The Omega Moonwatch Alternative You Can Afford

The Omega Speedmaster is one of history's most celebrated watches, right up there with the Rolex Submariner. It's withstood the cold vacuum of space and the jamming grains of lunar dust, and functioned through zero gravity while strapped to the outside of Buzz Aldrin's space suit. But while we would never call the Moonwatch's $4,000 price tag into question — this Speedmaster has proved its worth — we went looking for alternatives that fall into a budget that won't require a few months rent, like the Graf Zeppelin Black Line Chronograph.

The German Zeppelin is an excellent recreation of the classic Speedmaster, passing all the visual tests. There have been a few homages to the classic that nailed down most of the look, but many fall short by leaving out the tachymeter, using numbers in lieu of the original's hourly hashmarks, or omitting a dial.

The Zeppelin's homage to the Moonwatch may not have been tested by the rigorous standards of the original Omega, but in all likelihood you're not going to the moon, so you're probably okay on this one. However, they are waterproof up to 100 meters, so you can get it wet.

Priced for the people, the Graf doesn't have the original manual wind mechanical innards of its role model (because automatic watches don't work in space), but hey, four-jewel Swiss ETA quartz still works in zero gravity situations.

There are a lot of chronographs out there that draw inspiration from the Speedmaster, and this is just one option so cast a wide net. If you must stay Swiss and mechanical, Omega's mid-range Swatch family's little brother Tissot makes something with Speedmaster fingerprints all over it, but at $1,500, we think you should seriously consider saving your pennies for the real deal — if that's what your heart desires. 

I mean, seriously. The thing works in space.

Ethan Wolff-Mann is the Gear editor of Supercompressor. He wonders if the Apollo 11 lunar module had keys. Probably not. Read other thoughts like this on his Twitter @ewolffmann.