There’s not much more to be said about the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch that hasn’t been said already by every man and his best friend… However, what I will attempt to explain is how I went to being bashful and skeptical of the watch to growing fond of it.

Allow me to tell you about my experience…

Buying experience:

Rubbish, unless you like lining up and enjoy the process of an over efficient Chinese restaurant taking your order before you even sit down and shoving you the bill exactly 59 minutes and 59 seconds later into your 1 hour session. I exaggerate, but it’s not that far off either.

To be fair, the sales consultants are under pressure to move the stock asap due to not wanting a line curling around the shop in the due to centre management (and probably over every person asking ‘do you have stock?’)

In some ways, its like going to McDonalds, chose your meal, pay and get out with the added interrogation and stare down from the security guard at the door.

Watch experience:

Also rubbish… until I started wearing the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch for a few days – my view gradually changed. Before I launch into it, I should say I bought the grey/black colour, or the ‘Mission to Mercury’ as its officially known.

Swatch can call it whatever they want with the material, but ultimately it’s plastic in my mind and it feels that way too. The Velcro strap? You guessed it, rubbish again. I admit the Velcro is convenient and looks ok, but do yourself a favour and swap it out if you’re looking to wear it for the long term – I put mine on a black fabric strap.

The MoonSwatch is light on the wrist, and if you’re a Simpson fan you’ll know this line well, ‘feels like I’m wearing nothing at all’, even with the upgraded strap. A very strange feeling indeed.

Once on the wrist though, I started to become aesthetically drawn to the MoonSwatch… The version I have paired with the black fabric strap made me think I had the DSTOM on the wrist. Of course, I knew it wasn’t the case, but the look of it was so similar it changed my view of the MoonSwatch. It allowed me to experience, or rather, close to experiencing a variation of a Speedmaster I would otherwise wouldn’t of.

And here I think is where Swatch nailed it– being able to replicate the original Speedmaster with different colours and draw a whole bunch of people into the watch world, into Swatch and by extent, Omega – for a somewhat reasonable price. It allowed me to see how a different Speedmaster would look on the wrist, without having to outlay a significant sum of money – e.g.,) Mission to Mars = Omega Alaska. I think the key is to chose the right version/colour (if available…).

Do I think it dilutes the Speedmaster moniker or promote it? I am not sure, however I can certainly tell you that more people know about the Speedmaster now then before – for better or worse and the Swatch group is laughing all the way to the bank (and the resellers too mind you!)

Having own/owned multiple Omega Speedmasters, I can say that the MoonSwatch is a strange one – I hate it and I love it at the same time. Therefore, I will continue to make fun of it whilst enjoying it at the same time – Ha Ha Ha.

Final remarks:

Just don’t pay over rrp or as minimum as possible if you must, unless you’re keen for a Mission to Uranus.