Camping people, endless queues with hundreds (thousands?) of people, fights, overwhelmed security, police operations, canceled sales due to security concerns – these are (no joke) scenes from all over the world that have played out in front of the Swatch stores that the Fake Omega x Swatch offer MoonSwatch for sale on March 26, 2022.
However, most people who wanted to get hold of one of the coveted MoonSwatches got nothing – at least initially, because the MoonSwatch is NOT limited per se. According to reports, however, the respective Swatch stores did not have much more than 100 pieces in stock at the start. Accordingly, within a few hours, only pardon anti-social prices were called up on portals such as classified ads or eBay. The hype has reached proportions that even Apple boss Tim Cook should have wet dreams of. And that’s pretty crazy, because according to unconfirmed reports, the official online sale of the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch is scheduled to start as early as April 2022.
There are some impressions of the start of sales in the watch forum or on Twitter under the hashtag #MoonSwatch.
Many watch enthusiasts smiled wearily at the teaser for the collaboration between Omega and Swatch, two completely different watch brands. The “bang” after the announcement of the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch (note the pun) couldn’t have been bigger: a quartz Speedmaster. In (partially) brightly colored “bioceramic” cases. With quartz movement. In 11 variants. For €250. So let’s take a closer look at the Moonwatch for the small purse…
About the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch Bioceramic
The big brother of the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch, the Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch, is one of the classic chronographs par excellence: almost 60 years ago, the Omega Speedmaster reference 105.003 was officially “flight-qualified for all manned space” by the US space agency NASA missions”. Now that the Speedmaster had the official blessing of NASA, it went to the moon on July 20, 1969: Both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore a Speedmaster with the reference ST105.012 on the Apollo 11 moon landing mission – the birth of the Moonwatch Myth. However, with the Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch, which was relaunched in 2021, Omega made it clear that this myth is not cheap and that the price spiral should only turn in one direction: upwards. And clearly. The Speedmaster was thus positioned even more clearly in the luxury sector – and increasingly unaffordable for watch lovers.
To be clear right away: The €250 MoonSwatch from Swatch is NOT an Omega. At least not really. And yes, that’s confusing, because Fake Omega is doing a lot of advertising to promote the MoonSwatch and to give Swatch backing – which is of course not surprising, since both brands, i.e. Omega and Swatch, belong to the multi-billion dollar Swiss Swatch group.
What is surprising, however, is that the Omega logo is much more prominent on the dial than the Swatch logo. And even the Speedmaster logo is on board. Nevertheless: It is a Swatch watch that will only be available in selected Swatch stores from March 26 (more on that later).
Apart from any lettering, the genes of the big brother, the Fake Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch (without S), are unmistakable – including:
- the beautifully high-domed Hesalite glass (with an engraved “S” where the big brother has the Omega logo)
- the case shape with the curved flanks,
- the embedded chrono pushers and the crown,
- the basic dial division (Tricompax) and
- last but not least, the bezel with a tachymeter scale, which even has the true-to-the-original “dot over 90”, a classic feature of the original Speedmaster ST 105.012, which later became the Moonwatch.
Each MoonSwatch has its own star or planet theme, which is reflected in particular in the color scheme (e.g. “Mission to Jupiter” variant in sand colors resembling Jupiter) and the battery cover, which shows the respective stars/planets.
Some (but not all) of the 11 MoonSwatch variants also have playful features – such as the “Mission to Saturn”, which comes with the Saturn rings on the totalizer at “6 o’clock”, but is otherwise still quite subtle…
… at least much more subtle than the light green (Mission on Earth), the bright yellow (Mission to Sun), the turquoise (Mission to Uranus) and the pink variant (Mission to Venus).
But there are also significantly more “serious” variants of the MoonSwatch: With the “Mission to Mars” and the “Mission to Mercury” there are two simple, classic models that are quite close to the big brother from Fake Omega. The blue “Mission to Neptune” is still quite reserved:
The “Mission to Mars” variant with a red case, white dial and “rocket pointers” is very eye-catching and clearly moves in the orbit of the historically fascinating Omega Speedmaster Alaska Project.
All housings are made of “Bioceramic” – don’t ask me who came up with this name, but at the end of the day it is simply a material mix of two thirds ceramic and one third plastic. The plastic, in turn, is vegetable or is made on the basis of castor oil. Above all, the proportion of ceramic makes the MoonSwatch watches less susceptible to scratches and the feel is finer. However, the waterproofness of the case can be improved at a meager 3 bar (splash water protection).
Final Thoughts on the Omega x Swatch Collaboration: Image and the Battle for the Wrist
In old-school marketing, your first intuitive instinct would probably cringe when you heard that two brands in wildly different price ranges and just wildly different target groups want to co-brand. How does the classic Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch, which is available from (!) €6100 list, go together with brightly colored plastic and FlikFlak watches for a whopping €100 that the Swatch brand is known for? That can only go wrong and damage Omega’s image, right? What’s more: maybe even the “big” Moonwatch will become less interesting for real watch nerds?
A look at the relevant watch communities immediately after the Fake Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch became known shows: No, not at all. The MoonSwatch was received very favorably and with a certain childish anticipation by the watch community. Many see the MoonSwatch simply as a “good mood” watch, for example for the summer. Many owners of the Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch even show interest in the MoonSwatch. The balancing act between the two brand worlds seems to have been more than successful.