It’s been more than four years since the original MonnSwatch was released and in that time many, many have been sold. Millions in fact.

I was confused by it at the time and to this day I remain confused by what exactly it is. It has ‘Omega’ on the dial alongside ‘Speedmaster’ which would normally cost plus £7,000 to get and it is not a fake. It is a genuine collaboration between Swatch and Omega which puts a plastic Speedmaster on your wrist with exactly the same dimensions.

It is a fake, a homage or a tribute? Who knows, but it is not fake. I don’t like that it somewhat lessens the exclusivity of the real thing, but I like that it makes the Speedmaster feel more accessible to more people. For £240 you are getting the Speedmaster look at a fraction of the price which explains why it has been so popular. I’m reliably informed that the cost of producing each MoonSwatch is £9, yes that is correct, and that the rest is marketing, retail and profit to the Swatch Group.

That may sounds ridiculous, but if you knew the unit cost of most watches including Rolex, Cartier and the rest you start to see what the watch industry is built upon. Marketing, history and crazy pricing are all part of the calculation and it is true that the more expensive a watch the better it will sell. The price is a part of the allure of purchasing a luxury watch and it’s almost a feature for a lot of purchasers. They cannot boast about their £1,000 watch, but a £10,000 watch feels more special to them even if the quality of each is similar.

In the real world £1,000 is a silly amount of money to pay for a watch, but for those deep into the hobby it’s a budget model. Crazy.

I was given a 1965 MoonSwatch a couple of weeks ago and finally got the chance to wear one. I had not even seen one before and was surprised at how nice it is on the wrist. It’s a Speedmaster in terms of how it looks and wears, but the sense of plastic, or Bioceramic as Swatch choose to call it, is present throughout. It is so incredibly light that you would not even notice it on your wrist and it’s likely that the quartz movement is not the best quality, but I have to say that it has something about it that makes it feel more special than it should do.

It’s now sat in my small collection and is a fun wear for the summer, and it has the added benefit of not costing more than £7,000 which is insane for a Speedmaster.

Categories: Watch Reviews, Watches