Whether or not you’re planning to dive into the festival of sport that is the 2020 Tokyo Games, do take a moment to enjoy Omega’s wonderfully creative ad, titled Timekeeping and tradition: Omega meets Japan.
The exquisite 60-second sequence (above) uses Imagine Dragons’ 2015 song Dream for the soundtrack cleverly combines elements of Japanese culture with stylish shots of Olympic sports and Omega timepieces to produce something really rather special.
The esteemed Swiss watchmaker describes the ad as “a split-screen celebration of split-second precision and enduring Japanese customs.”
It was created by Omega’s internal communications team and took around one-and-a-half years to develop and produce. Most of the filming took place in Japan, though some additional material was captured in Miami, Florida.
The video quickly went viral and racked up more than 12 million views on YouTube in just a few days, wowing those who watched it. One person wrote in the comments, “I would call this video perfection. What a beautiful idea about the use of imagery,” while another wrote, “This is an incredibly beautiful commercial. A masterpiece indeed.” Another said it was simply “one of the most incredible advertisements I’ve ever seen.”
Including the current event in Japan, whose opening ceremony on Friday, July 23 included several surprises for gaming fans, Omega has served as the official timekeeper at 29 Olympic Games since 1932. Across the decades the company has developed a slew of cutting-edge sports timekeeping technologies, among them the electronic starting gun, touchpads for swimming, and the Scan’O’Vision Myria — a photo finish camera that can take up to 10,000 digital images per second.
To find out more about how Omega has come to lead the field in sports timekeeping, and what it’s been doing to stay at the top of its game, check out this Digital Trends article that includes comments from Alain Zobrist, CEO of Omega Timing.
If you’re looking to catch all of the thrilling moments of athletic excellence from the 2020 Summer Games, we’ve broken down how and where to watch the action.
