When Baselworld came along, you could rely on certain things. One of them, of course, was a new version of the venerable replica omega watches . For the first time in a long time, we’re seeing them with a semi-skeletal dial – some of you may remember a few from the 90s and early 2000s. On the one hand, I’m sad to see any part of the Moon Crater dial face disappear, but they do it for a very cool reason. This is the dark side of the Omega Speedmaster Lunar Apollo 8.
It’s now 50 years since the Apollo 8 mission. It was NASA’s second manned space flight and the first to orbit the moon and return to Earth. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that this was the first time the dark side of the moon was directly observed by the human eye.
To commemorate Apollo 8’s passage through the dark side of the moon, they actually made two different modifications to the movement. The lighter colour at the top (which you can see on the dial at 6 to 9 o’clock) represents the lighter side of the moon. Flip the watch over and you’ll see that the face of the hand-wound movement is much darker, representing the darker side of the moon. Not only are these two tones cool, but they retain the theme. Few people have seen the dark side of the moon – Few people will see the dark side of the movement unless they take the watch off.
One of the people who has seen the dark side of the moon is Command Module Pilot Jim Lowell. His words, “We’ll see you on the other side,” are engraved on the case of the Lunar Apollo 8 Omega Speedmaster Shade. Suitable to appear on a watch.
While it may not be thematically appropriate, I do like the use of yellow on the Dark Side of the Omega Speedmaster Moon Apollo 8 (and say thematically, since there’s no NASA tie there at all). replica omega seamaster watches does say they first used it on what I think is a 1968 Speedmaster, so it goes with the watch’s The pedigree is closely related. I just think it fits in with the already dark watch.
Some people may be put off by the new Speedmaster, and for those people it’s safe to say that the dark side of the Omega Speedmaster Moon Apollo 8 probably won’t help them much. For me, I tend to use the non-chrono or Speedmaster wide arrow interpretation. That is to say, even I – a non-chronograph guy – will find a lot to like here. The design of the watch stays consistent with the brand and its pedigree, while getting some pretty cool (and somewhat subtle) hints in it in recognition of the pioneering Apollo 8 flight. While I probably don’t plan on owning one of these, I found no shortage of things to like.
