Omega has a unique heritage within space exploration, and its Speedmaster watches have been worn by astronauts aboard many of history’s greatest missions. One of them was the Apollo 8 mission of 1968, whose crew were the first humans ever to see the dark side of the moon.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission that launched on December 21st 1968, Omega has released the new Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 timepiece to aesthetically capture the legacy of that historic achievement.
Omega has applied its popular “Dark Side of the Moon” innovation to the entire watch: black zirconium oxide ceramic. The dial has been expertly skeletonised to reveal the blackened movement inside. To contrast this dark tone, the brand has chosen chronograph hands that are varnished yellow, while the watch’s tachymeter scale and crown are filled with Super-LumiNova. The black and yellow theme extends to the perforated leather strap, which contains a section of yellow rubber through the middle.
The movement itself has also been laser-ablated to precisely decorate the bridges and main plate with realistic imagery of the lunar surface. The movement reveals two unique sides. The dial-side is a light shade to represent our view of the moon’s surface from Earth, while the back of the watch shows the dark side that only astronauts get to see. The blackened and decorated version of the Calibre 1861, called 1869 as a tribute to the first moon landing, is a reminder of the original Moonwatch movement and Omega’s legendary story in space.
On the caseback has been engraved the special words, “we’ll see you on the other side.” These final reassuring words were spoken to ground control by Command Module pilot Jim Lovell on board the Apollo 8 mission just seconds before the spacecraft disappeared beyond the range of radio contact in its pioneering orbit to the far side of the moon.
