A Watch to Wax Lyrical about: Introducing the Swatch x Omega Mission to the Super Blue Moonphase

Intrabrand collaboration in the watch industry refers to partnerships or joint efforts within a single brand or between sub-brands of a larger parent company to create unique, innovative or limited-edition timepieces. This strategy can leverage the strengths, expertise, and unique characteristics of different divisions within the same brand to create distinctive products that appeal to a diverse customer base. This also allows watch brands to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation, providing wearers with timepieces that stand out in the market. The Swatch x Omega intrabrand collaboration offers all these and more.

In March this year, Swatch x Omega released their all-white iteration, a tribute to Omega's renowned Snoopy models. The Swatch Group-owned timepiece makers have now released a new variation, singing paeans to the full blue moon, expected on August 19, regarded as the first supermoon of the year: Mission to the Super Blue Moonphase (Ref. SO33N700). 

So, while a supermoon is closer to Earth, a "blue moon" is witnessed when we see the full moon twice in a month. The lunar cycle lasts 29.5 days, which is slightly less than the average length of a calendar month. Eventually, the gap leads to a full moon at the beginning of a month, leaving enough days for another full cycle, resulting in a second full moon in the same month. In other words, a full moon on the first or second of the month is likely to be followed by a full moon on the 30th or 31st day. This occurs every two to three years.

As mentioned earlier, the just-launched watch from the Bioceramic MoonSwatch Collection spotlights the full blue moon we expect to see on August 19. This 42 mm blue watch gets a bioceramic case, crown at 3 o’clock, and two chronograph pushers at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock. The model also gets sharp and smooth lugs like other models. While the white novelty had a tachymeter scale, this new blue moonphase watch gets a blue bioceramic bezel featuring a pulsometer scale with white markers. The glass is box-shaped, made from biosourced material and treated with an anti-scratch coating, featuring an etched “S” in the central second hand referencing the Swatch logo. This new model has various characteristic features of Omega’s legendary Speedmaster Moonwatch, the first watch to land on the moon ― take the asymmetrical case and the distinctive Speedmaster subdials.

The new panda blue and silver-opaline dialled watch gets the OMEGA X Swatch logo at 12 o’clock, the Speedmaster one at 8:30, and the MoonSwatch logo at 3:30. This model also gets bar-shaped hour markers that glow blue, courtesy of Grade A Super-LumiNova®. At 10 o’clock rests a minute counter, while there is a one-hour counter at 6 o’clock. At 2 o’ clock, there are two oversized blue moons with silver-opaline masks resting against a dark blue moon phase disc, which rotates in the subdial.

Under UV light (blue emission), a hidden detail is revealed on the moonphase mask and disc. The chronograph has various shades of blue, ranging from light to dark. The blue hour, minute hands and the tip of the chronograph seconds hand have Grade A Super-LumiNova® with blue emission. Powering the watch is a quartz movement. The blue Bioceramic caseback, which sports a moonphase in different shades of blue, displays a mission statement.

Finishing the watch is a blue VELCRO® strap with contrasting light blue top stitching and an attachment loop in blue Bioceramic. The Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch Mission to the Super Blue Moonphase variant is only available for purchase between August 1 and August 19, 2024, with the rush beginning at 5 p.m. at select Swatch stores and pop-up stores across the globe. As with the whole Bioceramic MoonSwatch Collection, only one watch can be purchased per person per day and per selected sales location.