„Louis Brandt“ – tribute to the founder of the Omega brand

In the 80s and 90s, Omega was unhappy. Nicolas G. Hayek, who has since passed away, brought Dr. Ernst Thomke to Omega as a „turnaround“ manager. Thomke hired me for the Omega project team. The Omega brand was no longer in demand. So we went to the Omega collectors‘ community and successfully maintained the brand there.

With the new historical tribute collection „Louis Brandt“ (Louis Brandt was the founder of Omega) we wanted to achieve an image transfer from the expensive Louis Brandt collection to Omega. The collection was created as a tribute to the company’s founder, Louis Brandt (1825–1879), who founded the atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848.

The best documented model was the Louis Brandt De Luxe II – Perpetual Calendar (1991):

• Reference: 175.0302 / 1750300
• Case: 34 mm, yellow gold
• Movement: Calibre 1118 (based on ETA 2891A9), automatic
• Complications: perpetual calendar, moon phase
• Dial: Silver, fine-grained, Roman hour markers
• Today’s price level: approx. 9,000–12,000 CHF (depending on condition)

Character of the collection

Limited Tribute Models; produced in two waves: ca. 1984 and 1991 (each in small quantities). Classic, elegant designs, often made of gold, with complications. Mechanical movements based on high-quality ETA calibers, some heavily decorated.

The collection is not a precursor to modern Omega series, but an independent tribute project – a measure of brand care. Historically, it stands between the renaissance of mechanical watches after the quartz crisis and the later positioning of Omega as a high-end brand with coaxial technology.

The „Louis Brandt“ watch collection no longer exists as an active line today – it was a historic tribute collection for the rescue of the Omega brand in the 1980s and early 1990s.