Omega debuted the Seamaster family – which includes this 1990 Omega Seamaster Polaris Ref. 396.1121 titanium & gold watch here, with its Omega paperwork and leather wallet – in 1948 to celebrate the company’s Omega’s 100th anniversary loosely based upon designs made for the British Royal Navy near the end of World War II.  It was, in essence, a “splash-proof” dress watch – it now holds the honor of the longest running model since Omega’s founding in 1848.
 
But the Polaris line was bold new direction for Omega when it was released in the early 1980s – Omega would engage the talents of design legend, Gerald Genta.  Genta was a brilliant designer of watches, and had previously designed the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus, and several other Omega models in the years preceding the release of the Polaris. 
 
It’s important to understand the context of the era that Omega undertook this bold step.  During the early 1980s, Omega found itself in dire straits due to the triple threat of the Quartz Crisis, lackluster (even poor) management, and a decade of producing sub-par watches.  Omega’s parent company SSIH even found itself unable to govern, given banks had taken control of SSIH in 1981. In 1982, SSIH and ASUAG merged to form ASUAG-SSIH – and a sign of proactive leadership emerged with the Genta-designed release of the first Polaris model with its atypical gold and titanium case and bracelet.
 
The original release in 1982 was a quartz three hand watch with date, with an unusually shaped integrated case and bracelet with more than a few similarities to the Nautilus of nearly a decade previous.  The most striking feature was the two-tone titanium and gold bezel, with a 2mm thick layer of gold inlayed into the titanium in such a perfect transition as to be seamless – and this watch here has just that. 
 
Starting with the initial 1982 Polaris release a great number of Omega models with different movements, features, complications and metals (a mix of titanium, gold, palladium and even diamond) - almost all the Polaris models were equipped with a variety of quartz movements, whether 1/100 second chronograph, day/date, or multi-function LCD. 
 
The bold design language of the Omega Polaris case, bracelet, dial furniture and caseback style would live on in the Omega Seamaster Professional 200M, the predecessor of the 2531.80 300M diver made famous by the James Bond films.
 
During the general history of the Omega Seamaster line, in the 1950s, Omega engineers were so confident of the Seamaster’s durability, they attached one to the outside of an aircraft and flew it over the North Pole in 1956.  The Seamaster 300 performed so well, in fact, that Jacques Cousteau’s team used it during experimental dives in 1963 and beyond.
 
For the past 70+ years, Omega has produced a staggering array of Seamasters to suit a variety of needs; from solid gold dress watches to solid blocks of stainless steel used for dive watches, from soccer timers to world timers, the Seamaster has seen them all. 
 
This Seamaster Ref. 396.1121 comes on its original gold and titanium Omega-signed 1455/448 bracelet, and with springbar tool, and rugged travel case.