘twelve-sided’. The language of Swiss watchmaking is primarily French, in which twelve sides translates as ‘douze pans’.

It is easy to see that a garbled misunderstanding of the original term could lead to an incorrect reference to a baking pan and hence to the current name ‘Pie Pan’. Persistent repetition has caused the name to stick, so whatever the real reason, the early Omega Constellations will be forever known this way.