More than four years after Omega x Swatch first debuted to great fanfare, the time has come for the duo to celebrate the moon landing itself with an illustrious 18-karat gold MoonSwatch.
With the release timed to the date of the moon landing itself 57 years ago, the Omega x Swatch Mission To The Moon 1969 goes all-in on the legacy of the Omega Speedmaster as the first timepiece on the lunar surface. Recent Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch launches have honored space by toasting to the ‘Cold Moon’ supermoon, while last year’s Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch 1965 paid tribute to the year the Speedmaster first received NASA flight certification. And yet, no watch in the covetable collaboration has gone so far as to feature 18-karat gold components sourced from Omega spare parts dating back to the late 1960s.
The crown, dial, pushers and hands (each weighing 11 grams) feature Omega’s proprietary 18-Karat Moonshine Gold fabricated in Omega’s own foundry. The two iconic brands doubled down: In a nod to the price of 11 grams of gold itself on July 21, 1969, the highly collectible watch is priced at about $620, rather than gold prices today.
The move is a clever and instantly memorable one, said watch expert and SwissWatchExpo CEO Eugene Tutunikov. “I love that Swatch is essentially daring people to break out the calculators. Pricing a watch at $620 when it contains over $1,000 worth of 18-karat gold is a wild, incredibly fun move,” Tutunikov told Maxim. “It takes the MoonSwatch phenomenon and adds a literal gold rush into the mix,” further adding that the rare release (outfitted on a black rubber Velcro strap) is “the ultimate horological Easter egg.”
The latest affordable yet striking rare Omega x Swatch timepiece makes a bold statement, Tutunikov adds. “Swatch just threw down the gauntlet by selling 11 grams of Moonshine Gold for a cool $620,” he said. And although plentiful Omega x Swatch collaborations retail for under $300, some editions of the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch are currently selling for more than $800 online at sites like eBay. Most resale sites, including eBay, are selling various editions of the MoonSwatch for at least $400, while HighSnobiety reported that most prior editions tend fetch at least $500 on the secondary market, on average.
Omega and Swatch aren’t making it easy to get your hands on this timepiece, perhaps fitting given the fact that each of its more than 30 launches have frequently spawned massive IRL lines at Swatch shops across the globe. “There is a certain romance to wearing a piece of history, especially when that history is literally melted down from 1969 Omega parts,” Tutunikov said, noting that “Swatch and Omega have captured lightning in a bottle once again.”
For a rare shot at the Omega x Swatch Mission To The Moon 1969, interested parties will need to fill out an Electronic Swatch Timepiece Application, available online now until 11:59 p.m. Central European Summer Time. From there, Swatch will approve just 1,969 applications, giving a lucky buyer the opportunity to pick up the new Omega x Swatch Mission To The Moon 1969 in store. Tutunikov noted he might fill out the application for a chance at history. “It’s a wonderful nod to the legendary Apollo 11 era that makes high horology feel incredibly approachable,” he said. To give yourself a shot at wearable history, head online to Swatch now.