OMEGA Speedmaster’s “Dark Side of the Moon”
With a robust automatic movement, military-grade nylon strap and all-ceramic case body, the Dark Side of the Moon is OMEGA’s modern interpretation of one of their most iconic styles. It updates a classic design with the most cutting-edge production process. The refined look honors the Speedy’s history while acknowledging the future of watchmaking.
OMEGA Speedmaster History and Production Methods
The Dark Side of the Moon Speedmaster debuted in 2012-2013. Almost immediately upon its release, it began turning heads because of its modern styling. The new style was unusual in a product line that has remained largely unchanged for half a century. The most notable update was its ceramic body.
For hundreds of years, clocks of all kinds have been made of metal, but recent advances in production have allowed the creation of ceramic watches. The ceramic used in watchmaking is zirconium oxide, which offers important benefits to manufacturers able to work with it. It is lightweight compared with metal, extremely scratch-resistant and can be finished in a lot of different ways depending on the intended application. The downside is that its extreme hardness makes it difficult to work with and expensive to manufacture.
To produce a ceramic watch, powdered zirconium oxide is formed in a mold under high pressure until it fuses into the desired shape. Then it is heat treated, milled and polished. The process requires special tools. OMEGA’s heat treatment, for instance, uses a plasma furnace to achieve temperatures of 20,000oC.
Working with ceramic is difficult and expensive. Most ceramic watch manufacturers use a mix of materials: perhaps ceramic for the body but pushers, hands and dial in metal. The dial, especially, is difficult to mill to a flat, even thickness when made of ceramic. And that’s what sets OMEGA’s Dark Side of the Moon in a class nearly by itself. Just about every part of the watch besides the strap and caliber is made of ceramic, including the dial, crown, pushers, even the buckle.
Despite the name, the Dark Side of the Moon is not a “Moonwatch” in the usual sense. It doesn’t use the same caliber as the Professional. It has a bigger body and a different dial layout. But it does honor the pioneering spirit of the Apollo missions in its forward-thinking approach and the advanced materials used to produce it.
OMEGA Speedmaster Design and Features
Since its debut, the Dark Side of the Moon has proven extremely popular with OMEGA fans and has spawned a number of variant styles. It has practically become a product line unto itself. Most are variations on color. There are now “White Side of the Moon” and “Gray Side of the Moon” variants in addition to many different interpretations of a black colorway. Its largely monochrome aesthetic is important, though. With a case more than 44mm, a simple, single-color approach helps keep the watch from looking too bulky or becoming visually distracting.
Most Dark Side of the Moon models employs a nylon fabric strap. This rugged material more often associated with military gear than luxury products adds to the modern sensibility. Because of the hard-wearing nylon’s rough texture, the inside of the band is covered with a thin strip of leather for comfort. The last modern feature defining the Dark Side of the Moon as a thoroughly modern line is OMEGA’s Automatic Caliber 9300 with a coaxial chronometer, date complication and a 60-hour runtime when left unworn. This caliber is found in most of the models except for certain special and anniversary editions.
OMEGA Speedmaster Buyer’s Perspective
As described above, the Dark Side of the Moon contains a number of largely monochrome colorways:
- “Black Black” — a truly monochrome colorway with only slight variations in shades of black to make the watch readable
- “Vintage Black” — black body and dial with a brown-shaded Super-LumiNova on the dial, subdial and bezel components, and brown leather strap to further the vintage feel
- “White Side of the Moon” — made of white ceramic with a white leather strap
The most interesting models for collectors, though, may be the limited and special editions. These vary more strongly from the monochrome aesthetic or introduce more unusual design cues. The “Meteorite” variant, for example, uses a gray ceramic for most of the components. But the dial uses a real piece of meteorite, acid etched with a pattern unique to each individual watch.
Another especially noteworthy example is the Apollo 8 Anniversary edition. It was released in 2018 on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission’s successful completion of a lunar orbit by a crewed spacecraft. This was also the first time human beings ever saw the far side of the moon. This edition is distinguishable by its bright yellow accents (on the dial, bezel and even the contrast stitching on the strap) and its exquisite, partially skeletonized dial. This dial reveals a special-edition mechanism that has been laser ablated to show a 3D representation of the moon’s surface. The dial side shows the surface of the moon’s near side. The transparent caseback reveals the underside, decorated to match the surface of the moon’s far side. This special movement is also noteworthy because it is a variant of the manual Caliber 1861 used in the Moonwatch Professional. That will appeal to collectors who are also fans of the Moonwatch or a more hands-on approach in general.
The Dark Side of the Moon in all its variants is an extraordinary piece of engineering that showcases some of the best new technologies available to watch manufacturers. Prices reflect the advanced, cost- and labor-intensive production processes required to make an all-ceramic watch. Expect to pay more for a Dark Side of the Moon than for a Moonwatch Professional. Prices for secondhand models typically start around $6,300 and rise based on the watch’s condition and exact model/specifications.