Sometimes you know something is coming, and it still manages to surprise you. Such is the case with the latest addition to the MoonSwatch line. Swatch has spent much of the last two months teasing a Snoopy-themed variation on the model, and today it's arrived. It's the Omega x Swatch Mission to the Moonphase - Full Moon.
This all-white version features a white dial, white case and white velcro strap. It has all the elements of a normal MoonSwatch until you take a closer look at the upper right sub-counter where you'll find the familiar Snoopy and Woodstock characters lying on the Moon, just as they would on Snoopy's doghouse in the Peanuts comic strip.
The image is immediately reminiscent of the 1,970-piece Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy limited edition from 2015, which featured Snoopy lying on the dial with the Apollo 13 mission text "What could you do in 14 seconds?"
The white dial and Snoopy's placement in a sub-counter are repeated in this new MoonSwatch. But with the Mission to the Moon phase, Snoopy has a much more active and functional role (at the height of his rocket around the Moon on the caseback of the 2020 edition of the Speedy Silver Snoopy).
Here we find Snoopy on the lunar phase disk in the two-hour sub-counter, which is labeled to represent the 29.5 days it takes the Moon to complete a phase. But of course, there's more to see here as the lights go out. A hidden quote from the Snoopy cartoon is revealed under UV light that reads "I can't sleep without a nightlight!" This again refers to the 2015 model which had a cartoon quote that read "Failure is not an option."
Unlike the 2015 Speedy, this watch has a white bezel insert that matches the dial, and the case... and the strap. It's all white with this one in a way that's so fun and reminds me a lot of the Speedmaster's White Side of the Moon.
Swatch has announced on its social networks that this watch will be available on March 26. What is the significance of this date, you ask? Well, it marks exactly two years to the day since the launch of the first MoonSwatch in 2022.
And while 2023 turned out to be the year of the Moonshine Gold, I think we're all very happy to see something fresh in the MoonSwatch line in terms of color, integration of the Snoopy character and the new moon phase complication. To our knowledge, there has been a moon-phase Swatch chrono in the past, but none has been executed in this way, without a date, and with the moon phase appearing where it does on the dial.
The new Omega x Swatch Mission to the Moonphase - Full Moon will be available, as ever, exclusively in Swatch boutiques from March 26 and will cost 315€ in France.