Backstory
BY MICHAEL THOMPSON
REAR VIEWS OF NOTE
OMEGA
SPEEDMASTER DARK SIDE OF
THE MOON APOLLO 8
PLEASANTLY SURPRISING MANY COLLECTORS, Omega celebrated Apollo 8’s fiftieth anniversary
at Baselworld this year by releasing its newest Dark Side of the Moon timepiece. But instead of
primarily focusing on a special case or dial, this year’s edition also draws attention to a special
movement, naturally fully visible from the caseback.
This year Omega has placed a blackened and decorated version of the famed Caliber 1861
(derived from the Lemania 1873) into the new Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8. Renamed Caliber
1869 as a tribute to the first moon landing, the hand-wound chronograph movement has been laser
treated to decorate the bridges and main plate of the blackened movement, producing realistic
imagery of the lunar surface on the front and back. Omega has thoughtfully skeletonized the
dial so the wearer can also view the movement’s lunar landscape from the front.
Just around the movement on the back Omega has engraved the words
“We’ll See You on the Other Side,” spoken by Command Module Pilot Jim
Lovell on board the Apollo 8 mission at the start of the crew’s pioneering
orbit to the dark side of the moon. Seconds before the spacecraft disap-
peared beyond the range of radio contact, Lovell spoke these final assuring
words to ground control.
The black zirconium oxide ceramic case itself is now 2.5mm
thinner than the earlier automatic Dark Side of the Moon watches
because the manual movement requires less space.To contrast
with the watch’s dark tone, Omega opts for yellow color
accents to echo the look of the Speedmaster Racing collec-
tion in 1968. The black and yellow theme extends to the
leather strap, which contains a section of yellow rubber
through the middle.
THE
ESSENTIALS
CASE
44.25mm diameter x 13.80mm full black ceramic
case, brushed and polished, sapphire crystal on
both sides, 50 meters water-resistant
MOVEMENT
Manual-wind Omega Caliber 1869 (a black-bridge
version of the Caliber 1861 powering hours,
minutes, small seconds, 21,600vph frequency,
48-hour power reserve, 12-hour chronograph, with
laser ablated and blackened bridges and main
plate representing the lunar surface
PRICE
$9,750
SUMMER 2018 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | 129