FEATURE: Was the Moonswatch 'Mission to Moonshine' Really a Complete Disaster?

Like many of you I'm sure, I watch a fair number of YouTube 'watch channels' and while they do serve a purpose - whiling away a tedious dinner break for example, the older I get the more irritating I find them. Most recently my irritation has come in the form of the mock outrage directed at the Swatch 'Mission to Moonshine'. 

As I'm sure you know, unless you have been living under a rock this last few weeks, Swatch recently released a new version of one of their plastic 'Speedmasters' with a gold plated chronograph second hand, which unfortunately did not live up to the 'hype' created before the release... and so people, they got MAD about it.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Monaco Heuer 02 v Omega Speedmaster by Bruce Williams

 

BUYING EXPERIENCE: Omega Orbis Constellation Series Star Quartz Watch

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Several years ago I was looking in Michael Jones window in Northampton and I spied a black dial Omega Constellation with stars on the dial and a diamond bezel. I duly reported this find to my wife, but IIRC the price tag was somewhere around the £5000 mark so this particular avenue remained unexplored. A few years later my wife came across a quartz version in a shop in Milton Keynes, she loved it but it was still around the £3000 mark and as it happened the bracelet had a nasty scratch in it which rather put her off the idea.

A couple of days ago she sent me an email with a link to the Watchfinder site, where she had found a pre-owned model in excellent condition for £1875. Unlike the one she tried on before this one had a stunning blue dial and I could tell she was revving herself up to buy it, but was hesitating slightly because in these uncertain times it's still a lot of money to be spending on a luxury item.

But because this was pretty much her grail watch, I thought she should definitely buy it as if she didn't and it sold to someone else, she would always regret it. So the next morning I emailed my previous contact at Watchfinder and asked if there was any movement available on the price. He fired back an email with a link offering me the watch for £1650, and that was decision well and truly made! A £225 discount just like that, gotta be worth asking the question.

As ever Watchfinder were on the ball and we received a phone call an hour or so later to our home address, double checking our information was correct, the watch was dispatched that day and arrived the next morning. Unfortunately it didn't have the original box and papers with it, but they did send it in a very nice 'Watchfinder' box, which is as good as any of the watch boxes I've ever had - so full marks there.

My wife hadn't realised that the watch didn't have a second hand until she got it, which is always slightly perturbing as it's hard to tell if it's working or not. I think that's probably a good thing though as less is definitely more on this one and I'm glad it doesn't have a date as it's unnecessary, especially on a star spattered 24mm dial (the larger 27mm version does actually have a date incidentally).

This particular model turned out to be a special edition for 'Orbis' eye doctors, with some of the sale proceeds going to fund their work. It's approximately six years old and is no longer available, but the original list price seems to have been around about £3500, so £1650 looks like an excellent price considering that it's only just out of warranty and looks mint (there is one very small scratch on the bracelet, but that's all).

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not exactly an Omega fan, I visited one of the London boutiques last year and while it was a very nice experience and the staff could not have been more helpful, I found the watches unappealing and in the case of the Speedmaster particularly, incredibly underwhelming.

This watch is spectacular though, the blue dial is fantastic and the 18K white gold stars really sparkle against it. In fact I think it looks much nicer than the black dial did, so I'm glad she hung on for this one - even though it was more by accident than design.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer V Omega Seamaster by Charles Li

ON THE WRIST: Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 Special Edition

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...?

ON THE WRIST: A Visit to the Omega Boutique on Regent Street

Omega Boutique / Regent Street, 9th March 2019

So here's a curious thing, until the day I walked into the Omega boutique on Regent Street on the 9th of March 2019, I had never tried on an Omega. Which is probably quite surprising when you think about it, given that Omega are probably the most obvious alternative to TAG Heuer and operating in a broadly similar price range... well, kind of.

Still the SeaMaster is probably the watch I've been told to buy more than any other as an alternative to an Aquaracer, albeit it starts at around £3,000 which is about £700 more than the Calibre 5 Aquaracers. I'm sure the Omega movement is better than the base Sellita found in the Calibre 5, but does it warrant the price difference? Well, to be honest... I still didn't end up trying on the (new) ceramic dial SeaMaster. I looked at it, and found it rather odd looking and unappealing so I passed, but I did try on an older 300M SeaMaster chronograph.

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This was a watch I had seen before when I looked around the Omega boutique in the Royal Exchange (in the City of London), it caught my eye then and I still think it's one of the better looking Omegas, so it's fitting that it was my first. The SeaMaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Chronograph or the 212.30.42.50.01.001 if you prefer (seriously Omega, why do you need a 14 digit part number, do you really make that many watches?) measures 41.5mm across the diameter but it feels bigger. This is probably in no small part due to the thickness of the watch, in fact thick Omegas seemed to be the order of the day here, as pretty much everything I tried on felt like a lump on my wrist.

Now I'm used to the Aquagraph, which is 16mm thick, and as a one-off special piece that's fine, but I certainly wouldn't want all my watches to be that thick. The watch sat up high on my wrist and to be honest, while I like the dial I wasn't that bothered by it overall. I really don't like the fussy bracelet, and the scalloped bezel is flat, plain ugly. I'm undecided on the hands, they are kinda weird being skeletonized like that, but I don't mind that too much... I don't quite understand why the hour hand is so small relative to the minute hand though (which is rather oversized if anything), it looks a bit unbalanced in my opinion, but the red highlights on the sub-dials and the chrono hand are quite nice.

At this point I must commend Lin Lin, the lady who served me in the boutique on this visit. She was excellent, knowledgeable and friendly without being overbearing and seeing that I was making notes in my notebook she kindly offered to print spec sheets for each of the six watches I ended up trying on, which means that I am in the unusual situation of having all (*most of*) the information at my fingertips. So here we go! I've already mentioned that the watch is 41.5mm and has a 300M depth rating (the clue's in the name), but I can also tell you that the watch has an officially certified Chronometer rated self-winding chronograph mechanism and co-axial escapement, plus a free-sprung balance equipped with a Si14 silicon balance spring with a power reserve time of 52 hours.

Oddly the spec sheet doesn't tell me what the bezel insert is made of, I was pretty sure it was ceramic (and indeed the Omega website confirms this) which you would expect at this price (£4,000) really. I don't know, it just doesn't do it for me somehow. Maybe I have an unfair bias against the brand because my experience with Omega fanboys has been largely negative (the party line seems to be 'TAG is sh*t, get an Omega'), but every time I have been into a boutique I have found the staff helpful and reasonably friendly. I do kind of like that the design is quite aggressive, I mean it's not 'boring', and the same goes for the new ceramic dial SeaMaster, you can say a lot of things about it but boring is not one of them! But it didn't do it for me so I moved on to...

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The SeaMaster Planet Ocean 600M Co-Axial Master Chronometer Chronograph, seriously I'm not making it up, that is it's name. And well, I tried on three different versions, the black and orange chronograph, the blue and orange GMT and the plain black GMT, all of which came on these stunning rubber straps. And guess what, they were all as thick as a house brick. Okay, fair enough these are all 600M divers (let's not talk about the sleek and slender, black 500M Aquaracer shall we) but try as I might to like these watches, they are all a bit impractical. I did kinda like them though, I'm a sucker for a cool strap and these were really nice (especially the one pictured above with the orange trim), but this watch is nearly £9000. That's a LOT of money, and a lot of money one could spend on a TAG Heuer and get something really smart...

These watches aren't just thick either, they all come in a 45.5mm case, which is slightly bigger than the original Heuer 01 Carreras and you really know you've got them on your wrist. They are kinda cool, but I would always worry about that vulcanised rubber section on the bezel and like the first watch I tried on, they have this odd blinginess about them that I can't quite explain. Blinginess is probably the wrong word, but somehow the watches are too shiny and a bit too much. It just feels to me that they send out the wrong message, like 'look at me, look at me...', there's no subtlety. Even the black one screams for attention and I just find them a bit vulgar to be honest.

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So, finally I thought, I really have to try on the Moonwatch. It's a youtube 'watch guru' staple, a watch that seemingly everybody loves to death and simply won't shut up about. 'Get the Speedy, get the Speedy' they cry in unison. 'Get the Hesalite, not the sapphire, only the Hesalite is real'. 'Manual wind, manual wind' they chirp like so many automatons. 'It's the watch that went to the moon, how can you not love that history?' they bleat. When it comes to youtube, the Speedy is second only to the Submariner in the untouchable stakes, this watch is like Teflon, no one has a bad word to say because this is an icon, and if you don't like it you're clearly an idiot, with bad taste, who probably steals money from charity boxes and has poor personal hygiene!

What they don't tell you however, is quite how boring this watch is. I mean it really is dreadfully dull. Unlike the pictures, the watch isn't even a nice shade of black, it's a darkish, boring grey that lends it absolutely zero dramatic presence. It's really quite hilarious how dull it is, especially compared to the other watches on display in the same boutique. Where the Planet Oceans are outrageous, oversized and shouty, the Moonwatch is so damn plain you'd almost miss it, if it wasn't highlighted at every opportunity.

I will say this, I can see why people prefer the Hesalite over the sapphire crystal. The Hesalite has a nice domed effect where the sapphire has an ugly stepped design, but the price for that is that you'll forever be polishing out the scratches. I'd still go for it though, because the sapphire is awful and makes a dull watch an ugly, dull watch, and nobody really wants that!

Speaking as someone who is quite keen on the 'Space Race' and the Apollo story in general, it should speak to me a lot more than it does, but I'm so punch drunk by the relentless Omega marketing that I can't help but take it all with a pinch of salt now. You can overdo these things you know, and Omega certainly have. I'm not totally anti-Speedy, I quite like the recent Apollo 8 version and I could have quite happily bought a white dial Snoopy, if everyone else hadn't got there first and made a killing on it! But the Moonwatch itself, I just don't get it. Why does everyone bang on about this tedious watch?

Meme provided by Calibre11 member and long time TAG Heuer enthusiast Otto William.

I'm sorry, I know it's got great historical significance and all that, but I don't really care, and I didn't like the bracelet much either. Actually, the last Omega I tried on was better, albeit the case was a bit umm, different, but... it still didn't exactly blow me away.

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Yes it's the Speedmaster II with that retro 70s case (not a fan) equipped with a rather funky dial, granted it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I couldn't help liking it just a little. Could I live with the case to get the dial, hell no - it's hideous. But give me a choice between this and the Moonwatch and I'll take this any day of the week, because maybe I could get used to the case... over time, it might grow on me. But the Moonwatch will always be a dull watch, and not just a dull watch, but a dull watch that people won't shut up about, and that's Kryptonite to me.

So, overall, while I enjoyed my hour in the Omega boutique, I honestly came out of there feeling less inclined than ever to buy an Omega. The brand just doesn't do it for me, it's a weird one, I kinda like that some of their watches are so brash and aggressive in design, but at the same time those designs simply don't quite mesh with me. And then there's the prices, clearly Omega are aiming for Rolex with their pricing and that's a ballsy move. Do I think Omega could be the next Rolex? Yes, actually I do, I see a parallel with Audi where at some point people might just decide to collectively get behind a changing of the guard, so while I don't personally gel with the brand or it's products, I could totally see a time when it's Omega sitting at the top of the tree. As it is the company has already gained a substantial following willing to buy pretty much any limited edition en masse, especially if it's sold by Hodinkee, and realistically if not Omega then who? It certainly isn't going to be Breitling now, is it?

FEATURE: Another Trip to London to Look at Watches...

Long time readers may remember that almost exactly a year ago my friend Rich and I made a day trip to London with the express intention of visiting as many watch stores as possible... well, we decided to do it all over again, only this time we really went for it!

Our first port of call was the Omega boutique at the top of Regent Street, and strangely enough I'd never tried on an Omega before, so it really was high time I did. I ended up trying on six different pieces, including the Speedmaster and Speedmaster 2, three Planet Oceans and 300M Chronograph. We ended up staying in there nearly an hour, which I really hadn't been expecting or intending to do.

I must say, the service we received in this boutique from Lin Lin was superb and seeing that I was noting down the pieces that I had tried on she offered to print me spec sheets for everything. I'll probably never buy an Omega, but if I did, I would make a point of going back to this boutique and asking for Lin Lin, she is a credit to the company!

Next we headed down Carnaby Street and happened to stop off at the Swatch boutique. I've never been overly sold on Swatch, but I know Rich likes the collectability of them and it was interesting to see the System 51 models on display. We didn't stay too long before heading down a few doors to G-Shock.

I didn't actually try anything on in G-Shock, but it was quite interesting to see the wide variety of styles and prices on offer. They even had some steel models that were over £1000 which I wasn't really expecting.

We popped into the Karl Lagerfield store on Oxford Street so I could pick up a little gift for my wife. It's a shame Karl has died recently and I love that his cat is worth $3.5M. Crazy! After picking up this cute (if somewhat overpriced keyring), we headed a couple of doors up to Watches of Switzerland.

I've been in this store several times, but I've still never been up to the top floor. I always head for the basement first since that's where the LVMH brands are to be found, and this time I tried on a couple of TAG Heuers and my first Hublot. Then we headed back up to street level and I tried on my first Ulysse Nardin, it was to be a day of firsts, with more to come...

Mindful of the long day ahead and our poor feet, we decided a brief stop at the Slug and Lettuce on Hanover Street was in order. I had ideally planned to get in there before 12 as I feared it might be rather busy on a Saturday lunchtime, but it was actually rather quiet and we passed a pleasant half hour in there before moving on.

Our next stop was Oris on South Molton street, where I discovered the rather exciting 'Dive Control Limited Edition 1000M Chronograph', a real beast at 51mm but one that you could actually wear due to it's very short lugs and non-flaring strap. Can't honestly say there was much else in the store I was interested in, but that one got a big thumbs up from me.

Selfridges was next, and after wasting half an hour going around in circles trying to find the toilets, we finally hit The Wonder Room, where I tried on my first ever Rolex. Not only that, but I managed to find one that I actually liked... which was a surprise to me, as I find most Rolexes hideous!

Also in The Wonder Room, we looked at a couple of TAG Heuer Monacos, a couple of Aquaracers and a Breitling Exospace B55 on a blue rubber strap. Our server 'Alan' seemed to think that Rich and I were an 'item' and he suggested we might like to 'share' a Pepsi GMT Aquaracer!

Alan was clearly desperate for some commission as despite telling us he was heading off for his lunch he kept hovering as we moved around the room, terrified that the minute he left we might buy something from a different salesman. In the end he gave up and I tried on the Brietling assisted by a truly charmless chap who demanded to know what was stopping me committing to the £6000+ Exospace!

I had hoped to try on a steel non-Offshore AP Royal Oak on this visit, but it was not to be, Selfridges and Harrods were a steel Royal Oak free zone, which makes me wonder if they are now playing the same silly games as Rolex?

With time knocking on, we crossed Oxford Street to visit the TAG Heuer boutique and catch up with the lovely Aneta (who I already knew from the Bicester store). There wasn't much in store that I hadn't already seen, but I did have a good natter with Aneta and managed to try on the new Senna Carrera Heuer 02T. Also Aneta told me they are expecting the Nanograph in store soon, so hopefully I will be able to see that in the near future!

From here we took a walk down New Bond Street (completely missing the Victorinox shop we had hoped to visit), before stopping off at Charbonel et Walker to pick up some hideously expensive chocolates (£95 per kilo, I kid you not!), good job I only bought a few...

After a nice lunch in Richoux on Piccadilly (if you like Carrot Cake, this is the place for you) we crossed the road to Burlington Arcade, only to find that at 5:45pm the shops were shutting up for the night. Next time we will go there before we go to Richoux... but that wasn't the end of our day, because while Bond Street closes at 6pm on a Saturday, thankfully Knightsbridge does not!

And so we headed into the Seiko boutique where I was unimpressed with the both service and the overall attitude. A complete contrast to some of the places we had visited today, especially the Omega and TAG Heuer boutiques which had been exemplary.

And so we made it to our last destination for the day, Harrods. It was a shame to see that the enormous Lange & Sohn display piece had been removed (perhaps headed to Baselworld?) but we spent a good forty five minutes chatting with Mahmoud in Hublot while trying on some very nice watches. And then finally a good little while with Harry in the mixed brands room where we had a look at the new Tudor GMT Pepsi and a couple of rather striking Zenith Defy El Primero 21s.

Needless to say I will be reporting on each of the 27 watches I tried on in due course, I will probably spread them out a bit though as this blog is supposed to be focused mainly on TAG Heuer and only 7 of the watches I tried on were TAGs. I've made a start, and the Rolex, Oris and Seiko reviews should be up soon...

I wonder how many watches I'll manage to try on next March...?