Swatch and Omega have just unveiled the latest addition to the Bioceramic MoonSwatch collection, Mission To EarthPhase. Like the previous releases in the series, the new timepiece celebrates the great unknown, but in this case focuses on our two nearest celestial bodies, the Earth and the Moon. In doing so, it becomes a multifaceted and playful accessory that commemorates both Galileo and Neil Armstrong.
The great thing about Swatch is that they basically have access to everything in the watchmaking world—they do own everything from Omega to Hamilton to Blancpain, after all. And with the new Omega x Swatch Mission To EarthPhase, they’ve created the first watch that comes with both a Moon phase and an Earth phase, which allows purchasers to know what the Moon looks like from Earth and what the Earth looks like from the Moon.
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Like with previous editions, the moon phase is visible on the subdial at 2 o’clock, giving wearers the opportunity to keep aware of the moon’s cycles using the two-Moon disc and mask. The earth phase, meanwhile, sits at the 10 o’clock dial, allowing all to admire the movements of our planet as seen from the Moon via a colored circular design that features oceans, clouds, forests and deserts.
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What’s cool and nerdy and actually kind of poetic about the entire "I see the Moon from Earth and Earth from the Moon" concept is that the length of a moon phase and an earth phase are the same, 29.5 days, but the cycles are inversely related. That means when there’s a full moon, we have a new Earth, and when there’s a new Moon, there’s a full Earth.
The watch face was designed to look like the moon and uses digital printing to create crater-like designs on the dial, which also features a unique graining that resembles lunar dust. For the Earth design, Swatch was inspired by the blue planet as seen from the Moon, a view captured during various Apollo missions. The bezel features a black tachymeter scale and light gray markers, and also has a chronograph function.
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The Mission To EarthPhase is made from the brand’s patented Bioceramic, a mix of two-thirds ceramic and one-third biosourced materials produced from castor oil. The watch also features characteristics of the first watch to go to the Moon, the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, such as the asymmetrical case or the famous dot over ninety on the tachymeter scale. Both the Omega and Swatch logos appear on the dial and crown, while the Moon appears on the battery cover, bearing the footprint of Neil Armstrong.
Overall, the watch leans towards the big side, without being absurd, as is 42mm in diameter. It uses a quartz movement but is only water resistant up to 30 meters. The strap, meanwhile, is made from black Velcro.
