A New MoonSwatch Has Landed—But You Have to Travel to Spain to Get It

If you happen to be in Spain this August—and you also happen to be a watch collector—boy, do we have fortuitous news for you: Swatch and Omega are dropping a brand-new MoonSwatch tomorrow, August 12th, and it’ll only be available for a single day. In Spain.That’s right: if you’re not browsing a Swatch store in Bilbao, Ibiza and Valencia, logged in through the brand’s Spanish website, or experiencing the Rolling Planet mobile boutique that will be traveling throughout León, then good luck getting the sunny new Mission to the Sun “Solar Eclipse” watch at retail.Like most MoonSwatch executions, the new Mission to the Sun “Solar Eclipse” honors a celestial body or event. This new special release takes inspiration from the upcoming total solar eclipse, when the Moon briefly blocks out the Sun. While we won’t get to enjoy this phenomenon from North America, those in northern and central Spain will be particularly well served, hence the new MoonSwatch’s Spanish drop.The MoonSwatch has solidified itself as a titan of the affordable watch category, but it’s also now known for its elaborate release models. For a chance to nab the previous iteration, customers were forced to fill out an Electronic Swatch Timepiece Application (ESTA). The “Cold Moon” that debuted last winter was only available in stores globally on days it snowed in Switzerland.Housed in a yellow 42mm Bioceramic case, it features a special black upper pusher that references the look of a solar eclipse, plus a contrasting white bezel insert with an orange “dot-over-90” tachymeter scale; white chronograph subdials; matching orange printing and an orange handset; and white luminous indices. Flip the watch over, and you’ll notice a battery cover with a New Moon design that references the moonphase during which a solar eclipse takes place. Finally, the watch is finished with a white rubber strap with yellow printing and a Velcro closure, making it perfect for summertime wear. Fitted with a battery-powered quartz movement, it’s the same no-frills, no-fuss tool watch that collectors have been going crazy for since the model’s debut in March 2022.Featuring nearly three-dozen different variations, the MoonSwatch helped kick off a new phase of contemporary watch collecting—namely, the commoditization of the wristwatch. To be more precise, we might say that Swatch has returned us to the mid-1980s, when its cheap, colorful quartz watches first gave access to the horological world to a wider, younger swath of the population. Unlike 40 years ago, however, the presence of a vast online secondary market has helped turn certain limited-edition versions of the MoonSwatch into grails. While most versions retail for just a few-hundred dollars, sites such as eBay or Chrono24 easily connect a buyer ready to pay significantly more to a seller located halfway around the world.For those willing to brave wildfires and surging fuel prices—not to mention hordes of passionate MoonSwatch fans—the Mission to the Sun “Solar Eclipse” will be available exclusively on Wednesday, August 12th, in Spain.