Breakout Speedy: Does The Apollo 8 Have The Chops To Convert a Non Speedmaster Enthusiast"

By Justin Mastine-Frost

I keep saying this, and my stance is particularly more relevant now with the return of the Omega Caliber 321, the Omega Speedmaster has never sung to me the way it has countless watch collectors around the globe. Whether we?re talking vintage Omega collectors, or fans of the modern Co-Axial variants, Speedy Tuesday releases, or others in the 112 watch Speedmaster collection (118 if you count the quartz X-33 and Z-33 models), there?s a level of lust in the Speedy community that?s occasionally hard to comprehend from the outside. Much in the same way I?ll never own a black dial Submariner or any form of Rolex Daytona for the simple fact that they?re too much of an icon piece that I feel like I see far too often, you really can?t swing a dead cat without hitting a Speedmaster these days (not a bad thing if you work for Omega!) and I prefer my watches to skew a little outside the mainstream norms.
This brings us to the ?Dark Side of The Moon? Apollo 8. Sure, it rides in a deviation of the 44.25mm co-axial Speedmaster case, but key design details give it some serious attitude compared to even its darkest of Dark Side siblings. Firstly there?s the matter of its dial–more precisely what little dial it actually has. Its outer minute track and hour indices support its otherwise free-floating subdials that seem to hover above what many will mistake for more...