Omega has launched its anticipated Speedmaster Moonwatch with a lacquered white dial, which joins the Speedmaster Professional collection family. This is not the first white dialled Speedy Pro, but it is the first one to become part of the permanent collection. The white dial has black detailing, applied markers, and the Speedmaster name in red.

The choice of red for the name is a colour-nod, as is the white dial, to Omega’s Alaska Project models. Some of you may have been around for long enough to remember when they were released, and it will be known to Speedy fans, but the most recent direct homage relating to the Alaska Project was the limited edition (1,970 pieces) from 2008 – the Reference 311.32.42.30.04.001, which was a tribute to the Alaska Project II prototype, came in a 42mm case, had a hesalite crystal, and the large red anodised aluminium shield. It was powered by the Calibre 1861. Speedy Pro tastes were more about black dials at the time, but there have been a couple of subsequent white dial models, most notably the Silver Snoopy (2015).

So what was the Alaska Project from which all white dial Speedy Pros must be linked? Although completed in 1969, the project started in 1968, with Omega and NASA engineer Jim Regan working together to create the Alaska 1 prototype for NASA, to be used for both for lunar and general space, expeditions. White was chosen for thermal reflection reasons (the dials were zinc-oxide coated), and the titanium watch (there were four made) had the protective anodised aluminium red cover that also appeared in the homage.

History tells us that these early Alaska Project pieces never really took off for NASA, but there was a second bead-blasted stainless steel iteration of the Alaska 1 prototype in 1970 in a regular 42mm case with the red protective cover and a white dial. The tachymeter bezel was replaced by a 60-minute scale, and it had the Calibre 861 inside.

The Alaska Project continued in various forms until the late 1970s. However, that’s not to say that those white and red watches simply went into the drawer. Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin wore the first Alaska Project watches into space as they attempted to dock with the Salyut-6 space station in October 1977. In the early part of this footage, you can see the distinctive red shields on their left arms.

It wasn’t until 1997 that white would make another appearance on a Speedy Pro, in the form of limited edition marking forty years of the Speedmaster Professional. If we’re just talking about white dials on Speedys in a broad sense, some of you may also be thinking of the White Side of the Moon ceramic piece, which had the automatic Caliber 9300 co-axial chronometer.

As mentioned, this year’s new stainless steel model (Reference 310.30.42.50.04.001) is the first production white dial Speedmaster Pro. It comes in a 42mm stainless steel case and is powered by the manually-wound Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861 with a 50 hour power reserve.

The black bezel is anodised aluminium and there is the ‘Dot over Ninety’ on the tachymeter scale. With a mix of brushed and polished finishing, the bracelet has rows of five arched links per row, but you can also get it with a black perforated leather strap with red and white stitching, or a rubber strap with ‘moon surface’ patterning on the underside.

With its glossy new dial, the new Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch White has an Australian RRP of $13,450.

[Photo credit: Omega]

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