Hesalite, and I'm not sorry
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ยท
There are two kinds of Speedmaster owner, and they do not invite each other to dinner.
I am firmly on the hesalite side, and here is why. This is the crystal NASA flew, the one that went to the Moon on Apollo 11 in 1969, and the one chosen precisely because it would not shatter into shards in a capsule. It has a warm, slightly distorted look at the edges that sapphire never quite manages, and its scratches polish out with a tube of something cheap and ten minutes in front of the television. The closed steel back is the proper, original configuration.
The 2021 version is the best Moonwatch Omega has made. The 3861 is a hand-wound Master Chronometer with 50 hours, the case is 42 mm by 13.2 mm, and the bracelet is finally worthy of the watch, with a dial that has gone back to the step and the proportions of the older references. Black dial, tachymeter bezel, 50 m of water resistance (do not swim in it, whatever the astronauts did).
The criticism is that it is everywhere. You will see one on every second wrist at a watch fair, and if you want to be thought original, it is the wrong choice. At seventy-one to seventy-six hundred dollars, I do not mind. Some things are common because they are right.