Omega Caliber 9900 Complete Guide
Throughout history, Omega has been a brand that has, to a large extent used externally-made movements. This includes ETA and Lemania, to mention two.
Now, there is nothing wrong with this, but the Swiss watch industry has moved more and more in the direction of going in-house, and most importantly promoting this as superior to buying movements, which of course doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.
However, what developing in-house calibers does is allow you to show your expertise in watchmaking and innovation. Furthermore, it gives you full control over the production ad development of your movements. And this is, of course, something that is very important for getting it just as you want.
Omega has, in recent decades, however, gone more and more in the direction of making in-house movements. And one such movement is the Caliber 9900. In this article, we are going to look closer at just that.
Omega Caliber 9900
The Omega caliber 9900 is a movement that is packed with technology. It is the foist chronograph movement from Omega to be METAS certified. It was introduced at Baselworld 2016 and first presented in the Seamaster Planet Ocean. The Caliber 9900 replaced the previous 9300 movement.
The Omega Caliber 9900 features a vertical clutch, column wheel, and has a 60-hour power reserve. Furthermore, it has an independently adjustable hour hand. Unlike the traditional Moonwatch, this is an automatic movement with a bidirectional rotor. It incorporates Omega’s Co-Axial escapement and is a Certified Master Chronometer, approved by METAS.
It is resistant to magnetic fields of at least 15,000 gauss and incorporates a titanium balance, silicon (Si14) balance spring, fine adjustment via eccentric screws on the balance, Nivachoc shock absorption. For improved power reserve, it has 2 barrels mounted in series. It also has a time zone function. The time-zone function simultaneously serves as a rapid-reset mechanism for the date. As the movement incorporates a ton of technology, it also has a lot of friction points, which means it needs 54 jewels. It operates with a frequency of 28800. 
In terms of functions, it is a chronograph movement with two subdials. It also has a date function placed at 6 o’clock. It has central hour, minute, and chronograph seconds hands, small seconds hand, and 12-hour and 60-minute recorders. Since the movement is used in watches with see-through case backs, it is rhodium-plated finish with Geneva waves in arabesque.
The Caliber 9900 is a rather large movement with a diameter of 32.5 mm and a height of 7.6 mm. This means it is only fitted in watches that are on the large side. The smallest is the Speedmaster Racing with a diameter of 44.25mm and then all the way up to the Planet Ocean Chronograph with a diameter of 45.5mm.
Omega Caliber 9901
There is also a variant of the Caliber 9900, which is the 9901. These movements are identical apart from the fact that the latter has an 18K gold rotor. The reason for this is that this movement is used in full gold watches, in order to enhance their exclusivity and make it match better with the watch.
Omega Caliber 9900 specifications
- Frequency: 28800BPH
- Jewels: 54
- Power reserve: 60 hours
- Based on: Caliber 9300
- Technology: vertical clutch, column wheel, independently adjustable hour hand, anti-magnetic, titanium balance, silicon (Si14) balance spring, fine adjustment via eccentric screws on the balance, Nivachoc shock absorption, 2 barrels mounted in series.
- Functions: Timezone function, date, chronograph, hours, minutes, seconds, sub-dials.
- Used in: Planet Ocean, Speedmaster Racing, Seamaster Diver 300M Chronograph
Header image by ablogtowatch.com.
Just got the 9900 Chronograph w/white face and silver hands, my 3rd Omega.
Congratulations on a great timepiece!
Kind regards,
Millenary Watches
When the watch is completely run down there is no pressure on the geartrain. So the gear that drives the second hand is free to move around up to the amount of play throughout the geartrain. (There is always some play in any mechanical geartrain. )The minute and hour hand driving gears are attached to the main geartrain by a friction fit so they will put pressure on the main geartrain while setting both forward and backwards and the second hand will show that movement. When the mainspring is wound it will easily overcome this friction and constantly push the second hand forward in the clockwise direction. Actually, the fact that your second hand is moving back and forth is a good thing. It shows that your watch is exceptionally free and clean allowing it to run until it was completely out of power. A watch in need of cleaning will cause friction due to thickened oil and not be free enough to allow the mainspring to fully unwind thus keeping some pressure on the geartrain in the clockwise direction. In this circumstance you probably would not notice the second hand moving while setting after it stopped running.
Thank you very much for this insightful input!
Kind regards,
Millenary Watches
I have an Omega Planet Ocean chronograph with the Calibre 9900 movement, When the watch has no power reserve and is completely stopped pulling the crown all the way out to the time-setting position and rotating the crown back and forth i have noticed that the second’s hand jumps. If i hand wind power back into the watch and do the same thing the second’s hand is okay it does not move don’t know if this is normal or not.
Hi,
There may be some movement of the seconds hand when the stem is moved (such as when winding it or adjusting the time). If the watch doesn’t have any power, this may be more prominent. With that said, it does not necessarily have to mean that there are any issues, especially if the watch is working fine otherwise and it is only noticeable when the watch has run out of power.
Kind regards,
Millenary Watches
Mine also does this and I’m led to believe it is totally normal and nothing to worry about.
I own a 2023 omega Speedmaster dive pro choreograph, 9900 movement when setting the date the only way that I know how to is pi turning the hour hand forward 24 times to forward on to the following day if I’m 15 days behind the dates it’s a quite a bit of Turning.
I’ve called Omega customer service, and they are not sure or give me a proper answer
Hi,
It can be difficult to advise via the phone as issues generally need to be inspected in person. Our best advice is to take it to an official Omega retailer/service center where they can inspect it in person to identify the issue.
Kind regards,
Millenary Watches
Just received my secondhand Omega Speedmaster Racing 9900 (2018) from Japan. The watch runs for about 10 hours and stopped, after that a 4 and a 3 hour period but now the watch has stopped all together. No physical damage front nor back. The watch seem to still add power to the spring. Chrono does also not work. Anyone have any idea what this causes? Thank you
Hi,
Sorry to hear about this issue!
If you have the original warranty card the watch may be still under warranty (5 years) which means Omega may be able to help with this issue under warranty.
It’s very difficult to say what the issue is as it may be because of several different things. If it adds power to the spring, it sounds like it could be an issue with the actual release of the energy from the spring to power the movement but the best is to have a watchmaker/Omega inspect it to identify the issue.
Kind regards,
Millenary Watches