Omega adopted the primary Alaska prototype with a second design the next yr, cased within the typical 42-mm Moonwatch case. It retained the oversize pink aluminum outer case and white dial, whereas on this mannequin the metal instances had been bead-blasted slightly than polished to scale back dazzling reflections. The “capsule” arms additionally remained, however in black, and the basic Speedmaster’s tachymeter bezel (most helpful for monitoring pace over a identified distance; comparatively unimaginable in house) was changed by a 60-minute scale.

Despite its extra typical styling and cheaper manufacturing prices, NASA determined to not order the watch, preferring to stay with what it knew. The Alaska Project watches did finally make it into house, nonetheless, worn by Soyuz 25 mission cosmonauts between 1977 and 1981.

A white dial wouldn’t grace one other Speedmaster Moonwatch till 1997, when a commemorative restricted version was produced to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Speedmaster, and it was solely offered in Italy.

In 2008, a limited-edition Alaska Project homage was launched, and others have since adopted, together with the Silver Snoopy of 2015. In 2021, a white-dial Speedy was launched in Omega’s proprietary Canopus white gold.

But this new mannequin in chrome steel (reference 310.30.42.50.04.001) is essentially the most attainable white model to this point. Today, Omega says the colour scheme is a nod to astronauts’ house fits, which it might be—however for followers of the model it can at all times relate again to these Cold War creations.

So necessary had been the Alaska Project watches, they had been additionally immortalized in MoonSwatch kind in 2022, because the red-bioceramic-cased Mission to Mars.

There are various different touches that cement this new Speedmaster’s place because the religious successor to the Alaska Project watches: The pink Speedmaster dial textual content is a delicate nod to the design of each Alaska fashions; and the shiny lacquer used for the dial (one other small first for Omega-kind) is in its personal method paying homage to the extremely reflective capabilities of these top-secret prototypes.

Equipped with a sapphire crystal, water resistant to 50 meters, and machined to tolerances that engineers of the Sixties might solely dream of, this can be a completely fashionable Speedmaster—however like all the very best Speedmasters, it has a strong connection to the previous.