Omega decided to collaborate with Swatch on the release of their “Moonswatch” on March 26. In the watch world, a collaboration between these two completely different brands from almost opposite sides of the luxury spectrum was unheard of. Omega has a rich history of luxury automatic watches while Swatch was almost considered as only toy watches that you buy strictly for the novelty for around $200.
The hype around this release was thanks to the coverage it received from not only watch magazines, but also all lifestyle fashion brands such as Highsnobiety, Esquire, and Hypebeast to name a few. I personally thought they would be a nice watch to add to the collection, but never expected it to be this big. Three days prior to the March 26 release, videos and pictures started surfacing on social media and the internet of people standing in line just to buy them. There were even videos of people rushing into the malls around the world just to stand in line. This almost reminded me of huge sneaker releases coming out. The parallels between the two types of releases were uncanny. The lines consisted of almost exclusively just resellers hoping to make a quick buck. It’s sad to say their predictions were right.
These watches retailed at $260 USD. Almost all of them fetch for around $1500 - $2500 on reselling websites such as Ebay depending on the colorway, the Mission to Uranus being on the top end due to its similarities to the Tiffany blue colorway. This just further reinforces the resale market on these timepieces. Omega and Swatch, welcome to the World of Hype.