In 1848, the 23 year old Louis Brandt set up an assembly workshop in Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Here he put together precision pocket watches from components delivered to him by local craftsmen. After his death in 1879, his two sons Louis-Paul and César moved from assembly to full in-house manufacture and relocated to Bienne. By 1889 the Brandt's company was the largest producer of watches in Switzerland at over 100,000 units per year.

Their first movements were well received and in 1894 they produced a new movement which they named the Omega to represent the pinnacle of watchmaking. The success of this movement led to the name being adopted for all the company's watches from 1903 onwards.

In 1917 Britain's Royal Flying Corps chose Omega watches as their official timepieces for its combat units, as did the American army in 1918.

During the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Omega was made solely responsible for all chronometry, making them the first official Olympic timekeepers. The London Olympics in 2012 will be the 25th time that Omega has fulfilled this role.

Over a century of involvement in the exploration of space, ocean depths and sports timing has driven Omega to achieve more precision records than any other watch brand.

In 1999 Omega introduced the first mass produced watch incorporating the co-axial escapement invented by the English watchmaker George Daniels. This was one of the greatest leaps forward since the development of the lever escapement, reducing friction to almost zero and significantly extending service intervals.