FeatureThe MoonSwatch By Swatch And Omega: Taking The World (And Beyond) By Storm

In the last couple of weeks, in a number of countries around the globe, there has been a wild race among watch enthusiasts—and their families and friends and acquaintances and so on—to secure a MoonSwatch. After Omega and Swatch announced that the product of their collaboration would be available in Swatch stores from March 26, the MoonSwatch has been the talk of the town. The most basic and understandable reason is that it is a Swatch product, and priced accordingly—at $260, or about ₹19,700—while Omega’s Speedmasters are all upwards of ₹5 lakh. However it looks very much like any special edition from the main Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch line—arguably the most popular Omegas.

The Source Of The Mission

For the uninitiated… One of the best-known and most loved chronographs watches in the world of watches—if not the most adored—the Speedmaster Moonwatch goes back to NASA’s Apollo 11 mission (1969), which made it to the Moon. The Speedmaster was the first and has been the only watch since then to be worn on the Moon. Omega definitely capitalised on that achievement by giving the Moonwatch a brand identity of its own. However, they didn’t rest on their laurels and simply use it for marketing. They worked on developing the Moonwatch further, and even released a Master Chronometer version last year.

Read more about Omega, space exploration and the origin story of the Speedmaster Moonwatch

Aside from mechanical advancements, the design has also been tweaked over the years, but ever so slightly. After all, you don’t attain and retain the status of being an icon by changing too much too soon. The iconic elements of the Speedmaster that make it instantly identifiable today are still seen across the collection. These include the ‘twisted’ lugs, the tachymeter bezel with the ‘dot over 90’, the pump-style chronograph pushers, the narrow indexes, the dots flanking 12 o’clock, the convex dial, the tri-compax layout with recessed sub-dials, to name a few. And all of these elements make it to the Bioceramic MoonSwatch as well.

The iconic elements of the Speedmaster that make it instantly identifiable today are still seen across the collection. These include the The Speedmaster's pump-style chronograph pushers

The Speedmaster's convex dial and tri-compax layout with recessed sub-dials are also seen on the MoonSwatch

The only major additions can be seen in the Venus, Mars and Saturn editions. The Mars watch features the playful spacecraft-style hands on the chronograph sub-dials

The Saturn edition features the sixth planet and its rings on the small seconds sub-dial

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Mission: MoonSwatch

Drawing inspiration from space, and associations with the nine planets and the sun and our Moon, Omega and Swatch have together inserted various elements into the 11 editions in the MoonSwatch series. It’s like they took the basic blueprint of the Speedmaster Moonwatch, with all the elements of the design that could not be touched, and then added to it. The only major additions can be seen in the Venus, Mars and Saturn editions—the oval sub-dials with diamond-like details, the playful spacecraft-style hands of the chronograph counters, and the Saturn rings, respectively. The branding is of course more ‘Omega X Swatch’ than ‘Omega Speedmaster Professional’. The crown reflects that, and instead of the subtle ‘Ω’ etched in the centre of the domed glass of the Moonwatch, the MoonSwatch has a subtle ‘S’ of the Swatch logo. The rest of the design changes are basically about colour choices that seemed right for each edition. For instance, the ‘red planet’ Mars has been given a red look, the Earth has blue and green hues, the sun is yellow, and so forth. As one would expect, the palette of the Moon edition is closest to that of the Speedmaster Moonwatch.

One of the custom elements of the MoonSwatch is seen in the Venus edition—oval sub-dials with diamond-like details

The Venus watch comes with a white strap and a powdery pastel pink case, complemented by the matching sub-dial hands

Moving past the colours, there’s one different detail on the dial that isn’t being mentioned much—the sub-dial markers and functions. While the Moonwatch has 30-minute and 12-hour chronograph counters at three and six, and the running seconds at nine; the MoonSwatch has 60-minute and 1/10th-of-a-second chronograph counters at nine and three, and the running seconds at six. This is of course because of the quartz movement within, and 1/10th chronographs are quite common when it comes to quartz. While in several Swatch quartz watches, the battery is exposed on the caseback, the batteries in these ones have special covers that depict the celestial bodies that inspire them, surrounded by the hue of the 42mm case, made of Bioceramic. Used quite extensively by Swatch, Bioceramic is a blend of two parts ceramic with one part of a plastic-like material derived from castor oil.

The palette of the Moon edition, as one would expect, is closest to that of the Speedmaster Moonwatch

The white-on-black tachymeter is like that of the Moonwatch, with the 'dot over 90'

The branding is of course more ‘Omega X Swatch’ than ‘Omega Speedmaster Professional’

While in several Swatch quartz watches, the battery is exposed on the caseback, the batteries in these ones have special covers that depict the celestial bodies that inspire them

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Mission For The Moonwatch Fans Of The Future

Bioceramic takes on colour quite well, as is evident from the wide spectrum of hues in which these watches are made, in addition to the wide range of mainline Swatches that are made from this material. Paired with complementing Velcro straps, the colours really do wonders for these quartz timekeepers, giving the Speedmaster archetype a playful spin that only a few of Omega’s Moonwatches have been able to offer, such as the highly-coveted Snoopy Speedy. It really is a new side of the Speedmaster template that hasn’t been explored to this extent before, and is quite refreshing.

Bioceramic takes on colour quite well, as is evident from the wide spectrum of hues in which these watches are made. Seen here is the Uranus edition

The Uranus has a pastel airy blue hue, paried with the Velcro strap in white, and a tachymeter bezel that matches

In fact, these MoonSwatches are accessible to a much wider audience, for more reasons than one, which is the best part about this new series. It opens up the iconography of the Speedmaster Moonwatch to a whole different generation (and segment) of people, who—aside from not being able to afford Omega—may not have been interested in analogue watches to begin with. It’s making people take notice of an icon that they might have considered completely irrelevant to them before now. There are bound to be a whole lot of people who are only now discovering the significance of the Speedmaster and the role it has played in space exploration. These are the people who could very well become wearers of Omega’s Moonwatch years from now—which might not have happened if not for the MoonSwatch piquing their interest today. “The Swatches are perfect for budding Moonwatch fans and I can’t think of a more appropriate icon for our shared project,” points out Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of Omega.

Most of the design changes are basically about colour choices that seemed right for each edition. The sun edition is in yellow and white

The glass is domed like that of the Speedmaster

The sun edition has accents of orange to complement the yellow

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Mission Accomplished

Surely this series could also help in getting people interested in analogue timekeeping and legacy brands. This could even be like history repeating itself. One could even draw parallels with how Swatch played an instrumental role in pulling the Swiss watch industry out of the quartz crisis of the 70s, and helping it survive. And Swatch is still regarded highly for having played that role then. Like Aeschlimann states, “Omega’s long and distinguished history may have been cut short if it wasn’t for the vision and the courage taken by Swatch. The MoonSwatch collection salutes the saviours of our industry in a witty and accessible way.” Even though the industry is not in crisis today, it’s still becoming more niche than it used to be, and could use a boost for wider-spread interest.

The Earth edition quite appropriately features hues of blue and green, like the planet itself, as seen from space

Interestingly, Earth's sub-dials are in white with brown hands, while the rest of the dial and the tachymeter match the navy blue strap

It’s a winning idea no doubt, in this day and age when ‘collabs’ (as the slang goes) between lifestyle brands get people talking like nothing else does. The fact that Omega and Swatch have the same parent company—the Swatch Group—just makes this seem like the most natural partnership that one could expect. And the result has been fantastic. The MoonSwatch is set to make the archetypal, instantly recognisable design more widely seen, yet ensuring that it remains distinguishable from the revered Moonwatch and its mainline offshoots.

Moreover, keeping it non-limited ensures that it will be available in the long run, beyond this current craze and race for the initial batches that are almost surely sold out. That also saves this extremely coveted piece from simply becoming a trading commodity for buyers who only wish to sell it at an insane premium in the black market. I think, with time, there’ll be enough for everyone who’s interested in the MoonSwatch. As a Speedmaster Moonwatch owner myself, I believe that if something like this means that many more can enjoy the basics of a timekeeping icon, it’s a wonderful thing, without taking anything away from the mainline Omega Moonwatch. Ultimately, the MoonSwatch is a Swatch, but it comes with Omega’s seal of approval—quite literally.