Are people still interested in the MoonSwatch? It’s been over two years since the original collection dropped and since then the collection has seen numerous additions to become quite a large collection, although many of them have been limited editions. In that time every single launch has proved controversial and divisive but one thing has always been true, just as much as some people hate it, others love it. Now Swatch has expanded the range yet again with the new Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch Mission to Earthphase.
The phrase Earthphase is not a common one in watchmaking or life in general because it’s a phenomenon that only a handful of people have ever witnessed. Those people being the astronauts who have stood on the moon and looked back at the Earth, which just like the moon has phases of being hidden in solar shadow. This is the first time that this phenomenon has been represented on a wristwatch alongside a moonphase.
Mechanically the Earthphase and Moonphase are virtually identical with some notable exceptions. Both take exactly the same period of 29.5 days to complete a cycle but importantly those cycles are inverse. While there’s a full moon the Earth is totally hidden (technically called a new Earth) and while there’s a new moon, there’s a full Earth. It really emphasises the interplay between the two celestial bodies in relation to their position together with respects to the sun.
Additionally, because of their inverse movements, the moonphase rotates clockwise and the earthphase rotates anti-clockwise. On top of that, the image of the Earth is fixed in position and it’s the shadow that rotates while on the moonphase, it’s the moon that moves into the shadow. It makes for a very unusual pair of subdial. But that makes sense because it’s never been done before. One thing to note is that because they replace the normal chronograph subdial, the watch is only equipped with a central 60-second chronograph hand so I hope you don’t plan to time anything longer than one minute.
In terms of aesthetics, the MoonSwatch Mission to Earthphase has a grey dial with a lunar dust, grainy texture that really comes into its own around the bottom of the Earthphase complication where it has been digitally painted to look like the surface of the moon. That’s been paired with black accents and a black tachymeter bezel, which reminds me of the original MoonSwatch Mission to Mercury. The most colourful aspect is the image of Earth, which has been lovingly created in striking shades of blue, green and yellow to show the world’s oceans, forests and deserts. It is also made from UV paint meaning it glows under UV light.
The MoonSwatch Earthphase is powered by a quartz movement housed inside a 42mm bioceramic case. It’s priced at a similar level to the other MoonSwatches at £288 and is available in the UK from Swatch stores in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London’s Covent Garden and Oxford Street boutiques. As always with the MoonSwatch it’s strictly one watch per day, per boutique.
Price and Specs:
More details at Swatch.
