Not sure which MoonSwatch is worth your dollars? Start here.
There have been a lot of big watch launches over the last two years, from the affordable and smile-inducing to the outrageously expensive and unobtainable. None of these, however, comes close to matching the hype surrounding the launch of the Omega x Swatch Bioceramic MoonSwatch in March of 2022. Arriving at the peak of the post-pandemic watch boom and combining the street cred of a Swiss grail with a $260 price, the MoonSwatch was a sure bet from the outset.
The marketing genii at Swatch, however, managed to dial up the hype by several degrees of magnitude by making the watch available in painfully limited quantities exclusively in Swatch boutiques. If you wanted a MoonSwatch you had two options: line up overnight in front of your closest Swatch store or pay a gray market flipper to do the legwork for you. Today, however, more than two years since the MoonSwatch’s riot-inducing drop, it’s finally available for purchase on Swatch.com…sort of.
Mystique and scarcity have always been a big part of the MoonSwatch brand, and unfortunately for anyone who’s been waiting patiently for the last two years, not much has changed. True to form, the rollout is limited to just four of the 11 original Omega x Swatch Bioceramic MoonSwatch models (Mission to Earth, Mission to the Sun, Mission to Mars and Mission to the Moon) and does not include subsequent bangers like the Mission to Moonshine Gold series or the Snoopy-fied Mission to the Moonphase.
In order to actually buy one you’ll also need to create an account for Swatch Club, which gives the brand permission to email you about “Swatch Club activities and special rewards”. (Fun!) The $270 price is a slight increase over the original 2022 sticker, but a definite bargain compared to the exorbitant gray market prices seen over the last two years.
The MoonSwatch’s availability for purchase online is good news for anyone who’s been waiting to pull the trigger on a Bioceramic Mission to Mars, but it doesn’t mean the hype around this collection is ebbing. After two years and 22 models, the MoonSwatch mission appears to be far from over, with the latest Mission to the Super Blue Moonphase going on eBay for more than double its $310 retail price.
Plus, even if you do decide to buy your watch from Swatch directly, you may have to wait a little while to strap it on. Just above the button to buy a new MoonSwatch online, Swatch notes that “Due to very high demand, the shipment of this product may be delayed.” Given how long we’ve had to wait thus far, though, even Houston would consider that a pretty minor problem.
