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Faraday cages, which are inner cases made from soft iron, have been protecting watches from magnetism since the ‘30s and now it is also used to make balance springs that ensure the watch meets international antimagnetic standards, which is 4,800 amperes per meter of magnetic field (6 milliteslas). This requirement is not really very high considering that an ordinary magnet we can find from household appliances generates fields of 30-100 milleteslas.
Such a weak protection is not enough in today's modern times. An induction oven can generate 1.5 teslas of magnetic field or 15,000 gauss.
To protect the watch from the presence of magnetic fields has become increasingly important these days. Faraday cages may be enough for around 1000 gauss (100 milleteslas) but the iron eventually becomes saturated and magnetism can enter the watch's protective shield and movement beyond that. You can better protect the watch by modifying the caliber by using materials that cannot be affected by magnetism. To cite an example, 20 years ago IWC made the Ingenieur 500,000 (A/m) and its escapement's components were made of a fully anti-magnetic alloy of zirconium and niobium combination so it was protected for fields above 6,000 gauss.
However, it wasn't until the industry uncovered the benefits of silicon in relation to anti-magnetism that watch companies would make watches that were highly anti-magnetic. The silicone balance spring made it possible to make a watch that can resist magnetic fields over 15,000 gauss.
And thus, the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra >15,000 Gauss was born. The silicon components in the watch have solved the very old problem of magnetism and have paved way for many potential construction for watch companies. Watch designers can now do away with the soft iron inner cage and instead give it a more sophisticated looking sapphire caseback. The dial's windows can now show unique functions as well. A few years back, the engineers at Omega started to develop a movement that was anti-magnetic and back then they were aiming for a sapphire caseback and diverse functions for the watch. They also wanted the watch to have the same precision as that of a chronometer.
The Swatch Group brands – ETA, Omega, ASULAB and Nivarox FAR worked together to create the new movement – Caliber 8508 which was finally unveiled in 2014.
They first started to create the Si14 balance spring which they incorporated into the co-axial escapement back in 2008. Si stands for Silicon while 14 is its atomic number. The stability of silicon, its non-magnetic nature and ability to resist disturbing influences are very high that Omega was willing to offer a 4-year guarantee. The self-winding caliber 8500 served as foundation for the 8508 and it combines a beryllium-free titanium balance with the silicon balance spring.
The Caliber 8500 has been around since 2007 and it has many nice features. Its rotor is made from zirconium jewel which is very low maintenance. Its gear-changer uses a two-directional winding of DLC coated serially switched barrels (two of them) and together offer a 60 hour power reserve.
The pinion and gear profiles were also altered and they used a new kind of lubrication for its balance. Components that had the potential to be affected by magnetic fields were replaced with other materials. For example, the pallet is made from Nivagauss which is an amalgam of nickel and phosphorous. The shock absorber spring is already borne from metallic glass which is resistant to magnetic fields and offers better elasticity compared to aluminum and titanium. Omega applied for 9 patents and majority have been granted.
During the launch of the Seamaster Aqua Terra >15000 Gauss, Jean-Claude Monachon, the VP and Chief of Development of Omega dubbed it the world's “first completely antimagnetic watch.” They picked 15,000 Gauss because this level of magnetism is encountered daily. But Monachon stresses that the watch is fully capable of resisting an even higher intensity.
Currently, the highest magnetic fields that prevail inside a resonance scanner is 3.0 Tesla (30,000 Gauss) for non-military uses. There are devices that can generate as much as 7.0 Tesla but these are mostly utilized for research purposes. So we figured that if the Seamaster Aqua Terra could pass the test in a 3 Tesla device then it would highlight the need for protection and to confirm the claim of the company that it is a fully anti magnetic timepiece.
The watch was subjected to tests in Germany's Central Military Hospital using MRI scanners. The hospital's radiology clinic has several advanced MRI scanners and the first test made use of the 1.5 Tesla Siemens Advanto. The second test used the 3.0-Tesla Siemens Skyra and it's truly high-tech.
The watch was exposed to the first device for 60 seconds and then to the second device for another 60 seconds. The same requirements stated in the ISO 764 was used, which requires the watch not to stop running and not to gain over 30 seconds after exposing to the magnetic device.
On the first test, the timing remained unchanged and a few minutes later, the watch showed the same rate behavior prior to when it was tested. On the 3.0-Tesla scanner, the watch seemed a bit uneasy and the strong magnetic field was very palpable by the person wearing the watch. However, much to everyone's surprise, the watch came out completely healthy and ran without any changes. However, the watch did have larger deviations in the crown up and crown left positions upon exposure to the magnetic field. But it returned to normal quickly thereafter.
Omega did the same tests on their premises and they found that a few seconds after magnetization, there was a deviation between 20-40s per day on the timing machine with a max deviation of 99seconds in a single position. But such deviations were gone pretty quickly.
Monachon has explained that such deviations may be due to a few components on the watch that are still affected by magnetization but these do not impact the rate.
Omega's anti magnetic technology is nothing short of amazing and the watch itself is also quite a looker. The 42mm case is slim with a thickness of 13mm and is very elegant. The bracelet is made of stainless-steel and looks very sturdy. It has a double folding clasp that you can open by pressing the side buttons. There are screwed elements close to the clasp that you can use to shorten or lengthen it and they (bracelet and case) have a combination of matte and glossy parts.
The watch is water resistant to 150m and the screwed sapphire caseback helps ensure this. The crown is also screwed in and it's easy to use due to its size and knurling. When you pull it out to mid-position and turn it, the hour hand can move backward or forward in hourly increments. It doesn't have a GMT function however the connection between the date display and hour hand makes it a great watch to wear during travel. You can pull the crown all the way to stop the movement and make way for re-setting. But it is really stable and reliable you won't have any need to reset it.
The seconds hand is black-and-yellow and it easily catches people's attention. The dial has Arabic numerals and the applied wedge shaped indexes point to the center of the dial. The same goes for the surrounding scale strokes. It's easy to read the time even in the darkness because the luminous triangles with sharp tips rule out any confusion. You will see a date window displayed at 3 o'clock.
72 hour kit as suggested by Red Cross.
