This New Mars Watch Is the Latest High-End Digital Timer

Omega's status as the maker of the Moonwatch is tied to its status as a luxury watchmaker. The Speedmaster X-33 Marstimer gives you the time and functions for both Earth-bound locations and on Mars.

While the prospect of anyone wearing a watch on the surface of the Red Planet is still over a decade away, NASA and Elon want to get there sooner.

The new Marstimer attests to the enduring power of space as a theme to inspire watch buyers, no matter how niche the purpose, and the continued viability of high-end digital watches in a world that would seem to have left them behind.

Omega conceived of the X-33 Speedmaster as the ultimate wrist-Computer for astronauts when it came out in 1998. It was similar to the Marstimer in that it had an analogue phone for timekeeping and a cluster of push-buttons for other functions. It was launched on the back of several years of research and development at Houston Space Center and would be used by NASA and Russian cosmonauts in space. Since that time, it has become a cult following.

It was an old-school style that Omega has continued to update and develop. The new Marstimer is an upgrade of the X-33 Skywalker, which was launched in 2004. It's powered by a new, high-grade movement, which is highly precise, thermo-compensated, and packed with arcane functions. Omega reasons, tracking mean solar time at Mars' prime meridian, or using "Mission Timer" functions, have realistic applications for European Space Agency scientists. Knowing the time on Mars is a novelty for civilians.

It is part of a genre that has been altered by the computational power and user-friendliness of touchscreen smartwatch apps. It's a genre that continues to power on, finding new appeal among the kinds of buyers and Collectors more commonly interested in finely crafted mechanics

The boutique haute-horlogerie specialist, Girard-Perregaux, sprang a surprise in the year 2021, when it revived an eccentric digital watch from the 1970s. It was an instant sell-out, with versions now being resold over two times its price.