Will Swatch Destroy the Moonwatch Brand?

Omega x Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch Mission to Mercury (Source: Omega)

As I write this, a little less than 24h before the new Omega x Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch is set to be released in select Swatch stores around the world for a “whopping” $260 USD MSRP, several models are being “sold” on eBay for multiple thousands. The one that takes the cake is currently 9 bids in, at $12,000 USD. Of course none of these watches are in the seller’s hands yet, and given people in Hong Kong have already started cueing up in front of their Swatch store, chances are they might not have one to ship by the time their scalping operation is won by a “money is no object” bidder.

To those who turned on their TVs later, the Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch is an Omega x Swatch collaboration presented in 11 variant colors called Missions, inspired by planets, the Moon and the Sun. It looks very much like an Omega Speedmaster, but with very different specs. Instead of steel, the case is a Swatch proprietary ceramic material and the movement, not a complex mechanical calibre, but a rather modest 4 ruby Quartz-powered one. It’s also the only affordable watch with the Omega logo on the dial, at only $260 USD.

Swatch Group, who own, among others, the legendary Swiss brand Omega, has concocted a very cunning product marketing ploy to have its own brands “collaborate”. With its popularity in the Quartz glory days of the 80s and 90s, the same Swatch that saved Omega from financial ruin — and the whole Swiss watch industry really — is now itself in need of saving. Their funky, inexpensive, industrial but quality-made Swiss watches have lost marketshare in favor of smart watches, microbrands and other established outfits like Casio and Timex. This whole time, an unexpected recent resurgence in luxury mechanical watches shifted the money maker towards the luxury brand Omega.

Omega sells a generous set of versatile watches, with their own established degree of history and notoriety, but one stands out and reaches above almost all other brands and models: the Omega Speedmaster Pro “Moonwatch”. The legendary watch that went to the Moon.

In fact, at $6400 USD before taxes, by no means cheap and affordable for most people, the Speedy Pro is one of the best value-for-money luxury watches ever made. It still is the only watch qualified and used by NASA during extra vehicular activities (EVAs), doing less Moon landing stuff, but but more “mundane” and equally dangerous stuff, say when astronauts need to service solar panels on the International Space Station.

To be allowed to be flown to and used on the Moon, the Speedmaster had to pass very (very!) stringent tests. And you yourself, a common human being, can walk to an Omega store today and pick your own, virtually the same watch NASA astronauts relied on to time the engine burn on the faithful Apollo 13 mission, or this week on an ISS EVA 500km above the Earth’s surface. NASA had used not some specially prepared units by Omega, but ordinary watches they could purchase at an Authorized Dealer. The Speedmaster Professional is a tool watch and it means every bit of its capabilities and technological achievements. It’s not a pretty dial with good marketing. Its achievements are real and well documented.

So if you can buy a legendary watch that has real-life professional credibility behind it, why would Omega just allow Swatch to use this coveted name in a $260 watch with a quartz movement that would not survive a full 20 seconds in the vacuum of space? Wouldn’t it just devalue the brand and discourage all these collectors who spend tens or hundreds thousands dollars buying limited edition Speedmaster Pros (of which are many, some argue) over the years? And you’re right, many collectors already decry this Omega x Swatch collab as an inqualifiable betrayal. They worry their coveted rare “big daddy” Speedmasters will be worth less now.

Omega Speedmaster Pro “Moonwatch” next to Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch Mission to the Sun (source: Omega)

But I disagree, respectfully and with a healthy dose of excitement.

If anything, as an “old school” real Speedmaster Professional owner I worry little. If anything, I think the watch is going to be more known, its history and design more coveted and familiar, its ownership more desirable. Those who’ll buy the $260 Swatch Speedmaster, if in the income bracket that allows them to get the “real deal”, will not confuse the MoonSwatch for a Moonwatch. It is a real Speedmaster, however; it says it right there on the dial. But they, just like myself, desire this funky new budget Speedy because it’s a fun, sanctioned homage. And everyone else, who would never afford or allow themselves to spend half of second-hand Toyota Corolla on a mechanical timepiece that needs to be wound every morning to keep poorer time than their iPhone, but always admired the Speedmaster, can now own one. And this is a win for absolutely everyone.

Swatch just got its biggest cocaine boost in its career since 1983. And as the new space race takes shape, the original Speedmaster Professional that served space agencies for more than half a decade will need to be replaced by a more capable and modern watch in the near future. Nobody knows what that watch will be like, and if it’ll still be an Omega. But if it is, they may in turn borrow things for its next Speedy Pro from Swatch and, say, make its case out of the same bioceramic material the MoonSwatch is made of, that may be better suited for the unforgiving void of space.

I’ll be going by the Swatch San Francisco store, where the MoonSwatches are expected to be available at launch, this weekend, and hopefully the line won’t be a few blocks long.

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Dan Berte, as Director, IoT, works in innovation for world cybersecurity leader Bitdefender in Silicon Valley and is Tech & Innovation Adjunct Professor at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania.

He appreciates watchmaking and is a fan of Omega Speemaster watches and space missions.