Omega Heads Back to the Dark Side of the Moon With This Stunning Watch
When watches meet space rockets, things are liable to get technical quickly, but also pretty interesting. And that’s exactly the case with the new edition of the Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 watch.
Six years ago, Omega launched this watch to commemorate the Swiss brand’s 50th anniversary and to remind us of its involvement in the Apollo 8 space mission. That was the first mission to take humans to the Moon and back (though they did not land on it that time) and each member of the crew wore an Omega Speedmaster. Now, they’ve unveiled a 2024 edition that includes a number of meaningful updates.
The front side of the watch is inspired by the view of the Moon from Earth. Dressed in black with flashes of yellow, the semi-skeletonized dial presents the movement on what looks like a textured lunar surface. Though the real chance to examine comes once on the other side.
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The caseback represents the dark side of the moon. It offers a close look at the watch’s Calibre 3869, which is also decorated with laser engraving to resemble the moon’s rugged surface. The METAS-certified, manual-winding movement features 50 hours of power reserve, is resistant to magnetic fields reaching 15,000 gauss, and operates at 3Hz. Additionally, the caseback features a number of engravings, including “Apollo 8, Dec 1968,” “Dark Side of the Moon,” and “We’ll See You On the Other Side,” which is what Pilot Jim Lovell told ground control before Apollo 8 headed to the dark side of the Moon.
Back on the front side, there’s a Saturn V rocket-shaped small-seconds hand at 9 o'clock which took some creative engineering out of titanium. "The 3D structure has been obtained by laser turning, while the colors are achieved with white varnish, ablation, and laser blackening," says Omega.
The entire watch is black ceramic and stretches 44.25mm in diameter and is 13mm thick, slightly slimmer than the previous version. There’s a varnished yellow chronograph seconds hands and a laser-engraved tachymeter scale on the bezel which is filled with white enamel.
The new Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 lands with a meaningful price increase to $14,300 (the previous edition was priced at $9,000).
