Finally! The Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch Is Now Available Online
Great news for those of us averse to braving crowds or waiting in lines: Some two years after the original launch, Swatch has fulfilled the promise of making its now-beloved MoonSwatch available for purchase on the great wide web (better late than never, as they say.) Now, to be clear, not all of the Missions are available online, and availability is limited to the United States and China. So, if you’re on the hunt for the full set, you can still find joy in the hunt for a complete collection via brick-and-mortar retail, but if you want one of “The Classic Four”: Mission on Earth, Mission to the Moon, Mission to the Sun, or Mission to Mars – you can easily have your pick at the whim of a double click. No more eBay fees or Facebook Marketplace alerts for you.
It’s about time, honestly. But, given the roaring success of the initial launch in 2022, it does make sense why Swatch would have extended its run of in-person sales and the conveyor belt of limited variants. At first, I was disappointed when the initial promise of online availability turned out not to be a reality.
Overwhelming hype and “inability to meet” production kept the once-promised MoonSwatch for the people just out of reach. When you tap into this kind of demand, and let’s face it, hype, as a business it’s in your best interest to ride that wave until you hit the shore. That being said, there’s certainly a risk of wearing out your potential consumers with a hard-to-get piece that was never meant to be so.
The continued success of the MoonSwatch is hard to deny, and there was/is clearly an appetite for exclusivity, no matter the price point. But, the perpetual releases of new colors and slight variations that are impossible to get were beginning to get old, frankly. This is the course correction that I think was needed to make for a successful mission: have a core offering that is always available while leaving space for limited variants that clearly have a huge demand for collectibility. Swatch has managed to spark this collectibility in a part of the market that wasn’t being spoken to, and it feels unwise to end that conversation while they are still moving watches, no?
The Classic Four are available now on Swatch’s website. While you may not have to wait in line, you still need to create an account (and be located in either the U.S. or China).
Hodinkee