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Home planet hues inspire MoonSwatch 'Mission on Earth' watches

June 11, 2024

— A new collection of watches inspired by the first timepiece worn on the moon has taken its hues from the astronauts' view when looking home.

Swatch has revealed three new models in its MoonSwatch line. The new "Mission on Earth" series builds upon the existing collaboration between Swatch and Omega by adding the flourish of Earth-inspired colors to the iconic Speedmaster chronograph design.

"'Mission on Earth – Lava,' 'Mission on Earth – Polar Lights' and 'Mission on Earth – Desert' pay tribute to our magnificent planet, inspired by volcanic lava, the Aurora Borealis and deserts, three natural phenomena, with their magical and enchanting beauty, that can be seen clearly from space. For these watches, Swatch has developed three brand-new colors in Bioceramic," the watch company announced on Tuesday (June 11).

The three MoonSwatch Mission on Earth watches will be available for $270 each beginning Saturday (June 15), only in selected Swatch stores. As with the whole Bioceramic MoonSwatch Collection, only one watch can be purchased per person, per day, per Swatch store.

The Mission on Earth – Lava model draws its colorway from the openings in the Earth's crust that allow lava, ash and gas to escape. Today, roughly 1,670 active volcanoes have been identified worldwide. Around sixty of them erupt each year, not including the many underwater vents.

The look of the Lava model also gives a nod to the 1968 Speedmaster "Ultraman," which featured an orange chronograph hand.

The Mission on Earth – Polar Lights reflects the Aurora Borealis or Australis, also known as the Northern or Southern Lights. Visible from orbit, this atmospheric sight is characterized by colorful "curtains" in the night sky, with green and blue being the most common. As such, turquoise is the dominate color of this watch.

The blue dial is studded with little "stars" of tiny silver-colored flakes, inspired by aventurine glass dials. This is another nod to past Omega watches. The numerals and indexes on the three subdials use the radial format, just like the Speedmaster in the Alaska II and III projects that focused on developing a watch customized for NASA astronauts to use in space.

Both the case and hands of the Mission on Earth – Desert are the color of sand, and the dial and strap are taupe, bringing to mind the expanses that cover over a fifth of the Earth's landmass and can be found on every continent. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world, spanning over 3.6 million square miles (9 million square km) of North Africa.

The Mission on Earth collection is the fourth series of MoonSwatch watches. The initial line, launched in March 2022, introduced the Speedmaster look to the Swatch format with 11 models themed after the eight planets in our solar system, the dwarf planet Pluto, Earth's moon and the Sun. A year later, Swatch began rolling out a 11 different limited edition "Moonshine Gold" editions, each featuring a seconds hand coated in Omega's gold alloy.

In March 2024, Swatch added Snoopy to the mix, in reference to NASA's safety mascot and the Silver Snoopy Award presented to Omega, as well as the highly-popular Speedmasters that have featured the comic strip beagle. Theall-white and all-black models featured a unique moon phase indicator absent from the previous MoonSwatch watches.

All three Mission on Earth watches all have their mission statement on the caseback — "Dream Big, Fly Higher, Explore the Universe, Reach for the Planets, Enjoy the Mission" — and the Omega x Swatch logos on the dial and crown. A design of planet Earth can be seen on each battery cover. An adjustable Velcro strap, suitable for spacesuits, features a contrasting topstitching in the same color as the respective case.

The hands and indexes are coated with Grade A Super-LumiNova for a glow-in-the-dark effect. All the main features of the original Omega Speedmaster — the first watch to be worn on the moon — can be found on the MoonSwatch, including the asymmetrical case, the tachymeter scale with the dot over 90 and the three subdials.

Mission on Earth – Lava, – Polar Lights and – Desert, like all the models in the Omega x Swatch collaboration, are made from Swatch's Bioceramic, a mix of two-thirds ceramic as used in high-end watchmaking and one-third biosourced materials produced from castor oil.

 


The three new colorways for Swatch's MoonSwatch "Mission on Earth" series were inspired by sights on Earth that can be seen from space: lava, polar lights and deserts. (Swatch/collectSPACE)



The caseback of each MoonSwatch "Mission on Earth" watch has the mission statement and an image of Earth. (Swatch)



The three new MoonSwatch "Mission on Earth" watches are non-limited and will available through select Swatch stores. (Swatch)

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