Fresh from the Showcase here at SwissWatchExpo and these next watches we're discussing have
everything space travel, chronographs limited edition collector's watches, workplace safety.
It's got everything. It's the Silver Snoopy Award Speedmaster and we're talking about it right now.
Now Speedmaster heads and collectors out there are probably very familiar with these
watches or at least these line of watches, but for the layman or for someone who's not
too into their Speedmaster history, we won't blame you for that. But the silver Snoopy
Award watches are some of the most collectible and desirable Speedmasters out there. And we've
actually got a couple of fantastic additions here. We actually have the first one and the
most recent one in stock right now. And I'm super excited to show you guys now going back a little
further. I know I was a little confused. What the heck does Snoopy have to do with Speedmasters or
NASA? What did the Peanut comics have to do with any of that at all? Well, they were a very popular
comic strip in the fifties and sixties around the time that the NASA program was getting started.
And for reasons that I was not able to determine, they decided to make the adorable beagle from
the Peanuts comic strip Snoopy, the official safety mascot of NASA for
their Apollo missions. So leading up to the moon landing and all of the training going into that,
everything regarding NASA workplace safety was sort of represented by the character Snoopy.
And there's a ton of pictures out there of these astronauts high-five and cute little Snoopy plush
dolls, as they're getting ready to go into training modules and all of that. It looks
adorable and I hope it brings some comfort to those astronauts who are running the risk of
their corpses getting hurled into a flaming ball of the cold expansive
space. So I really hope that cute beagle made those guys feel a lot more comfortable
while they were preparing to do that. But as such, it's become a lot of literature
and a lot of promotional stuff about NASA around that time contained the Snoopy character.
And this was of course done with Charles Schultz, the creator's consent. He was a big
fan of the program and was super flattered to have his character involved in that.
And so years and years down the road, I don't know how much anyone outside of the most diehard
NASA heads out there really know about the relation between Snoopy and the Apollo program.
But of course, Omega had to get on the action with their Moonwatch commemorating NASA's history and
Omega's shared history with NASA itself in these silver Snoopy watches and the silver Snoopy Award
is actually a word that I believe NASA is still giving out for people who exhibit exemplary
workplace safety in practice. So it's apparently a very prestigious award to receive amongst
NASA employees. And of course they made some fantastic collectible watches to go along with it.
So the first one we have was actually introduced in 2003, it is a reference 357851,
and this is the original, the first silver Snoopy Award Speedmaster. It's a pretty straightforward
Speedmaster. 42 millimeter case. It has a light crystal, 1861 movement. They definitely didn't
reinvent the wheel with this, but this was the first time really bringing that sort
of silver Snoopy Award from NASA to their Speedmaster line. This was the first time
that was done. So pretty straight forward, same sort of dial layout. I'm not going to go into
what a Speedmaster looks like, because I'm sure all of you are pretty familiar at this point,
but of course, the seconds hand here at three o'clock, we do actually have the in blue,
the actual Snoopy character in a space suit with the helmet and everything with the official logo
of the sort of silver Snoopy Award, which is eyes to the stars written across the top of it.
And otherwise this is a pretty straightforward steel example of the Speedmaster with the
exception of that sub dial and this beautiful case back, which basically has the exact same thing,
but in a much larger and more detailed, beautiful blue color. This is in an absolute
mint condition watch. Not completely unworn, but as it's a collector's edition watch,
you can tell the original owner basically kept this in the closet to admire for most of the
time. And it is in pristine condition. And you do see the beautiful contrast between the light blue,
the white of Snoopy, the more Royal blue. And of course the stars on the background
there. This of course probably because not many people were familiar with the
relationship between Snoopy and NASA, believe it or not, not a big hit when it came out,
this watch was apparently very hard for Omega to move off the shelves, but like
2001 A Space Odyssey, or I don't know, the Velvet Undergrounds' first album with the years go by.
This became a very desirable cult classic. And now it is one of the most collectible
Speedmasters. Goes for a ton of money compared to what it was originally worth. And what can I
say? People just really didn't appreciate it when it came out the same cannot be said for the next
one. At this point, Speedmaster collectors, know all about the silver Snoopy Award. Now all about,
if you put Snoopy on a watch, it is going to be a valuable piece. And this is one where
Omega definitely knows that. This is the 50th anniversary, silver Snoopy edition. And this
is the main reason I'm doing this video is one of the most incredible pieces I've seen. It is
so much fun and I am already kind of spoiling it for you. I should just talk about the watch this.
The first thing you'll notice it is a blue Panda dial, which is something I love.
Omega has done on a few Speedmaster versions before it looks beautiful every single time.
This one, probably the best of them all. You're also going to notice a lot more changes between a
regular Speedmaster in this. This is definitely a limited edition watch. You do have some of
the same layouts. Again, they do have the same south pointing sub dial chronographs here, and
you do have the silver Snoopy Award at the three o'clock seconds hand as you do on the other one.
The main difference here is this is going to be a headlight crystal, as well as I believe
this is a ceramic bezel here, the blue color is absolutely stunning. It is a lot sharper
than even other blue Speedmasters I've seen in the past. And that's how this is a very,
very special watch here. Beautiful looking silver color on the dial. Otherwise the same layout as
the traditional Speedmaster, but what really makes this watch work is the case back action.
This is not an actual logo. This is actually an animated caseback is what they call it.
And at first I didn't know what that means, but when you engage the chronograph,
you actually do see one, the earth from the moon start rotating. And then after a couple of
seconds, I won't make you see the whole thing, but of course, we'll show you a close up video later.
You actually have a rocket ship appear from behind the moon with Snoopy in it flying across
the face of the earth. Now this action takes about 14 seconds to complete. It is isolated
exclusively on the case back. So you will have to take your watch off and turn it around to
show this incredible animation off to people. But this is not anything I've seen on any watch,
any brand, any line. Otherwise I have not seen this kind of action on a case back.
And of course you do see eyes to the stars here. It's not just the fact that the case back does
this, the coloring and the execution of it is really something to behold. The color blue of the
planet earth is so incredibly bright, and it does contrast incredibly with the night sky behind it.
And the stars that you see sprinkled across that background. And of course, eyes to the stars
written across the top, just like it is on the sub dial and really looking at the three dimensional
pattern with the sort of the body of the moon being closest to you and sort of seeing it offset
with the earth and space in the background. There it is absolutely incredible. And again, one of a
kind, not like anything else out there and whether or not you're a Speedmaster collector, this is
something I think anyone who's into mechanical time keeping at all should be able to admire.
The fun fact about this watch is it's actually not a limited edition model, or at least Omega's
not calling it that unlike the first one, which I believe was limited to about 5,000 pieces.
This one is considered a regular production model, but anyone who's tried to buy a Daytona
or a Royal Oak will know just because they don't call it limited edition,
doesn't mean it's easy to get your hands on. And I know we have one of the few examples of this
for sale online. So if you want it, don't miss out on it. But frankly, if you want to let me keep
playing with this thing and looking at the case back, I'm not going to fault you for it either
because it's the most fun I've had holding a watch in years. So whether or not you're into Snoopy
NASA, the Peanuts, or if you're just really into being OSHA compliant, the silver Snoopy
is the watch for you. And if it's not, well, guess what? We've got dozens of other brands,
hundreds of models, thousands of watches for sale, ready to ship to you today at SwissWatchExpo.com.