The design of the calibre 1500 was modular, which translated into the production watch, however the movement design and layout of the final calibre 1511 and subsequent calibre 1516 was completely different.
These watches were the first to feature a time zone adjuster, which allowed the hour to be adjusted without interfering with the minute or second hand, this is a feature, followed through into the production watch alongside the later introduction of a second trimmer. The five calibre 1500 watches produced achieved the required 1 second per month accuracy through a stable (non thermo compensated) quartz resonator as part of an integrated circuit which divided the huge frequency to produce pulses which ran the electromagnetic motor. The lenticular crystal oscillator in the calibre 1500, 1510, 15 was developed in the UK and used solely in the Megaquartz calibre 2400 series. This significantly improved performance in time keeping was to be achieved by the development of a circular quartz resonator that vibrated at 2,359,356 times per second (a frequency of 2,359,356 Hz or ≈ 2.4 MHz), by comparison the Beta 21 quartz resonator (which as a watch had an accuracy of 5 seconds per month) vibrated at 8,192 times per second. The development of the calibre 1500 and subsequent successors cost Omega 30 million Swiss Francs with the sole intention to produce a wristwatch of unparalleled accuracy and performance.
Known as the ‘Elephant’, there are rumored to have been only five examples of this watch made by Omega. The first prototypes of the ‘1500 family’ quartz watch (which later developed into the Marine Chronometer) were presented at the Basel Fair in 1970 as calibre 1500, developed by Omega and the Battelle Geneva Research Institute. in 1976 the calibre 1516 Marine Chronometer was introduced with smaller case dimensions and altered movement, although performance remained the same, sales began in 1974 and the watch remained in Omega line up until 1978.įamous owners of Omega Marine Chronometers have included Jaques Cousteau and Eric Tabarly. The watch was introduced to the market in 1974 under calibre 1511, having an unrivalled accuracy of 12 seconds per year thanks to the revolutionary 2.4 MHz quartz circuit.