Swatch Mission to the Moonphase - New Moon

Like most “nerds” I have a fascination with space. Mine has never been anything more than a casual interest but it’s certainly been one that I find inspiring and motivating. I’m not a “watch person” even though i’ve worn a watch pretty much everyday since 1998 after my parents spoiled me with my first timepiece that was more than what one got out of a Christmas Cracker. As a funny aside, in my first week of boarding school, one of the wealthier boys in the school came up to me and offered me a wad of cash to buy my watch! It was more cash than i’d ever seen but luckily I felt it wasn’t the right thing to do so politely declined…that cash would have been able to but A LOT of pies and cokes at the tuck shop!

It was only in about 2024 that I heard about the Swatch collaboration with Omega and the resulting Moonswatch. I think it may have even been after watching the movie Apollo 13 and the subsequent research rabbit hole that I went down to explore some questions I had. The Swatch website is quite prohibitive about how you can buy one - in person only and they “only sell one Moonswatch per store a day” - something like that. It immediately put me off but the seed was firmly planted.

The other complication is that I already wear a modern Garmin Enduro 3 watch which is a necessity for my Triathlon addiction and nice-to-have features like checking phone messages, flashlight, alarm and tap to pay. I love my Garmin so it made little sense to leave it in a drawer and don a plastic gimmicky moon watch.

Notwithstanding a boatload of practical and logical reasons why I shouldn’t get a Moonswatch, I found myself asking my family for money for my 2025 Birthday that I could put toward buying one. I still didn’t buy one though and sadly, the birthday cash probably ended up going towards petrol for my car or groceries.

The Lumineers were a great excuse to find myself on a 2 night mini-holiday in Cape Town in February 2026. With the holiday feels and on a sublime weather day in Cape Town, a stroll through the V&A Waterfront saw me standing face to face with the Swatch store. SWATCH wasn’t on my bingo card for this trip but not the possibility of landing my 2 year mission to buy a Moonswatch had stirred up enough excitement to surpress the devil and his advocators.

Seizing the moment, I strode in and had to decide which Moonswatch was going to be mine. I definitely wanted the more “OG” classic that was similar to the Speedmaster but they had just released the two Moonphase Full Moon (in white) and New Moon (in black) watches. The kicker…both the Full Moon and New Moon prominently feature Snoopy…take my money!!!

So…how has it been?! Well…a bit disappointing even though I still love the watch. For the first two weeks I still wore my Garmin on my usual left wrist and then put the Moonswatch on my right wrist when I left for work. I was thick in the middle of Ironman training so was quite dependent on the Garmin, and the novelty of my little moon watch started to wear off and it found a place on my desk neatly displayed under my computer monitor. Post Ironman, I have worn it exclusively but am embarrassed to admit that I find it quite difficult to tell the time! And i’ve become really used to the added features of the modern Garmin.

I do not regret my decision for a second but the mission could arguably be documented as a failure. Maybe things will change…