Omega, which has been involved in the America's Cup since 1995 and is the official timekeeper for the 36th edition of the legendary event, is strengthening its position in the sailing world. Last year, the Biel-based watchmaker announced a partnership with Alinghi, the sailing team founded by Ernesto Bertarelli in 1994. In honor of this alliance, Omega today unveiled its new Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Alinghi watch replica 311.92.44.30.01.002, featuring one of the most technologically advanced looks in the brand's history, in keeping with the impressive specifications of Alinghi's yachts.
If this new reference looks a lot like 2018 Omega Dark Side of the Moon ‘Apollo 8’ edition replica, it should – it’s the same case and movement, embellished with a whole host of design elements that pay homage to the Lake Geneva-based Alinghi sailing team – starting with a carbon fiber dial, the likes of which we haven’t seen on a Speedmaster since the titanium Solar Impulse GMT from the early aughts. But I’ll come right out and say it: the Speedmaster is a lot of things, but it is rarely a sailing watch. As far as I can tell, only once before with the X-33 Regatta produced for the New Zealand ETNZ sailing team back in 2017. Omega does indeed have a long history of producing various regatta and yacht-timing watches with unique complications and unconventional time displays, but they have understandably remained almost exclusively in the Seamaster collection. Even still, the venerable Speedy does make a lot of sense in this capacity – long before it was a moon watch, it was a racing watch built to calculate speed by measuring time over distance. And even in this application, it can certainly still excel.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Alinghi special editions make their way into the watchmaking canon. HYT famously partnered with the team on a trio of limited editions starting in 2015. Consequently, we’ve seen the Alinghi logo integrated with watch designs before. The dynamic red wave has always looked quite at home thanks to its circular form, but here Omega takes its integration one step further. On this new Omega Speedmaster replica, the Alinghi team logo is printed on a disc that occupies one of the three sub-dials.
The red from the Alinghi’s logo has been carried over into the rest of the design for this edition. While the Apollo 8 had yellow accents, this Alinghi has red ones. The most obvious link to Alinghi is, of course, the rotating logo in the 6 o’clock subdial. Red can also be found on the hour markers, “Speedmaster” wording, chronograph hands, and the “Tachymetre” wording on the ceramic bezel.
The minute recorder at 3 o’clock shows the 4 and 5 minutes “tactical time display” in red as well. While I was not immediately convinced by the yellow of the Speedmaster Apollo 8 replica, the red is far more digestible. The Speedmaster Alinghi replica comes on a black and red perforated (racing) strap, made of rubber.
I wish Omega had been more cautious with the Dark Side collection from the start. In the first few years, Omega introduced quite a few variations. In hindsight, I think a slower, more thoughtful approach might have helped define the collection better. The Omega Apollo 8 replica was the first iteration of the Dark Side of the Moon that I truly love and consider it added value to the first DSoTM. This Omega Speedmaster Alinghi replica is the next addition that I think works really well. Even if you have no real connection to sailing or Alinghi, the red accents might be your thing. But the best is perhaps yet to come.
Now, it might have have been awfully cool for the luminous tachymeter scale to read in nautical knots rather than the traditional land & air-based miles-per-hour scale now emblematic on the Speedy, but other embellishments have been made to accommodate the Alinghi crewmen: particularly the 30-minute totalizer at 3:00 which places a greater emphasis on its first five minutes, enabling the skipper to dial in his starting sequence and hit the start line at just the right moment. The 12-hour totalizer at 6:00 is swapped out for a red anodized disc in the shape of Alinghi’s logo – a cardinal triangle at the top of the disc lets the viewer know when it has been zeroed, or how many hours have elapsed since the chronograph was started. Another neat team callout exists on the dial and caseback, where Omega’s once again deployed its laser-ablation techniques (where lasers are used to remove surface material to produce a honeycomb effect on the mainplate and barrel bridge, not unlike the pattern that comprises the carbon fiber skeleton of the hull of Alinghi’s TF35 catamaran.
This movement is based on the hand-wound caliber 1861, a hand-wound chronograph movement produced in-house with cam-operated mechanism, 3Hz frequency and 48h power reserve. This Omega Calibre 1865 retains the classic Swiss lever escapement.. The looks are slightly different though! Just like we saw with the cratered caliber 1869, caliber 1865 is all about fast catamarans. The inspiration for the movement comes from the TF35 catamaran. Caliber 1865’s manipulate and barrel bridge are patterned with a honeycomb effect, matching the interior of Alinghi’s TF35 carbon hull. All the bridges of the hand-wound movement have been decorated (also by laser ablation technology) with a carbon pattern.
The use of a thinner movement also means that this is much flatter than usual for the Dark Side Of The Moon Watches replicas, which typically come in at 44.25mm x 16.14mm. The DSOTM Alinghi is 13.80mm thick, which represents a significant height reduction (2.34mm) and should make for a much-altered wrist experience over the standard Dark Side Of The Moon watches.
Brand: Omega
Model: Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Alinghi replica (ref. 311.92.44.30.01.002)
Dimensions: 44.25mm
Water Resistance: 50 meters
Case Material: Ceramic
Crystal/Lens: sapphire
Movement: Omega Calibre 1865
Frequency: 21,000 VpH
Power Reserve: 48 hours
Strap/Bracelet: Black perforated rubber with red contrast stitching
The Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Alinghi replica (ref. 311.92.44.30.01.002) joins the permanent collection and isn’t limited in production. Availability in stores isn’t yet confirmed. It will be priced at $10,800 USD.
As the latest model, we are designing. If you are interested in Omega watch replica, you can pay more attention to our store, we are the largest and most reliable replica of luxury watches store, copy watches such as Rolex, Patek Phillippe, Panerai, Cartier, Hublot, IWC, Tag Heuer and more. Read more from https://ciciwatches.blogspot.com/2020/08/introducing-new-omega-speedmaster-dark.html.
