On the 23rd of March 2022, Omega and Swatch presented the new MoonSwatch. From their partnership, 11 interesting versions were created, inspired by the planets and other celestial bodies of the solar system, from the Moon to the Sun. Each of them represents a mission into space.
The collaboration between Omega and Swatch
Unexpected? Absolutely yes. From the first teasers presented on the Omega and Swatch Instagram channels, we were caught in a whirlwind of curiosity. The reason is simple, both brands have great importance both in Italy and for IWS as a reality. Just think of the famous phenomenon of Swatch Pradè, which broke out from one of our watch-spotting post of Fiorentina coach Daniele Pradè in August 2019. Omega at the same time is a brand that we have been following assiduously for many years.
Add to it one of the best creative marketing campaigns of all time and we let you imagine the results!
What mostly caught our attention was the unusual idea of linking two brands of the same group and creating very different watches. Perhaps this is precisely the formula for the success of this never-before-seen joint venture. Nonetheless, fear was also a factor. Taking Omega’s name and putting it on a clearly inferior product in terms of quality could have had the side effect of deteriorating the brand status.
Luckily this is not the case and Omega still owns his status as one of the best and most reliable watch manufacturer in the world.
The new MoonSwatch: Speedmaster case in Bioceramic and quartz caliber
We have 11 different versions of the MoonSwatch. Each watch is inspired by a planet or celestial body in the solar system. All the dials feature the counters positioned in a similar way to the classic Swatch chronographs, most likely because they use the same quartz caliber, which allows the positioning of the hands in this way. At first glance they may recall the Reduced versions of the Speedmaster. Going in order, let’s find out all of them.
Mission to Uranus
Mission to Pluto
Mission to Venus
Mission on Earth
Mission to Mars
Mission to Saturn
Mission to Neptune
Mission to the Sun
Mission to Mercury
Mission to Jupiter
Mission to the Moon
Technical features and the Bioceramic case
The case was created taking inspiration from the shapes of the classic Speedmaster with helix lugs, circular buttons and crown protected by small shoulders that isolate them from accidental blows. The diameter of the MoonSwatch is 42mm with 13.25mm thick, exactly like the counterpart they were inspired by.
The crown was embellished with the Omega logo and Swatch’s S, celebrating the partnership between the two brands.
The water resistance in this case is 3 bar, or 30 meters. This means that the actual water resistance allows you to use the watch without immersing it, in short, it resists splashing and washing hands. The strap is in velcro and they are like the latest ones presented by Omega for NASA, perfect to be worn over a spacesuit. Each case back has on the “battery cover” the planet or celestial body in reference to the watch, as below the Mission To The Moon version has the Moon.
Price and availability of the MoonSwatch
The Omega X Swatch MoonSwatch has a retail price of EUR 250 and is only available in certain Swatch stores around the world which you can discover here. As Swatch has confirmed, the collection will be available on the online shop. At the moment the in-store purchase is limited to one watch per person per day, due to the difficulty in keeping up with the demand. For other live updates, follow the official IWS Instagram profile.
Our opinion
We were particularly surprised by this collaboration, and we cannot deny that as soon as we saw the photos we all thought of taking one within the IWS Team. Actually Vittorino, Claudio and I, we own the Mission To Mars. We could not stray away from the amazing subdials hands inspired by the Alaska Project.
In the end, it definitely is a provocative collaboration and on that is making waves all over the world. Of course, the Moonwatch remains the Moonwatch and Swatch timepieces remain Swatch timepieces. As we said, the risk for Omega was there, eventually it all ended well. Thanks to this collaboration, Swatch has registered record high revenues, and most importantly net income, for 2023.
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