Omega Men’s Aqua Terra Railmaster Automatic Chronometer Watch #2803.52.37
Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at
11:36 pm
Set sail with confidence and style to points unknown with this classic mid-sized Omega Aqua Terra stainless steel men’s automatic chronometer watch, part of Omega’s Seamaster line. As comfortable negotiating deals in the boardroom as it is navigating the breaking seas, this highly accurate timepiece features a slightly raised, highly polished bezel that frames a black dial background with easily readable dial including Arabic numerals at the quarter hours, triangular hour marke…
Order@Amazon.com
Related posts
Tagged with: #2803.52.37 • Aqua • Automatic • Chronometer • Men's • Omega • Railmaster • Terra • Watch
Filed under: Omega Watch Bands
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
I already own a quartz Bond, which I still consider my desert-island watch, but I wanted something to compliment it. My criteria were that it be: 1) black, 2) well suited to a strap, and 3) dressier than my Bond, since I wear suits often.
Initially, I bought a Stowa Airman. It looks great in pictures, but it was a good lesson in why not to buy a watch without being able to see it in person first. It just lacked a certain presence that my Bond had, and I kept wearing the Bond the overwhelming majority of the time. Because the Stowa was an automatic, I would have had to either wear it more often or put it on a winder to prevent having to reset the time and date every time I put it on, which is something I’ve grown to really dislike after being spoiled by the convenience of my quartz.
So I knew I had to move upmarket with my next purchase. I had a few watches on my short list, namely a PO, Speedy Pro, Rolex Explorer, and Aqua Terra. The Speedy and Aqua Terra were the only watches really in my budget, as I didn’t want to have to sell my Bond to finance the purchase.
The Speedy was a great watch when I tried it on. I loved the wrist presence, the legibility of the hands, and how it looks on a strap. However, I still cannot see myself winding it every day. I tried winding it to a full wind in the store, and my little fingers hurt. I know some people love to wind it, but I just didn’t want to have to do that. I hope to own one someday, just not right now.
So it was on to the Aqua Terra. This is a watch I’ve been lusting after for quite some time, particularly since reading some reviews online. That black face and applied markers really had a go-anywhere-do-anything look about it, and on a strap it looks downright mean. However, for me, it came off as just a touch too dressy, and the dial can be too stark in its simplicity. While it’d look great with a suit, it just struck me as a little too refined for jeans and a T.
And then I stumbled on a 39.2mm Railmaster. It had the aspects I loved about the Aqua Terra, but it is a touch sportier with its matte face and painted markers. I think the Railmaster looks great as a contemporary dress watch, and it feels a bit more at home to me when I’m playing golf and mowing the lawn on the weekend in shorts. Also, I find it to be more legible in most lighting conditions than the Aqua Terra because the painted markers don’t reflect and distract as easily as the applied markers.
I wasn’t sure I’d like the 39.2mm case, but I think it suits this style of watch, and it suits my 7″ wrist. It doesn’t wear quite as big as the Bond, but it wouldn’t look quite right to me as a dressier watch if it did. Rather, believe it or not, I think it wears comparably in size to a 42mm PO (which, incidentally, I’ve always thought wears smaller than the Bond despite its 1mm larger width spec).
The lume is very close to as good as the Bond. There’s a lot of lume in those markers, and they stay lit for a long time. It’s certainly more legible at night than the AT, which has little pips of lume around the dial.
Some pictures make the Railmaster markers look green for some reason. In person, they look just like any other Super Luminova-treated marker in the Omega lineup.
Why isn’t this watch more popular? I can think of a couple of reasons. First, the name “Railmaster” isn’t particularly sexy. With a Speedmaster, you can imagine yourself flying to the moon or timing your F1 around the track; with a Seamaster, you can imagine yourself as James Bond or swimming the depths of the ocean. You don’t get that instant romanticism with a watch called a Railmaster–I don’t ride on trains, and don’t plan to. Second, in photos, the watch with its painted markers can look like a bland Aqua Terra. In the flesh, though, it comes off more distinguished than its photos let on. Third, the lack of date function probably puts some people off. I appreciate the usefulness of such a feature, but I’m glad they kept this dial true to the original in that regard.
I run hot and cold on the hands. I love how they’ve got loads of beveled steel, which really grabs the light and makes the watch pop. But that comes at a cost in low light, where you need the lume portion of the hands to read the watch. While it’s still more legible than the AT, which has very little lume on the hands, they’re not as good as, say, a Planet Ocean or 2254.50 Seamaster.
So far, the watch is keeping good time at +2 sec/day…well within chronometer specs. It’s still relatively new at just a few months old, but we’ll see if it settles down or if I need to get it regulated to get spot-on time. And I love the quite audible ticking sound!
In its next iteration, I think the Railmaster might benefit from applied markers filled with lume, a la the PO and Co-axial Bond. That’d keep their legibility while increasing the watch’s dress factor.
Overall, I really, really like the watch.
P.S. I don’t know what the previous reviewer is talking about. This Railmaster is part of the Aqua Terra line . . . says so right on the caseback.
The watch after one month approximately stopped working. Despite my explicit request before purchasing (following the suggestion of anotehr purchaser), the International warranty Card was not filled and stamped by the seller, i.e. it is not vbalid. A Omega authorized dealer in my home-town in fact did not accepted the warranty for repair. Now the watch is in his hands to be sent to Omega. I have no idea of the problem and how expensive it will be the repair it. So the all excercise is bad and deceiving, and it would have been less expensive and more assuring to purchase the watch by an authorized dealer doing things according to the books and suggested retailer price – In fact I saved nothing and I do not have the watch!