Most of that reduced heft is courtesy of a new movement. Whereas previous Speedy Moonphases were powered by the Cal. 9904 automatic, the new version gets a manually wound Cal. 9914. Another thinning factor: the water resistance has been halved from 100m to 50m, the latter being the same rating as the Moonwatch and perfectly acceptable for this type of watch.
The bracelet has been updated to the “Nixon” style giving it a greater taper, a retro striated clasp with toolless micro-adjustment, and five rows of links with the two narrow links sporting a mirror-polished finish.
There are sapphire crystals front and back, ceramic tachymeter bezels with enamel markings and 18K white gold hands and indices. But the most obvious change is the dials, which are now made of meteorite. This meteorite plate is PVD-coated on the black version of the watch and galvanic-coated on the gray version. Unlike the meteorite of the moonphase display, the dial meteorite did not originate on the moon, but it still looks tremendous.
Pricing and Availability
These new Speedmaster Moonphase watches are undeniably cool. The more compact size, upgraded bracelets and hand-wound movements are all welcome upgrades in my book, and as I’ve said before, I love the use of meteorite — especially lunar meteorite — on a Speedmaster, as it directly connects the ultimate space watch to the final frontier.
Regarding the addition of the dual moonphase, I’m not so sure I’m in favor of it. It’s an interesting complication, and it looks especially unique with the lunar meteorite moons, but I also think it looks a bit out of balance.