The MoonSwatch Is About to Be Exciting Again

Editor’s Note: The MoonSwatch “Mission to the Moonphase” featuring Snoopy has now been unveiled. Head here to see the watch and read all about it.

When the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch debuted in March of 2022, it was a bona fide sensation. For the first time maybe ever, a traditional watch — i.e., not the Apple Watch — “broke the internet.” The MoonSwatch was a crossover hit, entering the larger pop culture zeitgeist like no other watch and exciting the WIS community and normies in equal amounts.

Since that initial launch, the MoonSwatch has continued to be a strong seller for Swatch. Despite the MoonSwatch only being available in brick-and-mortar Swatch stores, two million of them were sold in 2023, enough to propel Swatch from the 22nd best-selling Swiss watch brand to the 13th in a single year.

But even as people continue to purchase MoonSwatches, the excitement has decidedly faded. Endless “Moonshine Gold” editions, where different seconds hands made from Omega’s proprietary alloy was placed on the watches, looked like lazy cash grabs to the average watch enthusiast. Where was the spirit of fun and innovation that made the MoonSwatch such a hit to begin with? Well, it looks like those days are here again, as a Snoopy MoonSwatch is almost certainly on the way.

A Snoopy MoonSwatch: The Evidence

Swatch has been seemingly teasing a Snoopy x MoonSwatch collab on its Instagram account since January via three posts that each offer a clue as to what we’re getting. So, journey down the rabbit hole with me and let’s see what we can decipher.

January 24

The first clue we got regarding a Snoopy MoonSwatch came two months ago, when Swatch released the above video to its Instagram. It depicts Snoopy on the surface of the moon, sitting on a case of MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold editions (those cases would soon be auctioned off), as he listens and then howls at a second rising moon. The combination of the cartoon beagle, the moon and MoonSwatches in a single post basically told us that a Snoopy MoonSwatch was incoming.

February 18

About a month later, we got our next teaser, and it’s a bit more cryptic than the first. There is no moon or MoonSwatch in sight. Instead, Snoopy walks carrying a birthday cake with two candles. That’s it. But dig a little deeper, and we can find some hidden meaning. On March 26, 2024, the MoonSwatch will turn two years old. Snoopy’s cake has two candles, which to my brain suggests that his MoonSwatch will be released on the second anniversary of the original.

The candles are also different colors — one white, one black — which also suggests to me that there could be two versions of the Snoopy MoonSwatch, one in each color (corresponding to the current white and black options for the standard Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch).

March 19

Finally, we got the latest and most explicit teaser last night. In it, we see a genuine moonphase display depicting Snoopy sitting on the moon. Under a black light, we then see hidden lume in the form of stars and the message “I can’t sleep without a night light!”.

This tells us that at least one Snoopy MoonSwatch (if there are more than one) will feature a moonphase display. This would be a first for the MoonSwatch line, and while Omega Speedmasters with moonphase displays do exist, there has never been an Omega Speedmaster “Silver Snoopy Award” edition featuring the complication.

Why Snoopy?

Unless you’re deeply enmeshed in watch nerd culture, you may be wondering what the big deal is about a Peanuts character appearing on a watch. After all, Snoopy shows up on lots of watches — including some from Swatch — so what’s the significance of him appearing on a MoonSwatch?

It all comes down to the aforementioned “Silver Snoopy Award” editions of the Omega Speedmaster. The Silver Snoopy Award is an award given out by NASA since 1968 to both astronauts and contractors who have had outstanding contributions to mission success. Snoopy was chosen as the symbol for the award to make it more popular and visible with the general public.

Omega

Omega, of course, has played a major role in a number of NASA missions, most notably the first moon landing in 1969 and the Apollo 13 disaster in 1970, where a Speedmaster was used to time critical engine burns. For those efforts, Omega was awarded a coveted Silver Snoopy award in 1970.

The brand then honored the achievement with the first “Silver Snoopy Award” edition of the Speedmaster in 2003, followed by a second version in 2015. The third and current version was released in 2020, and all rank among the most in-demand and highly valued Omega watches. (The current edition has a lengthy waiting list and trades for nearly double its $10,600 SRP on the secondary market.) So given the difficulty and cost associated with obtaining a real Snoopy Speedy, something tells me the MoonSwatch version is going to be insanely popular.

When Snoopy?

Our best guess is that the Snoopy MoonSwatch(es) will be released on March 26, coinciding with the second anniversary of the original MoonSwatch release. This was seemingly confirmed in a recent full-page ad in British newspaper The Guardian, which depicted a cartoonish dog footprint on the moon and showed only the text “26.3.2024.”

Where Snoopy?

As for where you’ll be able to purchase a Snoopy MoonSwatch, that remains to be seen. I think there is zero chance the watches will be sold online, meaning you’ll have to queue up outside a Swatch store to have any chance of buying one at retail. But these MoonSwatch rollouts tend to be staggered, only releasing in select stores to start. As soon as we hear where those stores are, we’ll let you know.

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