Mission to Moonshine Gold – Flop or Genius Idea?
A year ago, Swatch surprised the world with the launch of Moonswatch, which until that date was a real unknown, and not even the leak slowed down or cooled the tremendous success of what would become for many the launch of the year, driving thousands of fans crazy from endless queues outside stores to get the long-awaited “Holy Grail” the Moonswatch.
The figures released point to the sale of more than 1 million units in 2022, i.e. an approximate average of 100 thousand watches per month given that the launch took place during March, it is in fact a lot of watches but above all, proof live on a winning bet by the SWATCH Group, a feat perhaps only comparable to those that laid the foundations of the Swatch brand and which served to save Omega.
And today, a year after that huge frenzy, SWATCH decides to launch a new MoonSwatch, the Moonshine Gold. Announced two days ago on social networks in the form of a teaser, it immediately mobilized fans to speculate about what could come next and there was no shortage of mockups with very imaginative suggestions, we can say that all the conditions were created for a possible new success. However, during the morning when the first images and information about the new Moonswatch are known, I would say that we are all surprised with a “bucket of cold water”, however, the next hours will be sovereign in determining whether it is, in fact, a flop or simply a new success.
The new Moonswatch Mission to Moonshine Gold is after all the existing Moonswatch Mission to the Moon but now with a golden seconds hand, everything else remains the same as SWATCH itself informs, namely the velcro strap which continues to come with a message of “Misson to the Moon” and not with a supposed “Mission to Moonshine Gold”.
Not having much more to say about the (non)new features, we can say that the second’s hand has a coating made of OMEGA’s Moonshine Gold, an 18K gold alloy and that the new second’s hands were manufactured during a full moon in February, attested by a certificate that accompanies the watch (I confess that an emoji now would describe my state of mind, but anyway…), the watches are only available today in the four chosen cities, that is London, Milan, Tokyo and Zurich, cities that share a special association with gold, but SWATCH does not rule out the possibility of launching the new Moonshine Gold in other cities “in the next full moon”.
The Moonshine Gold, just like a year ago, will only be available for purchase in the brand’s physical boutiques, in the announced cities, for the price of CHF 275, an amount higher by around CHF 25 than the previous Moonswatches justified by the new gold seconds hand, and as it is not a limited edition, it is conditioned to the number of units produced (only one day).
