And while the “original” Moonwatch I bet will remain unchanged until we colonize the moon, it also is one of the very few watches that deserve the label “iconic.” The good news this entails though is that the rest of the Speedmaster collections are free to change and evolve as Omega and the market dictates. This is to say that around the classic Omega Speedmaster “Moonwatch” (the one that did go to the moon and back) grows an increasing variety of other Omega Speedmaster chronographs. The closest this modern Speedy has been to the moon is when it received a cool moon phase indication recently, with a stellar blue-dial model that Ariel reviewed here. Google Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch and see what comes up first – it’s this collection and not the classic and actual Moonwatch Speedy.
Since then, they have officially called this collection a range of different and wildly confusing names, including the Speedmaster Moonwatch (yes, that’s right), although it very much belongs to that group of 99.99999% of all watches that have never ever been to the moon.
Although to me it feels like it was way longer ago, it actually happened in 2011 that Omega launched the Speedmaster Co-Axial Chronograph, a modern Speedmaster equipped with an all-new, 9300-series, two-register, automatic chronograph movement. …Instead, I will just keep it short and concentrate on its most modern iteration. Let’s see if all that, a lower price, and some orange accents suffice to make one’s heart go racing. It is not all looks and no smarts either, as it now packs the latest generation, METAS-certified, 15,000 Gauss-resistant Master Chronometer caliber 9900. Yeah, right, it’s just as wide from the front, but very noticeably slimmer in its profile. The new-for-2017 Omega Speedmaster Racing Master Chronometer reference 329.32.44.51.01.001 is the modern – and, until now, quite fat – Speedmaster Moonwatch put on a diet.