In honor of yesterday’s 47th anniversary of the moon landing, we re-present this comprehensive hands-on review of the ceramic-cased Omega Speedmaster Lunar Dust edition, released in 2014, by our colleagues at the online magazine Monochrome Watches.
Monochromatic watches have been one of the major trends in the watchmaking industry in recent years, especially with the use of black-DLC coated cases, with sometimes questionable results. Although we’re not the biggest fans of all-black watches, we have to admit that Omega’s use of the look on the Replica Watches Speedmaster was interesting. First of all, the color scheme works great on the Dark Side of the Moon, and the concept of a ceramic watch has been pushed to the extreme: the case, crown, pushers, caseback, buckle and even the dial are made of that same material. And this interpretation, a “declination of grey,” is a nice alternative for those who want a brighter color.

The Cheap Replica Watches shares its 44.25-mm case and technical specifications with the Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon. The case is made from a solid block of white ceramic that is treated with a plasma technology. We’re not talking about a surface coating here, but a deep treatment that tints the entire ceramic: if you cut the case in half, you’ll see that the gray tone goes all the way through. What that Cheap Omega Replica means is no risk of fading colors or of seeing traces of white after the case has been scratched (something that will probably never happen anyway, because ceramic is nearly scratch-proof). On the photo below, you can see the different steps of manufacturing.

The color obtained through the process is a metallic gray, darker than stainless steel or titanium, reminding us of the color of a moon stone. The difference between the entirely black “Dark Side of the Moon” and the “Lunar Dust” is that the dial on the latter is made of a solid piece of platinum that is finely textured and is a bit iridescent. The bezel, crown, pushers, caseback and pin buckle on both models are made of ceramics. The hands and indices, with the classical Omega Replica Speedmaster Professional design, are black colored and filed with Super-LumiNova. Even the engraved tachymeter on the bezel is filled with Super-LumiNova.

This movement has not yet benefited from the new antimagnetic technologies, like those used in eight new Master Co-Axial calibers, which are able to resist to magnetic fields up to 15,000 Gauss. The Omega Speedmaster Lunar Dust comes with a matching gray alligator strap. The case is larger than the classical Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional, as it measures 44.25 mm in diameter vs. 42 mm for the older, more iconic version, but has the exact same design. On the wrist however, it wears smaller than expected, probably due to the short lugs. It also feels very light, obviously owing to the use of ceramics.

Every Tuesday on my website, www.fratellowatches.com, we tackle a topic related to Omega Speedmaster Replica Watches. This article comes to us from the “Speedy Tuesday” archives, and focuses on my opportunity to review, compare and contrast the modern Omega Speedmaster Mark II with its vintage predecessor from 1969.

After the Omega Speedmaster Professional won the race to the Moon in 1969, Omega thought it was time to come up with a watch that was perhaps a bit more up-to-date and ready for the 1970s — design-wise, that is, as the watch would still need to handle the same abuse as the Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” could. Sometime in 1969, Omega introduced the first Speedmaster Mark II, which was actually a Speedmaster Professional Mark II.The Speedmaster Mark II came with the same Lemania-based movement as the Moonwatch, Reference 145.022. This movement is Omega’s Caliber 861 and was in production from 1968 through about 1996, when it was succeeded by the Caliber 1861 movement. The Speedmaster Mark II had a barrel-shaped case that looked totally different from the asymmetrical Speedmaster Professional case. The regular Cheap Omega Replica, which was issued to NASA astronauts, was still in production, however. Throughout all the Speedmaster Mark series, the regular Speedmaster Pro remained available.

When Omega ceased production of the Speedmaster Mark II in 1972, the Mark III already had been introduced. The Speedmaster Mark III was succeeded by the Mark IV in 1973. Then there is the Mark 4.5 (which is a Mark IV with a different movement, an Omega Caliber 1045), which came on the market in 1974. The last one of the Omega Replica series is the Mark V, introduced around 1984. Confusing, right? There are even more models in between and some slight variations on the above. In any case, Omega decided to do a Speedmaster Mark II reissue in 2014, and we noticed that the watches were already in the Omega boutiques before their official introduction at Baselworld 2014. Just like the original Speedmaster Mark II watches, there are a few variations available of the Omega Replica Watches models. There is a black-dial version and a racing-dial version as well as a Speedmaster Mark II “Rio 2016” Olympic Games edition that we saw during our appointment with Omega.

As you can see on the photo of the Speedmaster Mark II Racing (below), the barrel-shaped case and bracelet are very similar to those on the original version. We will come to that comparison later on. If you take a closer look, you will notice that the dial is somewhat different from the original. The racing track is a bit different from the original, which had a red outer track and an orange Cheap Omega Replica at 12 o’clock. However, the biggest differences are perhaps in the text on the dial and the fact that the new Speedmaster Mark II 2014 model has a date aperture. Instead of a no-date, hand-wound chronograph movement – like the one that is still being used in the Speedmaster Professional 357x.xx series – Cheap Replica Watches decided to use its Caliber 3330 movement. This movement has a column-wheel mechanism, a co-axial escapement, an Si14 silicon balance spring and a power reserve of 52 hours. It has little similarity with the original movement, except for the tri-compax layout of the dial, of course.

People have asked us about the base movement for Omega Replica, as it is not one of Omega’s in-house-developed chronograph movements. We tend to think that it is based on some ETA caliber that has been tailored for exclusive use by Omega only, hence the Si14 balance spring and co-axial escapement. It is understandable that Omega decided to use this movement. It is probably not a watch for the purist – although it is an awesome timepiece – but more for someone who loves vintage watches but wants to wear something new. There also may be some collectors who just feel that they need a piece like this in their Speedmaster collection. We believe that the target audience, though, is the guy who loved seeing the vintage Omega Replica Watches on the wrist of his father or grandfather and has decided to go with a similar timepiece with all the modern technology inside. For the purists, there are still some great pre-owned vintage Speedmaster Mark II models out there that are priced attractively.