Introducing: Surprise! August Brings The Fifth MoonSwatch Mission to Moonshine Gold Of 2023
Break out your calendars because tomorrow is National Swiss Day (okay, this isn’t printed in any calendar I own, but I imagine it’s on a calendar somewhere), and you know what that means…right? Right??
The answer is, of course, a brand new Moonshine Gold Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch conceived under the full Moon of July here on planet Earth. At this point, we’ve been swept up in MoonSwatch mania for over a year. The year 2023, as I’ve written about quite extensively, has become the year of Moonshine gold for the hype-driven, Swatch boutique-only product. Since March, we have been graced with a slightly different Mission to Moonshine Gold MoonSwatch once per month.
We’ve seen plain gold plating, secret numbers, pink flourishes, floral patterns, and even strawberry print. What in the world is Swatch going for as part of National Swiss Day? The answer is lanterns, which are meant to evoke traditional Swiss lanterns adorned with national imagery via the white cross on a red background. This design is spread across the entire chronograph seconds hand.
Much like we saw with this month’s Strawberry outing, these MoonSwatch riffs on the Moonshine design will be available basically everywhere a Swatch can be purchased (85 cities and 97 Swatch stores to be exact), but only tomorrow (August 1, 2023). After which, *poof * they’re gone just like the flame in a lantern.
These watches come with a certificate attesting to the fact that they were, indeed, crafted under the full Moon in July. While this seems like a completely superfluous addition to a watch on sale for less than $300 ($285), it fits within the obscure cheekiness of Swatch’s entire strategy for marketing and selling these.
Eager buyers still line up and clear Swatch locations of the Moonshine models in short order. The fact that this watch celebrates the Swiss heritage, which is core to Swatch, makes this potentially more special than strawberry and pink moons, or at least that’s my guess.
Because, the thing is, these monthly releases are basically about one single thing: the chrono hand. That’s it. It’s the Moonshine gold hand and the accompanying certification. At this point, these are produced for the sheer purpose of crafting collectible items available for a single day and then gone.
I know plenty of folks who have full sets of MoonSwatches and continue to wait on these releases to add to that collection. While it’s hard to write more than a description of what new design adorning the chronograph hand is, I can’t help but feel that MoonSwatch still has its grip on the watch world overall. With every new one-day launch come and gone, comes the reminder that the regular production watches exist. It’s like an extended theatrical run for a film with numerous special editions and director’s cuts thrown in for good measure.
In the end, this is the same 42mm Moonwatch-inspired “Mission to the Moon” base MoonSwatch that we have seen with every release over the past four months. For those fully invested in this release structure, tomorrow should be a big day. For some that might be experiencing MoonSwatch fatigue, I don’t think we are done yet. Time will tell if the rest of the year has more excitement in store for us. See you next month.
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The HODINKEE Shop is an authorized retailer of Omega and Swatch watches. For more information on the MoonSwatch, visit the Swatch website.
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