While Olympics’ aficionados can certainly name the U.S. contender for fastest man (It’s Noah Lyles, front-runner for the 100- and 200-meter sprints), comparatively few know who’s responsible for measuring the infinitesimal span between gold and silver winners.

The original Omega chronometer, used at the 1932 games in Los Angeles.

The answer to the above is Omega, pioneer in the art of parsing seconds into millionths and Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games on 31 occasions in both summer and winter.

Omega vintage Olympics advertisement

“There to measure every result and record every dream,” Omega enters Paris 2024 with 92 years of timekeeping experience, a pedigree that now includes quantum technology and innovations like the Electronic Starting Gun, which accounts for the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound in events where every thousandth of a second counts, like the aforementioned 100-Meter sprint.

Starting gun technology then and now.

2024’s Electronic Gun plays a sound, emits a pulse of light, and gives a start signal to the timer via miniature speakers integrated into the starting blocks. This is just one of dozens of Omega innovations extending to scoreboards, swimming pool touch pads, finish-line photocells, and photo finish cameras.

Starting devices have come a long way since the crude wooden blocks of yore.

There’s also the opportunity for some amazing swag. Namely, the $12,000 Paris 2024 Bronze Gold edition watch, made of a gold-silver-bronze alloy, domed sapphire crystal, polished bezel, and vintage OMEGA logo embossed on the crown.

See Omega to find out more.