Swatch-Omega Speedmaster MoonSwatch 1965

I restrained myself on our recent trip to Europe. I didn't buy an expensive watch. I may have in the past given in to such excessive-ness but this time I didn't. I should get at least a half of a brownie point for that. Notice though that I didn't say that I didn't buy a watch, because I did. It's a bit different than your normal watch. It is a Swatch brand quartz chronograph styled after the famous Omega Speedmaster Professional "moon watch", which is a hand-wind mechanical chronograph that was the first watch worn on the moon back in 1969. Swatch calls this the Speedmaster MoonSwatch. This first photo is not of my watch but is something I grabbed from the Swatch website (I'm sure they don't mind). My phone doesn't take photos this good.

During the Europe trip, we took a day trip from Basel, Switzerland, to Biel, Switzerland, where Omega and Swatch have a museum. Omega is on the first floor and Swatch is on the second. I highly recommend going there if you're in the area. It was a 1-1/2-hour leisurely trip by train from Basel to Biel.

This photo below is Omega's watch boutique. I looked but didn't buy anything here. The museums are across the street to the left of this building.

They have a lunar module out in the main parking lot.

I took this photo because it reminded me of a photo I have of my grandfather, who was a watch repairman in the 1910s-1950s.

Below is Grandpa at his workbench, I'm guessing sometime in the 1940s. He died in the mid-1950s, a year before I was born so I never knew him. I still managed to become a "watch guy", and I have a cigar box with some of his tools in it that Dad had kept. I remember Dad telling me years ago that when he was young, he asked his dad what watch he thought was the best. Grandpa said Hamilton was the best American brand and Omega was the best international brand, so Dad had always been partial to Omega and apparently so am I.

Below are a couple photos inside the Omega museum.

Yes they have a lunar rover.

Next are a few photos taken in the Swatch museum.

This little kiosk is the drive-thru Swatch store in Biel. Yep, there's actually a window you can pull up to in your car and buy a watch, strap or battery. You can also walk in and buy stuff. This is where I bought my Swatch Speedmaster. The museums are inside the funky looking building behind this kiosk.

These next photos are of my watch. This first one shows the "fancy" cardboard box the watch comes in. It is a stark and polar opposite of the packaging that comes with higher end mechanical watches I've bought in the past.

This watch is just a fun thing to wear whenever. I don't really have to worry that I'll damage the crystal or scratch the case, although I won't wear it while doing chores. I have a Casio for that.

At this point I need to explain a few things. Swatch collaborated with Omega to design and sell (relatively) inexpensive watches that bear a striking resemblance to the Omega Speedmaster Professional. One thing that helped their cause was that The Swatch Group owns both Swatch and Omega brands, so it was an easy-to-sell collaboration. At present (January 2026), Swatch has introduced no less than 36 different "moon watch" models as of 1/2026, and this "1965" version was released in March 1, 2025.

Most all of the Swatch moon watches have the typical dial layout: hour, minute and chronograph seconds hands in the center of the dial, constant seconds hand at the 6 o'clock sub-register, chronograph 1/10-second counter at the 2 o'clock sub-register and chronograph 60-minute counter at the 10-o'clock sub-register. In my humble opinion, the 1/10-second counter is worthless, and Swatch should have made their Swatch chronographs like most normal mechanical chronographs, with a Minutes counter instead of the 1/10-second counter and then an Hours counter for the other sub-register.

However..... this Swatch 1965 model is different than all other Swatch moon watches (to my knowledge). This watch does have Minutes and Hours sub-registers that I like, although with a bit of a quirkiness thrown in. The left sub-register has the number 19 at the top and is the Hours counter, therefore it counts to 19 hours (not the normal 12 hours on a regular chronograph). The right sub-register has the number 65 at the top and is the Minutes counter, so therefore it counts to 65 minutes (not the normal 30 or 60 minutes on a regular chronograph). Those two numbers make up the year 1965, the year the original Speedmaster Professional received its flight qualification from NASA, in case you were wondering why they chose the 19 and 65. In order for the Minutes counter to count up cohesively, the Minutes hand has to do some interesting movement when the chronograph gets to 65 minutes. The Minutes hand doesn't just move one increment to 65 but it makes one revolution and ends up at the 5-minute mark (the hours hand also makes a revolution before incrementing to the next hour).

The below video shows the sub-register action, first in normal speed, then slowed down.

This next blurb is from Swatch's website and gives a fairly detailed explanation of the watch (and maybe explains the sub-register movements better than I did):

"This non-limited chronograph features a gray Bioceramic case, crown and pushers as well as a gray VELCRO® strap with contrasting light gray stitching and Bioceramic loop. It has a white dial and a black Bioceramic bezel with a white tachymeter scale.

"This timepiece features two unique counters at 10 and 2 o’clock. The first indicates the number 19 (normally 60) at the top, while the other displays the number 65 (normally 10), referencing the year 1965. These counters have been calibrated to total 19 hours (counter at 10 o’ clock) and 65 minutes (counter at 2 o’ clock), making the chronograph reading a bit different than the typical chronographs. The numbers 19, 65 and 60 (on the counter at 6 o’clock) glow blue under UV light, paying tribute to the OMEGA Speedmaster and the flight qualification it received from NASA, 60 years ago, in 1965.

"An image of the Moon can be found on the battery cover. The dials of every watch in this collection carry the OMEGA X Swatch branding, the iconic Speedmaster logo and the MoonSwatch logo. Also common to all models are the box-shaped biosourced glass construction [the crystal], the etched "S" in the center of the glass referencing the Swatch logo, the fine and sophisticated circular pattern on the dial outer ring and the recessed subdials, the sharp and smooth lugs construction and of course the unique Bioceramic feel. The hour markers, hour and minute hands and the tip of the chronograph seconds hand are coated with Grade A Super-LumiNova® for a perfect glow in the dark (green emission).

"1965 SO33M106

Case material: case, crown and pushers in gray Bioceramic

Case diameter: 42.00 mm

Case thickness: 13.25 mm

Lug-to-lug distance: 47.30 mm

Quartz movement: chronograph 

Water resistance: 3 bar

Strap: gray VELCRO® strap with contrasting light gray stitching, gray Bioceramic loop"

The below photo is of my Speedmaster Professional for comparison. This model has a sapphire glass front crystal.

Here's a photo of the spectacular movement displayed through the rear sapphire glass.