From time to time, Moonwatch fans (and NASA enthusiasts) have speculated what a Speedmaster made specifically for a mission to Mars might look like. Omega has really invited this speculation onto itself, trading so heavily in the spacefaring history of the Speedmaster. As our thoughts shift increasingly to Mars, it?s only natural to wonder what watch those first visitors to the red planet might have strapped to their wrist. Omega has given us hints as to what that watch might look like with recent additions to the quartz Speedmaster stable like those in the X-33 and Z-33 family, but now they?ve shown us something much more Mars specific with the all new X-33 Marstimer. 

To be clear, this new X-33 isn?t associated with any particular Mars mission (if only such a mission existed?) but it has been made in partnership with the European Space Agency, and bears their seal on the caseback. In addition to all of the functionality available on prior versions of the X-33, like Mission Elapsed Time, Phase Elapsed Time, and a suite of alarms along with a perpetual calendar, the Marstimer offers, well, a Mars timer. The big new technical feature of this watch is a so-called MTC function, which Omega tells us tracks Mars? ?sol? date and time at the prime meridian, accounting for the Martian day being 39 minutes longer than an Earth day. 
Thinking through any potential mission to Mars in the future, it doesn?t take long to realize the importance of reconciling this fund...