Swatch has so many Mission to… watches that it will confuse any non-connoisseur. But never mind the complexity, because if you have money for just one Swatch x OMEGA Bioceramic MoonSwatch Mission to… timepiece, it will be this one: the Mission to the Moon 1969.
Why? Because unlike the other MoonSwatches, this one packs actual gold. No, not gold-colored paint or gold-plated trim. Swatch and OMEGA melted down spare pieces of 1969 OMEGA gold and turned them into 11 grams of 18K Moonshine Gold for the dial, hands, crown, and pushers. The number is no coincidence, either. Eleven grams for Apollo 11. Someone clearly had fun with the calculator.
The watch also tips its hat to the legendary 1969 Gold Speedmaster. It borrows the period-correct OMEGA logos and typography, gold-beveled indexes, a vertical satin-finished dial, and a black Bioceramic bezel with a gold-colored tachymeter scale. Even the battery cover gets in on the celebration, featuring a gold-colored Moon, the Apollo 11 landing date, and a tiny footprint marking mankind’s first steps on the Sea of Tranquility.
The rest of the package is classic MoonSwatch. It sports a 42 mm black Bioceramic case that’s 13.25 mm thick with a 47.3 mm lug-to-lug measurement, a quartz chronograph movement, 3-bar (30-meter/98-foot) water resistance, a biosourced crystal, and a black rubber strap with a VELCRO closure.
Only 1,969 individually numbered pieces will be made, and at US$570, it is also the most expensive MoonSwatch to date. Mind you, the real challenge isn’t finding the money. It is getting selected for the privilege of buying one in the first place. That’s probably the most MoonSwatch thing Swatch has ever done. Well, at least there won’t be people queuing overnight or, worse, fighting over it like it’s the apocalypse. Instead, everyone gets to fight from the comfort of their own home. Progress!
Images: Swatch.