Unimatic’s Retro-Futuristic Space Watch Aims to Go Back to the Moon

NASA’s Artemis moon missions inspired Unimatic and Massena LAB to make this bold GMT.

the orange case, black bezel and black crown of a NASA watch

Published March 12, 2025

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Americans haven’t stepped foot on the Moon since the 1970s. But don’t worry, NASA is working on it.

America’s plan to put boots back on the moon is called the Artemis II mission, and it is set to launch in April 2026. It follows the Artemis I program that last visited the Moon in the 1970s.

an orange watch with a black dial floating in space — The “NASA Artemis” is orange and black based to copy the rockets used by the NASA missions.

Inspired by the daring spirit of the Artemis missions, Unimatic teamed up with horological design firm Massena LAB to create a retro-futuristic GMT watch.

The Unimatic x Massena LAB U1-SPG “NASA Artemis” is built on Unimatic’s Modello Uno with a GMT complication added courtesy of a Seiko caliber NH34A automatic movement.

Anker Nano Travel Charger — The 40mm case size keep the dial design in perfect proportion.

According to Massena LAB, the other major inspiration for this astronomical timepiece was the 1969 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, in particular the uniforms worn by the crew members.

Ready for blastoff

The “NASA Artemis” is Unimatic’s second watch inspired by the American space agency. In 2019, the Italian watchmaker released the U1-SP in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing.

Unimatic U1 SP watch — Unimatic’s first NASA watch from 2019.

This new space watch doesn’t just take visual design cues from the Artemis missions. The case, crown and bezel are made of steel covered with Cerakote, “a durable, anti-corrosive, ceramic-based coating… widely used in the aerospace agency,” according to Massena LAB.

a photo of a NASA Artemis rocket launch from the 1970s — An Artemis I rocket launch from the 1970s.

The steel case back is decorated with an engraving of the Artemis mission logo, with a small Unimatic logo above and Massena LAB logo below. Each watch is numbered out of the 99 piece collection along the outside rim.

The case back is decorated with the Artemis mission logo and features each watch’e’s number on the outside rim.

Massena LAB

The “NASA Artemis” boasts a 300m dive rating thanks to a screw-down crown and a 2.5-millimeter thick double-domed sapphire crystal. A nylon two-piece strap features a pin-buckle that is coated in the same orange Cerakote as the case.

An astronomical dial

The dial is more detailed than most Unimatic references, but the uniform font and spacing maintain a NASA-issue appearance. A 24-hour GMT track around the outside ring of the dial fittingly counts to 00 in the twelve o’clock spot.

an orange and black watch with the dial lume glowing — The dial markings are painted with “Old Radium” Super-LumiNova for a retro glow.

Every marking on the matte black dial and the numbers on the bezel are coated in “Old Radium” Super-LumiNova, which emulates the glow of luminous paints used in the 1970s.

an orange watch with a black dial that says NASA

Although this is not an official piece of equipment that NASA will be using for the Artemis II missions, it looks like it could be, or at least, a piece of leftover gear from the 1970s missions.