This Omega Speedmaster 50th Anniversary pays tribute to the “Silver Snoopy Award” given to Omega by NASA astronauts in 1970 for the watch brand’s contribution to space exploration, such as the Apollo 13 mission.
It’s been three years (October 5, 2020) since the Omega Speedmaster 50th Anniversary “Silver Snoopy Award” timepiece was released. Indeed, it is a special timepiece for the brand, celebrating two occasions, the anniversary and this prestigious Silver Snoopy Award. For this timepiece, Omega did something unique, unseen before on their previous Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award models.
An incredibly high honor within NASA, the Silver Snoopy Award is not just given to anyone within NASA or a private contractor, with the award being given for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success. The Silver Snoopy Award certificate states “In Appreciation” “For professionalism, dedication and outstanding support that greatly enhanced space flight safety and mission success.” The Silver Snoopy Award given to Omega was for their contribution through the Speedmaster timepieces on the Apollo 13 mission.
Omega based the Speedmaster 50th Anniversary Silver Snoopy Award on the standard 42 mm Speedmaster Moonwatch. The steel case design for this 50th Anniversary edition is the same as the one used in 2019 for the Apollo 11 anniversary timepieces. The watch comes with a coated nylon fabric strap as standard, however, it can be put on the steel 5-link bracelet.
The blue and white colours of this timepiece have been chosen to reflect the Silver Snoopy Award colours, and honestly, Omega has done a beautiful job of it. Firstly, we see the moonwatch tachymeter bezel in blue with white inscriptions, which make for a beautiful colour combination that stands out really well. This combination is then followed through onto the dial, with the hour indices, which are thinner compared to the moonwatch professional timepiece, the hour and minute hands, chronograph seconds hands, and the dial inscriptions including the Omega logo. Against a silver-coloured dial, these elements contrast really well.
What makes this timepiece noticeable from some distance, however, is the sub-counters. These counters have the inverse colour coordination compared to the dial, with the counter backgrounds now being blue and the minute tracks and Arabic numerals done in white. The 9 o’clock sub-counter displays the image of the “Silver Snoopy Award”, showing Snoopy in a scarf and astronaut helmet carrying a briefcase.
While the dial side is certainly appealing with its aesthetic design, the caseback is where the beauty of this watch lies. The caseback displays the image of Snoopy in orbit on a black and white Command and Service Module, flying across the caseback with the help of a transparent hand. A detailed view of the surface of the moon is shown up close, with an “earth disc” shown in the background that rotates around the caseback once per minute, done in sync with the movement’s constant seconds hand. The transparent hand that is connected to Snoopy’s vessel is controlled by the chronograph function on the movement. Activating the chronograph sends the vessel flying through space. The caseback also comes with the inscription “Eyes on the Stars”.
As expected, this special timepiece is quite popular, and while Omega retails it for $17,600 (AUD) (at the time of writing this article) the secondary market is sitting between $25-$30k (AUD). For this celebrity piece, we look at the handful of celebs seen wearing this Silver Snoopy Award Speedmaster.
Eytan Stibbe
MS Dhoni
Steven Zhang
Carlo Cracco
Luka Modric
