The Naysayers Are Wrong: The Snoopy MoonSwatch is Awesome

America in 2024 is an extremely divided country. All across the nation, Americans are entrenching themselves into hardened ideological camps in topics of varying subjects: Biden versus Trump; the war in Ukraine; the war in Gaza; the war between Kristi Noem and dogs; the rivalry of Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, and so on. However bitter each of those debates are, none reach the levels of vitriol seen in the following topic: the Swatch X Omega Speedmaster MoonSwatch. 

Ask a random watch enthusiast their opinion on the bioceramic collaboration between affordable brand/monolith Swatch and luxury brand Omega based on Omega’s iconic Speedmaster line, and you may hear responses ranging from “they’re cool,” to the “they’re the devil incarnate.”

Upon the initial release of the MoonSwatch in March 2022, while fans of the collaboration stormed shopping malls around the world to get their hands on one of the original nine MoonSwatches, just as many enthusiasts were voicing their hate for the pieces on the Internet, declaring the watches were garbage that would eventually lead to the downfall of the original and venerable Omega Speedmaster Professional. I was not one of those people.

As an owner of an Omega Speedmaster Professional, reference 145.022 [Editor’s note: Read Eddie’s wonderful item here on that reference], I can be quite protective of the lore of the Moonwatch. I’m one of those who believe the only real Moonwatches are those that are flight qualified by NASA for manned space missions, which means the Hesalite version with the steel caseback is the only one; the other Speedmasters with sapphire crystals on the front and back are simply Speedmasters, not Moonwatches.

Surely, I’d join the drunken mob of MoonSwatch detractors to demand the scalps of the Swatch executives who pushed the MoonSwatch into the marketplace, right? 

Far from it. 238,900 miles away from it. I love the MoonSwatch. I love that Swatch Group figured out a way to break through to a new generation of watch enthusiasts who were seduced by the witchy ways of the Apple Watch.

I love that, because of the affordability of the pieces, more people will learn about the collaboration between Omega and NASA during the space race, which culminated in one of America’s greatest achievements (the Moon Landing), and one of our most inspiring stories (the Apollo 13 mission). And really, I just love how fun the collection is, producing models in vibrant colorways that one doesn’t typically see in luxury watches. When the MoonSwatches were announced, I immediately wanted one of my own. 

Due to the MoonSwatch’s availability being limited to physical Swatch stores, I couldn’t buy one immediately. At the time of the release, there were no Swatch stores in the Los Angeles area, where I live (though there is one now at the time of writing). But the delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When the first nine models were announced, I decided I wanted the Saturn model, since I found the rings around Saturn at six o’clock on the dial to be very charming.

As time went on, and others became available for fair prices in my watch groups, I continued to pass on the other eight models until I could find the one that I wanted. But on March 26^th, 2024, two years after the release of the original nine, Swatch released a model that immediately became my diet grail: the Mission to the MoonPhase model, featuring a moonphase indicator adorned with America’s favorite beagle, Snoopy. 

The Mission to the MoonPhase is the perfect MoonSwatch. While it utilizes the same bioceramic (it’s what Swatch calls this plastic/mineral compound) case as the original nine and shares the same case design and dimensions as the Omega Speedmaster Professional, the addition of Snoopy to the moon phase indicator elevates the watch into rarified air, recalling Omega’s exclusive Silver Snoopy Speedmaster models. 

The relationship between the Speedmaster and Snoopy is special. During the space race in the late 1960s, NASA wanted to recognize employees and contractors who contributed to the space mission. They collaborated with Charles M. Schultz, creator of the popular Peanuts comic strip, to present a silver lapel bearing the image of Snoopy to recipients of the award. During the Apollo 13 mission, following the failure of the lunar module’s electrical system, astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise used their NASA issued Omega Speedmaster Professionals to time a critical 14 second burn to loop the lunar module around the moon and sling shot back to Earth, saving the lives of all three men. In recognition of Omega’s contribution to the success of the rescue mission, NASA awarded Omega the Silver Snoopy award.

Omega has since released three exclusive models to commemorate the achievement: 2003’s Speedmaster Snoopy; 2015’s Speedmaster Snoopy 45^th Anniversary; and 2020’s Speedmaster Silver Snoopy 50^th Anniversary. Each model features images of Snoopy on the dial, with the most recent model also featuring a moving image of Snoopy flying a rocket across a field of stars on the caseback; the movement is achieved by actuating the watch’s chronograph pushers. These models are highly coveted by Speedmaster fanatics around the world.

In addition to the awesome NASA history behind the new Mission to the MoonPhase MoonSwatch, there is another reason this is the perfect MoonSwatch for me. In my household, Snoopy is a legend. I wasn’t a huge fan of Peanuts growing up, but my wife grew up watching the televised specials every holiday. When we had children, she introduced those films to them, and they fell in love with the mischievous hound, and viewing the specials has since become a tradition in our home. We even have the soundtrack to “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio on vinyl, and it’s an established part of our holiday music rotation. As Southern California residents, we have season passes to Knott’s Berry Farm, a theme park that features the Peanuts characters as the park’s mascots, with a children’s area called Camp Snoopy that features rides and shows based on the famous beagle and his friends. Whenever I think of Snoopy, I immediately think of my family. I had to have this watch, and I was fortunate enough to find one at the Swatch store located in the New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas.

Naysayers will point at the cheap quartz movement and plast…er bioceramic case to tarnish the MoonSwatch. Both of those points are valid. So what? The MoonSwatch isn’t intended to be anyone’s forever watch, nor is it trying to compete with the Omega Speedmaster Professional or any other $7,000 watch for that matter. It’s basically a toy. But like any great toy, it’s a hell of a lot of fun. It feels light on the wrist, and the much-ballyhooed strap acquitted itself just fine when I wore it for three weeks straight in triple digit weather. The watch has a decent amount of lume, and also features hidden images on the dial that are only visible under a UV light. Then of course, there’s our hero, Snoopy, gazing up at the stars while relaxing on a crescent moon in the three o’clock moonphase indicator, reminding us it’s always time to smile.

I love the MoonSwatch, and I especially love this Mission to the MoonPhase edition. Now, when someone says anything negative about it, I listen like Charlie Brown, hearing only the crying of a trombone: “Wah wah wah wah wah…”

—Casual Time #10 by Eddie Alexander.

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