It only took me five months and five days to finally be able to find a MoonSwatch at the Swatch Boutique at North Park Mall in Dallas, Texas. The Omega x Swatch Bioceramic MoonSwatch landed at the Swatch boutiques on March 26, 2022, a day before I headed to Switzerland for Watches & Wonders 2022. During my trip to Switzerland, I was able to peruse the MoonSwatch ‘Mission to Uranus’ —no pun intended— off of the wrist of a watch editor sitting next to me at a dinner in Zürich for the release of the new Breitling Navitimer collection. I personally wasn’t a big fan of the baby blue color scheme on that watch, but I would’ve gladly taken it with me had he offered to sell. At that moment, it was impossible to get a MoonSwatch and everybody wanted one.
After venturing into every Swatch boutique I stumbled upon in Europe and in the U.S. without luck, I patiently awaited for the MoonSwatch to be sold online as it was originally communicated at the time of the launch. To my disappointment and that of many, almost two months ago Nick Hayek Jr. —CEO of Swiss-based Swatch Group— disclosed in an interview with our friends from Fratello Watches, that the MoonSwatch would not be sold online but only offered at the boutiques in limited quantities. Pretty much like playing a lottery or hitting a lucky strike upon entering a Swatch boutique.
Today, I was finally lucky to enter the Swatch boutique in Dallas and find two models available —’Mission to Mars’ and ‘Mission to Venus’— of which only a couple of watches were still left. Even though neither were my preferred choices —as I personally love the ‘Mission to Mercury’, ‘Mission to the Moon’, and ‘Mission to Jupiter’—, I asked the sales associate if I could get both. Unfortunately, they are only authorized to sell one watch per customer per day so I decided to go with the ‘Mission to Mars’ because of its resemblance to the Alaska Project Speedmaster from 1969-1970.
Now that I actually own a MoonSwatch, I can honestly tell you if this $260 USD quartz watch is worth the hype or not. While my answer is somewhat ambivalent, I do have to say that this collaboration was a brilliant move by the Swatch Group.
While many watch journalists and even well-rounded watch collectors said that it was sad to see the iconic Omega Speedmaster being bastardized into a plastic quartz watch, I think it is the complete opposite and what I consider to be a remarkable marketing strategy.
Not only has Omega brought the look and appeal of the Speedmaster to those who can’t afford it —right now— and by doing so, they are guaranteeing that that new Swatch Group customer base will aspire to get the real deal and buy an Omega Speedmaster —instead of a Rolex as their first luxury watch— as soon as they can afford it. Have you guys thought of that?
Back to the hype part, I think that for us that have owned an Omega Speedmaster before it is not worth the hype, but for those that haven’t been able to own one, it is totally worth it and an incredible product from Swatch. Made out of bioceramic —a blend of ceramic and bio-sourced material from castor-plant oil—, this is not your average plastic Swatch. The watch is extremely well finished and a perfect ode to the Speedmaster in its full glory including the twisted lugs case design, the skinny hour and minute hands, the chrono hands resembling those in the Speedmaster Alaska Project, the velcro strap, and the tachymetric scale bezel. One thing I do have to point out is that the strap will feel slightly short for those with a wrist bigger than 7.5” in circumference.
While the cheapest Swatch —a 34 mm gents quartz model— will set you back $55 USD, the next best option other than the MoonSwatch is the Blurang, a stainless steel SISTEM51 mechanical automatic watch priced at $240 USD. If you look solely at pricing, paying an extra $20 USD for a watch designed after the iconic Omega Speedmaster and which also bears the Omega logo on the dial, the MoonSwatch is an incredible option and hype aside a very cool watch.
Now, do I think that it would’ve been worth my time to line up at a Swatch Boutique back in March to try to get one of these watches the day they hit the stores? Absolutely not. Will I try to get the ‘Mission to Mercury’ or the ‘Mission to the Moon’ since they are my favorites? Absolutely yes.
Even though I have said that I was done buying watches, this is a perfect watch to wear when you still want that inexpensive watch —under $300 USD— on your wrist to be cool as hell. Or why not just double wrist with a nice watch next to it?
For more info on the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch click here.
