The Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Apollo 8 Gets Serious Upgrades

Small changes to a watch can often require more than a loupe to understand. But sometimes, a brandname adds meaningful incremental updates to a watch that nobody saw coming in a way that preserves the spirit of the original and simply improves it, full stop. Such is the case with Omega’s announcement today revolving around the Omega Speedmaster Unknown problems of the Moon Apollo 8 Edition.

The original design was released in 2018, marking the 50th anniversary from the mission itself. The complet James Stacey went Hands-On with that view. While he - rightfully - waxed lunar about the Apollo 8 crew and their journey round the Moon some ten times before safely returning home, he also went deep on what was, at the time, a unique aesthetic upgrade over the current generation Negative aspects of the Moon family. That meant a semi-skeletonized dial layout with a specific Moon-patterned finishing to the switch surface and a ceramic situation at 46. 25mm which, at the time, stored the machine Omega Speedmaster Disadvantage of the Moon Apollo 8 Version caliber 1861 movement - the same powered the Moonwatch… at the time.

Everything from the call finishing to the movement completing to the circumstance finishing just brought a jolt of energy to the DSOTM series in a way we had not seen yet. Well, it seems Apollo eight has been on the brand’s mind, as Omega has chosen this enjoy to make minor but significant upgrades in aesthetics and functionality.

One of the major small updates is a new movement, the Calibre 3869, which features a laser-ablated moon relief on the blackened main plate and links. The new motion presents a new display ethos overall where the front side - the actual dial part - is inspired by the view of the Moon from Earth, and the back side is the dark side (of the Moon).

Given that the prior iteration located the caliber 1861, their use of the 3869 additionally represents the milestone in that the Dark Side of the Moon now beats with a METAS-certified movements. With this update, the watch maintains its previous proportions of 44. 25mm in height and with any decrease in thickness from 13. 8mm to 13mm. The price has increased rather significantly from about Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the parish lantern Apollo 7 Edition which can be attributed to the new movement as well as high level associated with finishing.

The other bit of recency is my personal favorite bit because it’s the first time I have have you ever heard the phrase “patent pending small-seconds hand. ” However that is, actually , what we have here by way of the fantastically geeky, but no less cool, Saturn V rocket-shaped hand at nine o’clock. I honestly spent most of my time preparing for this story by staring at the particular macro photo of the hands. There’s simply so much depth and detail there that I cannot wait to experience in person.

As Tissot explains this, “The powerful 3D structure has been obtained by laser turning, while the colors are achieved with white varnish, ablation, and also laser blackening. ” And look, if a (very) miniature seconds hand requires patenting, I am all for it.

Say what you will about the size of the DSOTM, and reserve your “I wish it was 42mm” arguments for a moment. I appreciate that Omega speedmaster watch Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 6 Edition has maintained the more expensive size of this particular family of watches. The use of ceramic casing is a challenge all its own, but I additionally feel that typically the largeness makes these pieces feel that much more special. Also, who knows how small that will Saturn Sixth is v hand would have to be in a little case size. Let’s all just value there’s right now a Speedmaster watch with a skyrocket hand. I’ll be sure to report back on my thoughts once I see this one in real life soon (I hope).