admin Want more insider watch coverage? Get Box + Papers, GQ’s newsletter devoted to the watch world, sent to your inbox every Friday. Sign up here.
Daniel Craig, former 007, showed up to Omega’s Planet Omega exhibition in New York City this past week wearing a mysterious new timepiece—and promptly proceeded to break the watch internet.
As observed by Hodinkee, this was no known quantity, and a vigorous back-and-forth behind the brand’s diehard enthusiasts quickly ensued in the comments section.
What could it be? Clearly visible was that this is a Speedmaster—the Calibre 3861-housing, twisted-lug case is visible, as is the current-generation, brushed and polished bracelet, meaning that the watch is of the sapphire crystal (as opposed to Hesalite) persuasion. Besides that, the dial is white with red text below the Omega logo, and the sub-registers contain black versions of the regular production-model Speedy’s white sub-register hands.
Some thought this might be a new take on the brand’s famed “Alaska Project,” an experimental Speedy dreamt up by Omega specifically for lunar missions. That watch, which existed in several prototype forms—including one in titanium and one with a special red heat shield—featured a white dial and black or red “capsule” sub-register hands. It never made it past the prototype phase for actual space use, though subsequent commercial versions adopted the aesthetics of the original into more conventional 42mm Speedy (and MoonSwatch) form.
Anyway, back to Mr. Bond. Could this new Speedy be a fresh “Alaska Project” watch? Every timepiece of that ilk featured the “capsule” handset, so it’s doubtful that this is an Alaska. What about one of the special Snoopy editions, or a white Canopus gold edition? As mentioned by Hodinkee editor Danny Milton, the Canopus gold version features a silver dial—not white—and no red text.
How about a special Speedy in honor of Artemis II, the second step in NASA’s program to send a manned mission back to the Moon? That the watch is supposedly set to launch in 2024— which is when Artemis II will launch—is telling. Then again, it’s Artemis III that’s set to actually land on the Moon, and that won’t be until 2025 at the earliest.
There are a few other Speedies this could be, including a special “Albino” version for the Italian market from the late ’90s, but upon closer examination, this one appears much more like a Speedy take on the white-dial Seamaster Diver 300M from 2019. Maybe that’s all it is…which, would be totally cool with me.
There are so many takes on the Speedmaster that it can be overwhelming to keep them all straight—even for someone who writes about watches for a living. But one this handsome? If it’s good enough for Bond, it’s good enough for us.
