Petros Protopapas is a small man with a professorial air and a penchant for ties and tweed. He also can hardly believe his luck. “I’m living my dream,” he insists, speaking via Zoom from Switzerland and reflecting on his position as Omega’s head of brand equity. Given that for many years Protopapas worked in an entirely different industry as a commercial pilot, he may seem an unlikely choice for this highly specialized role. Until the conversation turns to the brand he adores. Ask Protopapas anything about Omega and you won’t get a short answer but a full-blown history lesson delivered with authority and palpable joy. Ten minutes later, you’re sure to be much more knowledgeable about, say, the thinking behind the Alaska Project Speedmaster hand or the pioneering metallurgy of the PloProf. “He’s a knowledge monster,” insists Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann with visible pride. “Petros is our Omega Wikipedia.”
Protopapas’ fascination with the brand was ignited when he was given his grandfather’s 1964 Omega Seamaster as a graduation present. He gradually became a collector and began scouring flea markets and garage sales for vintage pieces. “Back then, you could really make amazing discoveries, finding 18-carat constellations for $5,” he recalls. But his real education came from a friendship he struck up with a private importer of Omega watches in Greece. Protopapas would spend hours in the man’s basement, poring over the watch papers that accompanied the man’s purchases and detailing product references and technical information. “Every free day I had, I was at his house, going through papers, learning things and having access to first-hand information that no collector could see,” he says. “So I started really early before the Internet really took off.”
Armed with this inside information, Protopapas’ infatuation with Omega grew and his collecting became more serious, until he became such a regular presence in the store that the brand invited him to the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008 as a Greek VIP guest. It was there that he met Aeschlimann, who was struck by his encyclopedic depth of knowledge. Protopapas was quickly offered a position at Swatch Group in Greece, first in the customer service department for his knowledge of spare parts and later as a sales trainer, which saw him educate staff on the provenance of watches. He was eventually offered his current position, heading Omega’s heritage department and overseeing the Omega Museum.
The latter is based in the Swiss city of Biel and is a treasure trove of Omega’s horological adventures dating back to 1848. Strolling through the museum, you’ll find everything from a moon buggy full size, marking the brand’s triumph of becoming the first watch on the Moon, to a section of a running track featuring the technology Omega used to time the track and field events at the Olympics of Tokyo 2020. Watches worn by various James Bonds are displayed in glass, as well as the prototype watch that adventurer Víctor Vescovo attached to his submersible when he went deeper than anyone before, descending 10,935 meters to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. “To me, it still feels like a kid in a candy store,” says Protopapas.
Omega can boast a particularly illustrious history, but it is not the only company determined to celebrate its past. Others who have invested in dedicated museums include Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, IWC and TAG Heuer. Many other brands, meanwhile, have their own heritage departments that seek to ensure no anniversary goes unnoticed, and marketing teams retell all past glories in technicolor detail.