Cover The 2024 Speedmaster Moonwatch is also available on a micro-perforated leather strap
The 2024 Speedmaster Moonwatch is also available on a micro-perforated leather strap
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The new Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional has landed, and for the first time ever, its stepped dial has been lacquered
Omega got the horological world buzzing when its brand ambassador—English actor Daniel Craig—was spotted wearing a rare white-dial Speedmaster Moonwatch at the Planet Omega exhibition in New York City in November 2023.
Traditionally, the Speedmaster Moonwatch has a black dial with white details that maximise legibility. Watch connoisseurs were fired up with excitement when they zoomed into the James Bond actor’s wrist and noticed that its stepped dial might be lacquered in white—a first for the Speedmaster.
Aficionados waited with bated breath until Omega finally unveiled the newest version of the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional in March 2024. Also known as the ref. 310.30.42.50.04.001, it sports an immaculate dial inspired by the spacesuits used by Nasa astronauts on spacewalks and extravehicular activity. It also takes references from the white-dialled Alaska I watch, which was a timepiece secretly developed by Nasa under the codename “Alaska”.
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Above The 2024 Speedmaster Moonwatch on a steel bracelet
The 2024 Speedmaster Moonwatch on a steel bracelet
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Alaska’s mission was to develop a perfectly legible and durable watch fit for space. The resulting Alaska I prototype, released in 1969, had a large round case, a design element referenced in the Speedmaster logo on the 2024 Moonwatch dial. This crimson signature on this snowy dial is also meant to evoke the red lines used to indicate the commander’s rank on the Apollo 13 crew’s suits.
An authentic tribute
The design and proportions of the new Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional are true to former American astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s 1969 Speedmaster—the first watch worn on the moon—except for a few minor tweaks that Omega has made in the name of comfort and wearability. This 42mm timepiece’s aluminium bezel is anodised, and its stainless steel bracelet has five arched links and contrasting polished and brushed finishes. Customers can also request for this new Moonwatch to arrive on a black micro-perforated leather strap with red and white stitching, or on an anti-bacterial rubber strap with a moon surface pattern.
It is driven by the Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861, which is derived from the Calibre 321 that powered the original Speedmaster of 1957.
Above The lacquered stepped dial on a Moonwatch—the first of its kind
The lacquered stepped dial on a Moonwatch—the first of its kind
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A watch fan’s watch
In 1957, the first Speedmaster blew connoisseurs away with its tachymeter scale bezel—this was the first time a racing chronograph could indicate velocity. The new Moonwatch too sports this anodised tachymeter bezel, which has been endowed with Omega’s trademark of “Dot over Ninety”.
This popular chronograph not only accompanied Aldrin to the moon, but also numerous other astronauts, such as Virgil “Gus” Grissom and John Young on humanity’s first journey into space, and Ed White, who became the first American to embark on a spacewalk.
The 2024 Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional encapsulates what many Omega fans gush over. Most Omega fans desire a suave chronometer that is unostentatious and is a manifestation of the brand’s relentless pursuit of precision chronometry. The new Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional is exactly that.
Credits
Images: Omega
