News After several months of major renovation work, the Omega Museum is once again open to the public, with the conquest of the moon and sports timekeeping prominent among its exhibits.
The Omega Museum opened its doors to the public in January 1984, making it the oldest watchmaking museum devoted to a single brand. Located opposite the firm’s headquarters in Biel, it exhibits objects representative of the firm’s entire history, including the work bench used by Louis Brandt in his early career more than 160 years ago.
Speaking at its re-opening after major renovation work managed by its new curator Brandon Thomas, Stephen Urquhart, the CEO of Omega, compared the work to an archaeological dig. «Not only have we renovated the entire museum, we’ve also restored many features of this listed period building. This project also gave us the opportunity to revise our complete collection. Some objects which we didn’t even know existed, for example a pocket watch used by Albert Einstein, are being shown for the first time.»
Visitors of course also have an opportunity to discover the timekeeping equipment developed by the firm throughout its Olympic history since 1932. The brand was also closely involved in NASA’s manned spaceflight programme. Indeed the Omega Speedmaster was worn during all six moon landings and continues to be worn on all NASA missions. The museum’s exhibition highlights the role of this model in space legend and exhibits four of the watches that were worn on lunar expeditions.
A new section of the museum is dedicated solely to prototypes: watches that have been developed by Omega but which, for one reason or another, were never marketed. Visitors can also discover timepieces that belonged to famous people: Lawrence of Arabia, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie and even... James Bond! Also present are models owned by artists such as Salvador Dali, Max Bill, Gilbert Albert, etc.
Located at rue Jakob-Stämpfli 96 in Biel (tel. +41 (0)32 343 92 11), the Omega Museum is open to the public from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, except Bank holidays. Entrance is free. Guided tours available in English, French and German.
May 26, 2010
