It’s been only three or so months that Swatch introduced the Moonshine Gold Edition of its Moonswatch with such enigmatic details as, “This special seconds hand has been produced exclusively during the full moon of February, as stated in the certificate that comes with the watch.” That piece we analyzed in detail here, and it is already followed by the Swatch MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold Strawberry Moon Of June watch reference S033M102-107 that has its very own, ahem, quirks that go well beyond featuring the word “Moon” a record-setting three times.
The endless queue outside one of the few Swatch points-of-sale where the MoonSwatch was made available. Over a year later the MoonSwatch can still be difficult to find and obtain.
Although apparently not rushed by too many external forces, Swatch continues to have its struggles when it comes to orchestrating the premiere of a MoonSwatch watch. The original debut in March 2022 caused quite a stir when the affordable Swatch brand launched an extensive collection based on the name, design, and style of luxury brand Omega’s iconic Speedmaster — it was a shambles, well-documented in our launch day on-location report: Queueing For Uranus: Omega Swatch MoonSwatch Watch Review here. In a nutshell, tens of thousands of Swatch fans queued pointlessly around the world and were offered little communication and no comfortable alternatives to source their own piece. The subsequent MoonsWatch Moonshine Gold Edition of March, 2023 (on which this Strawberry Edition is based) was defined by teasers that have, in hindsight, over-delivered when it came to building hype, followed by a new model that offered a rather simple twist on a known design. It was a Moonshine Gold coated seconds hand over the MoonSwatch Mission To The Moon edition.
Production of Moonshine Gold hands for the previous edition. Source: Swatch
Swatch claims that the inspiration for this piece was to serve as a nod to the Strawberry Moon of June, a nickname to the full moon of June. According to NASA, “The Maine Farmers’ Almanac began publishing Indian names for full Moons in the 1930s, and these names are now widely known and used. According to this almanac, as the full Moon in June the Algonquin tribes of what is now the northeastern United States called this the Strawberry Moon. The name comes from the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries in the northeastern United States.” This leads us to another questionable launch strategy.
On this occasion, Swatch timed the launch of the Swatch MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold Strawberry Moon Of June… in July.
On this occasion, Swatch timed the launch of the Swatch MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold Strawberry Moon Of June… in July. Specifically, the 3rd of July, 2023, which is indeed a full moon, just not the Strawberry Moon, because that, according to NASA and the very name of the “Strawberry Moon of June,” occurred a month earlier, on the 3rd of June. Oh, well. According to the certificate that comes with the watch (pictured just below), Swatch claims that “The OMEGA Moonshine™ Gold seconds hand of this Bioceramic MoonSwatch Mission To The Moon was produced during the Strawberry Moon of June 2023” which would explain the name. That said, as was the case in March with the previous Moonshine gold handed watch where Swatch claimed to have made the hand over a single night, it is difficult not to find this statement confusing. Either Swatch has truly only spent a few hours making these hands, hence arbitrarily limiting the supply on a collection that had already frustrated fans with limited availability, or it is just a whimsical statement which arguably adds very little to the overall enjoyment and appreciation of the product.
On the plus side, the Swatch MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold Strawberry (or Swatch MoonSwatch Strawberry, for short) delivers the next chapter in what Swatch strangely calls “Mission To MoonShine Gold” and does so with a playful twist (the strawberry print) that is much more characteristic of Swatch because it is lighthearted and fun — not something that could be said about many of the pieces in the original MoonSwatch collection that have often been criticized for too closely mimicking the luxury versions. The fun comes to a halt once metallurgy gets involve, but we’ll include this anyway: Moonshine gold is a special 18k gold alloy that was previously used on a select few Omega watches. It is 75% gold (because it is 18k gold), and the rest of the alloy is 14.5% silver, about 9% copper, and 1% palladium. Before you get your hopes up, all these fancy materials are spread just a few microns thin over the chronograph seconds hand of the new Swatch MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold Strawberry Moon Of June watch.
While Swatch has introduced the new Swatch MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold Strawberry Moon Of June watch on its official Instagram channel, the piece cannot be found anywhere else. It is not yet on the official Swatch website, nor the press site of the brand or its owner, the Swatch Group. Thankfully, it appears to be a rather straightforward launch: The case clearly remains the 42mm-wide, 13.25mm-thick gray BioCeramic as on the previous MoonShine gold edition and the MoonSwatch Mission To The Moon on which they are based, and the movement is, of course, a quartz caliber (you can change the battery). The price will likely remain unchanged.
The Swatch MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold Strawberry Moon Of June watch is priced at $300. You can learn more at the brand’s website (once the watch has been added).