Moonshot: Thoughts On The Omega Speedmaster, And The Dark Side Of The Moon ‘Apollo 8’
A rocket on the wrist.
When Omega announced the debut of the latest Dark Side Of The Moon Speedmaster, the reaction was as varied as you might expect – there were of course those who bemoaned the release of yet another Speedmaster limited edition (which I think is to some extent understandable, but also akin to repeatedly complaining about the rain if you live in the Amazon) and on the other end of the spectrum, there were those of us who were, if not completely without reservations, at the very least enthusiastic. I say “us” because I was one of the fans of the watch when it came out and after several weeks, I’m still a fan.
The Dark Side Of The Moon Speedmasters have been around since the first one came out in 2013, and they were received by both Speedmaster and Omega enthusiasts, and the larger enthusiast community, with a lot excitement and it’s not hard to see why. The whole idea of a ceramic-cased Speedmaster was hard for a lot of us to swallow. The Omega Speedmaster Professional’s appeal for those of us of a certain age – I’m old enough to remember watching men walk on the Moon on live broadcast TV, in 1969 –was that it was specifically not a watch whose characteristics were based on what the market for luxury watches wanted. Instead it was a watch which, though it had originally been designed as a motorsports accessory, had somehow found itself flight-qualified by NASA for crewed space flight and whose performance during Project Gemini, and then during the Apollo missions, had proven again and again, the basic solidity and general worthiness of the design.
The idea therefore that the Speedmaster should in any way be updated or changed from the basic steel version – with the caliber 861/1861 which, for all that it’s not the 321, is still a very solid piece of industrial watchmaking and which moreover has the distinction of being flown on more crewed space missions than the 321 Speedmasters – seemed to go against the grain of the fundamental appeal of the watch.
However, time marches on and even though the appeal of the original Speedmaster, in terms of its history, heritage, and legacy, remains strong, producing variations that take advantage of Omega’s progress (and the industry’s progress) in materials science and mechanical engineering continues to make a lot of sense. In particular, I think it’s worth remembering that inasmuch as the original versions of the Speedmaster used in crewed space flight, were representatives of the state of the art in watchmaking at the time they were introduced, it’s more or less true to the spirit of the watch to take advantage of things like the co-axial escapement, and industrial ceramics.
The Dark Side Of The Moon Speedmasters have a name which of course is based on a misconception – the Moon doesn’t have a “dark side,” although there is a far side. The Moon is tidally locked in its orbit, and always has the same hemisphere facing the Earth, but its far side is illuminated during its orbit around the Earth, in the same way as the near side. The far side of the Moon was unobserved until 1959, when it was finally photographed by a Soviet probe; the first humans to see the far side of the Moon were the crew of Apollo 8. Apollo 8 was also the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, and the crew’s famous Christmas Eve broadcast was, at the time, the most widely viewed TV broadcast ever.
For all that “dark side of the Moon” is a misnomer there’s no doubt that it’s more memorable and much more poetic than “far side of the Moon” (I can’t imagine the Pink Floyd song would be quite as memorable if “Far Side Of The Moon” had been the title). In any case, it also fits the dark appeal of the DSOTM’s ceramic case.
The watch is by the numbers what we’ve come to expect from the series overall – a large (44.25mm x 13mm) black ceramic case, with a hand wound movement featuring a co-axial escapement. This is the new caliber 3869, Master Chronometer (METAS and COSC) certified, and with a depiction of the near and far sides of the Moon, laser-engraved on the front and back of the movement.
The fidelity in detail is pretty terrific. The near side of the Moon is a little bit more photogenic than the far side – the near side has the large and conspicuous lunar seas, as well as the giant impact crater Tycho, not really visible in the movement as it is more or less right where one of the screws are which hold down the top cover plate.
The far side of the Moon is much more monotonous than the near side, as the lunar seas which are the most conspicuous features of the near side are absent – the whole surface is pockmarked with impact craters and in general seems to have undergone much more severe bombardment than the near side. This however may be a false impression, as impact craters on the near side have been effaced by the lava flows which created the lunar seas, early in the Moon’s history. The laser engraving really brings home the importance of Apollo 8 as a mission of exploration.
This engraving was present on the first DSOTM Apollo 8, but in less detail (the movements are also different between the new model, and the first DSTOM Apollo 8 from 2018, which used a modified version of the caliber 1861).
Of course the main talking point for the latest DSOTM was the seconds hand, at 9:00 – a miniature representation of the Saturn V rocket which was the heavy launch vehicle for the Apollo program.
The Saturn V would have been a miraculous feat of engineering even today – it is I believe, the tallest operational heavy lift rocket ever, although the Space X Starship will be larger if and when it successfully orbits, and the Chinese Long March 9, currently under development, will also be taller. Full stack, headed to the Moon on the launch pad, it was a hair over 110 meters tall, or about as tall as a 36 story building, and 18 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty. The main or first stage had five enormous F-1 engines built by Rocketdyne and they burned for 168 seconds, during which time they muscled the entire rocket to an altitude of 42 miles and put it 58 miles downrange from the launch pad. I consider myself very fortunate to have seen the Apollo launches live (albeit on television) and only wish my folks had made the drive down to Florida to watch one in person.
To say that the launches were a life-altering and history-making experience is to say nothing at all and it depresses me no end that in one of the most dramatic and also very sad occurrences in the history of conspiracy theories, there are actually people alive today who for God knows what set of reasons (which have nothing to do with reason) have gotten it into their heads that the Moon landings were faked, which is a notion so dumb that it’s not even worth refuting, and if you are such a person, I feel sorry for you and wish that Buzz Aldrin would bop you on the nose and knock some sense into you.
Now it is certainly true that Omega has never, and will never, allow us to forget that the Speedmaster was flight qualified for all crewed space missions but you know what, if I were running Omega I’d never let anyone forget either.
This of course brings us back to the seconds hand of the Apollo 8 DSTOM. The tiny model of the Saturn V (full stack for lunar exploration) is made of Grade 5 titanium, coated with white varnish, with the black markings picked out by laser etching. The model is roughly 1:19,000 scale, and you can clearly make out, from top to bottom, the launch escape system rocket, the Command Module, Service Module, the shroud for the Lunar Module, and the contours of the three stages of the rocket. The black markings were there to allow ground observers to visually observe the roll rate of the rocket during launch.
I think that all of us who love watches probably are susceptible to things which, if they occur in a watch design, prove the truth of the old adage that the heart has its reasons whereof reason knows nothing. Snoopy on Speedmaster limited editions is one of those things for me and the presence of this absolutely fetching miniature Moon rocket on the dial of the Apollo 8 DSOTM is another. Its attraction is exactly the same pull you get as a kid from certain kinds of toys – planes with light-up jet engines; toy Godzillas that make real roaring noises and have illuminated spines.
Many years ago my older son wanted, very badly, a model of a spaceship that figured as a central character in one of his favorite computer games (the original Homeworld, if any of you are wondering) It was pretty expensive, and I was kind of balking at the price when he said to me, with real feeling, “But Dad … the engines light up.” I got him and we got it and the model is currently sitting on a shelf in the living room and by God if I don’t get a little buzz of satisfaction when I push the hidden button and the damned engines light up. That’s how I feel about the miniature Saturn V on this watch, and while I’m at it, the high fidelity laser engraving of the near and far sides of the Moon. A good toy is entertaining but a truly great toy takes you out of yourself and makes your imagination soar.
A watch can be a lot of things, and the Apollo 8 DSTOM is certainly a technically advanced wristwatch with a lot to recommend it just on its watchmaking features alone. But what really sells it, if you ask me, is that it’s also, like many watches, a toy. Unlike many watches, however, it’s a truly great toy which gives the imagination fuel to imagine a journey which, many decades ago, marked mankind’s first steps out into the larger universe, and encourages us to remember that path on which a few brave souls took our first steps to the stars – and that it’s a path which, with any luck, we will walk again. I’m in.
The Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Apollo 8: Case, 44.25mm x 13.0mm, in black ceramic, water resistance 5 bar/50 meters. Total weight, 99 grams. Movement, hand wound Omega Co-Axial caliber 3869, lateral clutch, lever and cam controlled, with 50 hour power reserve. Sapphire crystals front and back. Price, $14,300. Find out more at Omegawatches.com.