I'll be honest with you, I'm not the biggest fan of the MoonSwatch. While I've always appreciated the Omega Speedmaster, it's never been a watch I've longed to own. And, by extension, the MoonSwatch has never really appealed to me all that much.
The now iconic collaboration between Swatch and Omega sought to bring new fans to the brand, by offering a lower cost option which looked like the legendary Omega Speedmaster. To help cut the price, the watch swaps out the steel case and bracelet for a Bioceramic case and a NATO strap. It also utilises a quartz movement, rather than the automatic one found in the Omega.
It's been massively popular, too. Now, the brand are moving onto another classic. The Swatch x Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms was officially unveiled this week, marking the second collaboration in the series. And I really love it.
See, while this watch is broadly similar to the MoonSwatch overall, there's a lot more to love on this one. For starters, it utilises the Sistem 51 movement. That's an automatic calibre – much more in line with what you'd expect from Blancpain.
It's also water resistant to 91m. That's impressive for a watch of this construction, and should make it easy to use the watch in day-to-day life without fear of damaging the movement. It makes sense, too – the Fifty Fathoms is one of the most iconic dive watches of all time, so anything bearing the name needs to have similarly good credentials in that arena.
They've definitely gone all in on the dive aspect, too. Each of the five models is related to a different ocean, with a depiction shown on the movement. It's a neat little touch, adding some great visual stimulus to the piece.
Even the NATO strap gets in on the action. It's made from recycled fishing nets which have been removed from the ocean, which is a great initiative regardless.
Of course, it's probably not the best watch you could buy for the money. But I don't think it really needs to be. It's fun and quirky, which is exactly why this kind of watch will thrive. It's also brilliantly functional. You should have no issues using this on a daily basis, should you so wish.
I'm certain this will have a similar hype to that of the MoonSwatch. In the same fashion, it's only being made available at select Swatch stores. At the moment, there's no suggestion that they'll be made available online. That kind of scarcity drove users to queue for hours in the past, and should have a similar effect here.
