OMEGA’s Little Secret: Ashley Graham Partners with the Swiss Watchmaker for Its Latest Collection

Swiss watchmaker OMEGA has revealed its latest collection, marked by the campaign titled “My Little Secret”. The new Aqua Terra 30 mm series, featuring 12 distinctive timepieces, is an elegant reimagining of the original Aqua Terra watch launched 23 years ago. In honour of the occasion, the OMEGA team gathered a celebration of guests–including campaign ambassador Ashley Graham–to commemorate the new campaign at The Magazine in the Serpentine North Gallery, London. 

What is OMEGA’s little secret, you may ask? At the heart of each new timepiece lies the brand’s smallest Master Chronometer calibre to date, delivering both refinement and uncompromising mechanical precision. In keeping with the theme of the collection, I asked Ashley Graham to share some of her best-kept “little secrets” with me.

Olive Walton: First of all, congratulations on being one of the campaign ambassadors for the OMEGA Aqua Terra collection.

Ashley Graham: Thank you!

OW: The campaign is called My Little Secret so I wanted to ask you to share some of your best little secrets with us. What is your best little secret for looking super glamorous?

AG: Oh, it’s all in the prep. It’s all about the upkeep of the hair and skin. I have clothes on a railing in my closet and I just know what I’m going to wear so it makes it fast and easy. 

OW: That’s so smart, your go-to’s just being right in front of you. Why am I hiding all my clothes? What’s your best secret for feeling really confident? 

AG: Well, the quick one is fake it till you make it, the second one is wear things that are really comfortable for your body, and thirdly, talking out loud to yourself and telling yourself exactly how you feel, and then telling yourself how you want to feel.

OW: Best secret for finding your personal style? 

AG: Oh God. Isn’t that an ever changing journey? I feel like even just in the last 10 years my personal style has changed so much. I think finding your personal style is really about what makes you just feel your best. And so I always go back to comfort. I’m a little sexy, I’m a little comfortable, and then I feel great.

OW: What’s your best secret for self-care? 

AG: Every other week I do acupuncture, it’s my favourite thing in the whole world.

OW: What is your best secret for protecting your inner peace? 

AG: Definitely biting my tongue for all the things that I want to say, but I don’t say them. 

OW: That’s good. My friend calls it ‘picking your battles’. She says, do you need to win this one? No, I don’t. 

AG: That’s how you stay married, fifteen years! My grandma told me that one when I got married.

OW: The alignment on this campaign is really brilliant because you’re so vocal about body positivity and self love and OMEGA are all about championing confidence, authenticity and elegance.

How do your values connect with the spirit of this collection and can you tell me a little bit about this partnership? 

AG: First of all, it’s an honour to be a part of OMEGA because of the history and who they are and being in a luxury space. I always talk about how accessories and skincare and glam have always fit [everybody], and there’s never been a conversation about the number inside of your pants when it comes to watches and especially the Aqua Terra, it just suits you. It doesn’t matter who’s wearing it because it goes with anybody and everybody, and you can see by the cast of people that they had for the campaign. We all come from different walks of life, different categories of entertainment, and it’s such an honour and pleasure to be a part of such a beautiful, diverse cast. I’m just honoured that OMEGA is on this journey with me about highlighting different shapes and sizes and ages and races of women. OMEGA has such a vast history of different types of watches that they’ve made and it is all about the precision and the workmanship that goes into it. To me, it’s just about being a woman. It’s like what we put into our daily lives and how we operate, there is so much precision and hard work that we have to do just being women today. So to me how it all lines up perfectly.

OW: In a recent post on your Instagram you said you had a realisation that your goal is not to have balance, but to be present. In a world full of deadlines and ‘Where do I have to be next?’, what are some of the ways that you are staying present?

AG: It is a daily practice and I think for me it’s about having the checklists of the day and just making sure that I’m checking in with myself and making sure that there’s not an anxiousness running through me—whether it has to do with family, personal work or anything like that. Having just even ten to fifteen minutes of alone, quiet time in the morning, whether it’s meditation or prayer.

OW: That must be hard in your household!

AG: It’s so hard, but you have to plan it for yourself. I think that that’s where you find your inner peace in the midst of all the chaos.

OW: You get a lot of love on social media for being very transparent about the highs and the lows and the glam and the more simple moments. A quote of yours from this campaign is “This watch will never come off, it’ll go with every part of my life”. Could you share one of the very glamorous moments that this watch has been with you through and then one of the simpler, more ordinary moments?

AG: My simple, most ordinary moment is going out into my backyard with my boys and just digging in the garden. I have a compost now. On my way here, I had my Aqua Terra on and I was digging my compost into the garden and I thought, this is how you have duality in life.

OW: A girl who can do both!

AG: Literally, I’m looking at the watch and my shovel and my compost, and I’m thinking, here we are! And for me, the fanciest is being on the red carpet. I mean, how much fancier can you get? 

OW: Exactly, the height of glamor. What are some of the things you’re making time for in your life at the moment? 

AG: I am making time for family. I think that for me, the phone can take you away from everything. So 

I put the phone in a drawer or in my office and I walk away and I really want to be focused on family because I’ve got three little kids and I don’t want this time to just be like taken from me because I’m such a workhorse and I really have to tell myself to stop sometimes and I don’t wanna regret not being present. 

OW: If you could go back and tell yourself, make more time for something during the early stages of your career, what would it be? 

AG: I’ve traveled the world, but I feel like I wish I would’ve gone to more exotic and farther places because now that I have kids, not that I can’t do it, it’s just it costs a lot more money and a lot more time.

OW: The president and CEO of OMEGA says that ‘the most beautiful part of the watch is the one you cannot immediately see’. He’s of course, speaking about the intricate engineering that goes inside the Aqua Terra watch, but it made me think, what are some of the unseen qualities about yourself that you are most proud of? 

AG: That I’m a really good best friend. I’m probably one of the best friends you could ever ask for, right Meghan? [Looks to friend].

OW: Megan, can I get a quote from you? 

Megan: No comment. 

AG: Because I’ll tell you like it is. It’s the honest truth with a sweet touch to it and you’ll never feel bad, but you’ll know that it’s coming straight from the heart. We need more girls like that!

OW: That was beautiful and very poetic.

AG: Oh thank you darling, that was the third cup of coffee that did it.

OW: Thank you Ashley, it’s been lovely speaking to you.

AG: Thank you so much!