Ernest Jones / Milton Keynes, 28th September 2019
I think I've made it reasonably clear over the years that I am not a big fan of Omega watches. There are a couple that I've liked the look of, mainly the white dial 'Snoopy Award' Apollo 13 Speedmaster which was limited to 1,970 pieces and trades up around the £20,000 mark nowadays and also this brand spanking new Speedmaster Apollo 8 edition.
Launched last December, 50 years on from the launch of the Apollo 8 mission, it's taken until now for these to start appearing in 'local' shop windows and while for me it doesn't quite live up to my expectations (based on the launch photographs) this is still a very nice watch.
Clocking in at a surprising 44mm diameter (it really didn't feel that big to be honest) and 12mm thick, this piece has a lug to lug of 49mm keeping it within the magic 50mm that can push a watch over the edge for those with smaller wrists. The ceramic case is highly polished, so much so that in some lights it almost looks like steel, and I like the modern edge this gives the classic Speedmaster design.
The yellow detailing is also right up my alley, again bringing the watch right up to date, and I very much approve of the yellow stitching and perforation highlighting used on the strap, although I found the pin to be very odd and hard to use. To me it doesn't seem to be the right shape, although the salesman (Sean) assured me it was because the strap was new and stiff. Not sure if I believe that or not actually, it just seems to be an odd shape, but whatever. The buckle itself appears to be ceramic but I am told that in actual fact it is a mixture of ceramic and titanium.
Until I turned the watch over I didn't appreciate that the watch is manual wind, this isn't something that would overly bother me as I hardly ever wear an automatic watch for more than one day at a time so every time I wear one I have to set and wind it. However, I think if I was going to buy a watch with manual wind, I'd like one with a power indicator, and sadly this doesn't have that feature.
It doesn't have a date either, which again, doesn't bother me - it's one less thing to set when I pull it out of the watch box, but Sean told me that it doesn't have a date because there's no date in space, which I'm pretty sure is cobblers. It doesn't have a date because it doesn't have a date, the Speedmaster wasn't designed to go to space, it was designed as a racing chronograph.
That aside I enjoyed talking with Sean, who was enthusiastic and accommodating and didn't seem in any rush to put the watch back in the window. We chatted about watches and his own Speedmaster, which he had fitted with a Longines strap, TAG Heuer (Sean's first good watch was a TAG Heuer Formula 1 he bought when he was 18) and my WAY208C Aquaracer.
I guess I should mention that the dial of the watch is somewhat skeletonised and textured, but not overly so. Indeed these photographs emphasise it more than it's noticeable in real life and the same goes for the contrast between the yellow highlights and the black background. It's certainly not as 'muddy' as the Aston Martin Formula 1... but it does share that watch's shortness of strap!
So, clearly this watch isn't going to change my mind about Omega. I'm just not a fan. I do kind of like the design of the new Bond watch, but can't get behind something that celebrates a fictional character as if it's real. And releasing a watch to 'celebrate' the 50th Anniversary of a film that was middling at best and that you had absolutely nothing to do with is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. The fact is George Lazenby wore a Rolex in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' not an Omega and no amount of 'partnership' money is going to change that (although, how long before they digitally impose Omegas into all the old films I wonder?).
That said, it's definitely one of my favourite Omegas, top five for sure... it's just that that doesn't mean all that much, and at £7450 I'm afraid there is zero chance of me learning to love it. But, before I conclude there is one thing that's worth noting, if you like the standard Dark Side of the Moon Speedmaster, this is actually £1500 cheaper due to it's use of a cheaper movement and... some other reasons which are not entirely obvious...?
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