The Omega Replica Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 is not new in the sense that it is a new launch. The first version was launched in 2018 for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission. But the 2024 version of the Speedmaster is an update with relevant improvements and a loving detail.

With the revised Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 model from 2024, Omega is not only paying tribute to the Apollo 8 mission of 1968. Rather, the Swatch brand is reviving one of its most successful line-ups in the diverse range of Omega Speedmaster editions. The Biel-based watch manufacturer goes far beyond a small facelift and equips the new Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 with the new Master Chronometer certified caliber ETA 3869.

Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8

While the suggested lunar surface of the first Apollo 8 watch was already a fascinating design feature, the even more precise laser engraving of the lunar surface on the movement ensures an even greater level of detail in the craters and rock surfaces. It should be briefly recalled that the basic idea that gives the watch its name is that details of the visible lunar surface can be seen on the front, i.e. the dial, which anyone “interested in the moon” can view in detail with a slightly better telescope during a full moon.

Dial of the Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8

The three-dimensional effect of the partially openworked aluminum dial is enhanced by placing the moon’s surface, surrounded by slightly beveled, faceted indices, even lower under the small permanent second at 9 o’clock. This further enhances the spatial effect of a Saturn V rocket seemingly flying over the moon’s surface, which is small but extremely detailed.

The correctness of the idea becomes clear when you look at the meticulous representation of the Saturn V rocket and its engine exhausts. The impressively accurate, three-dimensional reproduction of the rocket is cut out of a titanium plate using a laser and shaped into a round shape. The pointer rocket is then painted white.

In purely formal terms, the 44.3 mm case made of scratch-resistant ceramic remains the same size. However, Omega has reduced the height of the watch, which weighs just 99 grams, by 0.8 mm to around 13 mm, thus making it more comfortable to wear. The ceramic bezel, which has a tachymeter scale, and the crown of the chronograph, which is decorated with a white Omega logo, are also made of ceramic.

Although thousands of engineers, scientists and technicians worked on the development of the enormous rocket from 1961 onwards – which would eventually help the three astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to successfully land on the moon in July 1969 – every launch of the 2,822 ton, incredible 110.6 metre high rocket was fraught with high risk and several explosions during tests of the previous development stages made every launch a kind of suicide mission.