The November full moon was last night, which means there’s another new MoonSwatch being launched! I’ve gotten to the point now where I’m actually keeping up to date with the full moon, because I know a new MoonSwatch is about to follow… and this month’s new limited edition watch is in celebration of the Beaver Moon.
This year, the OMEGA x Swatch collaboration has given us a new watch every month. While the majority of the design is similar each time, meaning the movement, case and chronographs are identical, the seconds hand has a different style, ranging from Swiss lanterns to a lollipop accent in tribute to the 1961 Omega Seamaster.
The latest MoonSwatch for November’s full moon pays tribute to the Beaver Moon, the time of year where beavers are most active and use the light of the moon to build dams before they hibernate. As announced on the Swatch Instagram, “this Mission to the Moon has a seconds hand made of OMEGA’s Moonshine Gold inspired by the Beaver Moon and a secret detail that glows in the dark.”
Like most of the other special edition timepieces, this month’s MoonSwatch is based on the Mission to the Moon style. The main features include a quartz movement, three chronographs on the watch face and a matte black dial. The case itself measures 42mm in ceramic black and grey with moon and space imagery etched into the case back. The watch is completed with OMEGA and Swatch logos and a black velcro strap.
What makes this new watch different is its seconds hand which has been directed with imagery of a beaver… who wouldn’t want that, right?! At the end of the second hand, there’s a little detail of a beaver’s mouth and teeth. It’s subtle and while you can see the design, it’s better illuminated when the markers, minute, hour and seconds hand glow in the dark.
Further up the seconds hand, there’s an intricate design that makes the hand look like it's been chewed towards the base… like a beaver does to wood. While this accent doesn’t light up when it gets dark, it’s still a fun nod to the Beaver Moon and is subtle enough that it doesn’t take away from the rest of the watch design.
As the year draws to a close, this is the second to last full moon of 2023. So, does this mean this new MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon is the second to last watch we’ll see from the OMEGA and Swatch collaboration this year?
As I’ve been following this year’s MoonSwatch launches closely, I can hazard a guess that this could be the case. December's full moon is called the Cold Moon which poses questions about the limited edition design that we could see.
While most of the special edition timepieces have had the Mission to the Moon design, the Blue Moon watch from August was a relaunch of the rare Mission to Neptune. Could the Cold Moon stick to the trend where we see a different seconds hand design or could the brands decide to give the Mission to Neptune a fun redesign for the end of the year?
What has me more curious is whether the brand will continue to launch new watches in the new year. I wouldn’t be surprised if the collaboration decided to try different seconds hand designs for the full moons in 2024, or maybe they’ll stick to the watches they’ve already put out and release new limited numbers. Who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see!
