Calibre 283 — sold as the Omega Century

In brief

Most calibres in this family answered to a number and nothing else. The 283 was given a name — Omega sold it as the Omega Century — while underneath it is the 1949 centre-seconds generation: 17 jewels, 18,000 vph.

Short history

The 283 belongs to the same 1949 generation as the 280 and the 281, all three of them out of the renumbering that created the 28x series. What marks it out is commercial rather than mechanical: Omega put it on sale under the name Omega Century, an unusual step in a family whose calibres were normally identified by their number alone.

Why it matters

The 283 is one of very few calibres in the 30T2 family that Omega sold under a name of its own — Omega Century — instead of identifying it by reference number alone.

Watches that used it

• Omega Century