HANDS-ON: Once in a Blue Side of the Moon – a closer look at the boldest Omega Speedmaster yet
Omega’s ceramic exploration of the Moonwatch has been underway for some time now, starting with the popular Dark Side of the Moon back in 2013. Since then, we’ve seen a bevy of monochromatic models, with numerous blacks on offer, as well as grey and white. Last year, Omega flipped the program a little, adding colour – and additional complication – to the equation with the Speedmaster Co-Axial Master Chronometer Moonphase Chronograph … AKA the ‘Blue Side of the Moon’. The first Moonphase version of the Speedmaster, powered by the calibre 9904, was released in 2016, and we remarked at the time that it was a logical and clever take on the famous Moonwatch, and, a few years on, I still stand by that statement. The blue ceramic, though, adds a whole new element to this watch. Previous monochrome ceramic iterations of the Speedmaster managed to somewhat slip under the radar (well, except for the white version). That is not an option for this 44.25mm blue number. While in certain light it does look quite dark, almost navy; when the light hits it, the watch becomes iridescent. It’s worth pointing out that all the details — pushers, crown and caseback — are ceramic.…
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Well, here we are. The ‘sky’s-the-limit’/‘mortgage-the-house’ level of watch. And if you’re going to drop that sort of coin on something that (you’d hope) tells the time, SIHH is the place to do it. There were some truly exceptional offerings at the top end of the table and – just quietly – we definitely picked the best six (Justin and Sandra were greedy and went with two each). Again, you’ll have to watch to see just what we went with, but I suspect it’s absolutely zero surprise that the A. Lange & Söhne Triple Split made the cut. Andrew chose it, summing it up nicely: “It’s just triple the amazing.” He’s not wrong. Thanks for watching our SIHH 2018 panel series, and tell us what you think in the YouTube comments.
The most incredible clock in the world is being built, not in Switzerland or Germany but in the middle of a mountain in Texas. It’s called the 10,000 Year Clock, and the man making sure it gets built is none other than Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who has already spent US $42 million on the project. I’ve been mildly obsessed with the Clock since I first heard about it around 2010 (it was conceived in 1989, and work started on it 30-odd years ago, and a scale model was finished on New Year’s Eve in 1999). And while it might seem like slow going, consider the fact that this clock is designed to run — without the need for maintenance — for 10 millennia. To find out more about the clock, I’d recommend this excellent Wired story. The work is very much underway, as Jeff Bezos has just posted a video of the full-scale prototype being installed in the hollowed-out mountain. BTW, Bezos is also intending to use this hollow mountain as a spaceport for Blue Origin (as you do). This is all epic and impressive, but you may be asking yourself – Why? Well, the Clock is a project of the…