Contact [email protected] for pricing and availability; Either I have it, or I can get it! Rolex vs. Omega returns to Watchbox Reviews! This week, it’s the Rolex Datejust 41 126300 versus the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M 220.10.41.21.03.002. Both of these luxury watch families have been redesigned since 2016, and partisans of Rolex and Omega will find fresh ammunition to continue the eternal struggle between Switzerland’s leading industrial wristwatch titans.

The Rolex Datejust II of 2009 was bigger – that was beyond dispute – but not every Rolex buyer found the proportions of the scaled Datejust 36 to be as attractive as the original. With the 2016 Datejust 41, Rolex worked to revise the bezel, dial text, indices, and lug profiles of the Datejust II without reducing the well-received 41mm case of the 116300. The 2017 all-steel model of the Datejust 41 followed the original, and for the first time, Rolex buyers could order a full stainless steel 41mm Datejust with the five-link Rolex Jubiliee bracelet; that accessory had been part of the 36mm Datejust portfolio since both bracelet and watch debuted in 1945.

Today’s Rolex Datejust 41 is the reference 126300, and it combines the newly available Jubilee bracelet with full stainless steel construction. The 41mm case remains from the Rolex Datejust 2, but the sub-48mm lug-to-lug measurement and 11.8mm case thickness substantially improve fit on smaller wrists. Inside the new Datejust 41 is a Rolex manufacture caliber 3235. It adds Rolex’s new Chronergy escapement and an improved 70-hour power reserve to Rolex’s traditional free sprung balance, full balance bridge, COSC and Superlative Chronometer status, 100-meter water resistance, and antimagnetic Parachrom Blue Breguet overcoil hairspring.

The 2017 Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M 220.10.41.21.03.002 combined the much-loved “surf and turf” Omega Seamaster family with new dial, case, and movement features. Although it debuted in 2003 and received the Omega Caliber 8500 family of movements in 2008, the 2017 changes to the Omega Aqua Terra were the most dramatic since its original launch.

Omega removed the Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M’s crown guards, created a new symmetrical case, and re-designed the dial. The new dial shifts Omega’s date window from three o’clock to six, and the aperture no longer features a prominent frame; the “150M” depth rating disappears from the Aqua Terra’s dial. A new iteration of Omega’s “Teak Deck Concept” striations runs horizontally rather than vertically on the original; striations now are of variable width rather than symmetrical.

Inside the case, the new Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra feature the new Omega caliber 8900 METAS co-axial chronometer. The new standard remains COSC-certified but adds tests of precision, endurance, resistances, and winding efficiency; for these are performed on the fully assembled Omega watch rather than the bare movement of the COSC test. Omega’s caliber 8900 remains automatic with 60-hour autonomy, antimagnetic thanks to a silicon hairspring, and offers the time-zone jumping hour adjustment feature that debuted on the original caliber 8500.

The eternal struggle resumes today with Rolex vs. Omega on Versus!