Miss Out On the MoonSwatch Mission to the Sun Solar Eclipse ? Here Are 5 Affordable Alternatives

By Lily-Rose Morris-Zumin

If you happened to miss the latest Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch, you’re not alone. The Mission to the Sun ‘Solar Eclipse’ was available for just one day, August 12, and exclusively in good old España.

Inspired by the total solar eclipse, the aptly named Mission to the Sun ‘Solar Eclipse’ is suitably sunny: a bright yellow 42mm Bioceramic case, white rubber strap and flashes of orange, white and black, right down to a New Moon design on the battery cover.

Since the MoonSwatch first landed in 2022, its near-three-dozen iterations have become something of a collector phenomenon, with certain limited editions later resurfacing online with several hundred pounds whacked onto the price tag. Miss the original drop, then, and you may find yourself paying considerably more for the privilege.

Fear not. Missing the drop doesn’t mean you have to give up on the space-age look. There are plenty of cosmic alternatives that’ll do the trick, without an Apollo 11-sized price tag.

So, you don’t have to fly to the Moon—or Spain, for that matter—to find a watch that’s out of this world.

Houston, we have an alternative. If it’s the MoonSwatch’s celestial credentials you’re after, the Q Timex NASA is the obvious place to start. The £220 watch pays homage to Apollo 17 – NASA’s final crewed mission to the Moon – with suitably spacey details including sun and moon illustrations, a luminous moon graphic and the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken by the Apollo 17 crew on its caseback. It has a 40mm stainless-steel case, black leather strap and quartz movement to bring it back down to Earth.

Perhaps astronomy was never the main attraction and you just really, really like yellow. In which case, Seiko has you covered. The Ki-Iro edition of its 5 Sports SKX Redux pairs a sunshine-yellow dial with a black silicone strap and chunky 42.5mm stainless-steel case. There’s a little more going on under the bonnet, too: unlike the quartz MoonSwatch, the Seiko houses an automatic 4R36 movement with approximately 41 hours of power reserve. All the sunshine, none of the solar eclipse.

If you want to keep things in the Swatch family, consider the MoonSwatch’s aquatic cousin. The Pacific Ocean comes from Swatch’s other collaboration with a big-name Swiss watchmaker: Blancpain. Inspired by its legendary Fifty Fathoms dive watch, this version has a yellow-orange Bioceramic case (sound familiar?) alongside an automatic movement and 9-bar water resistance. At £350, it delivers much of the colourful, collaborative fun that made the MoonSwatch such a hit, only this time we’re heading under the sea rather than into orbit.

At £790, the price is a little more Apollo 11 than we promised – but hear us out. For something a little more serious, but certainly no less yellow, there’s the Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba Auto. Its acid-yellow rubber strap brings some of the Solar Eclipse’s summer energy, while a black dial and 40mm stainless-steel case keep things from veering into highlighter territory. Under the hood, Hamilton’s automatic H-10 movement delivers an impressive 80-hour power reserve, while 100m water resistance means it can actually live up to that ‘Scuba’ name. It’s the priciest option on our list, but think of it as the MoonSwatch after a promotion: still up for a bit of fun, just with considerably more grown-up watch credentials.

Finally, why settle for a yellow case when you can have an entire yellow dial? Bulova’s Marine Star isn't exactly shy, pairing its wave-patterned face with a black rubber strap and 43mm stainless-steel case. Looks aside, there’s plenty of substance: 200 metres of water resistance, sapphire crystal and Bulova’s high-frequency Precisionist quartz movement. Better yet, it’s currently down from £479 to £299 at H.Samuel. Consider the remaining £180 your paella-and-sangria fund. You missed the Spanish MoonSwatch; you don’t have to miss Spain altogether.

This story originally appeared on Esquire.com/uk. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.

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