Worn & Wound
A Hands-On Comparison of the Omega Speedmaster Black and White, White Dial, and Classic Moonwatch
There are certain “easy wins” with watch enthusiasts that brands rely on. Put a line of red text on a black dial diver, and you’ll get some smiles. Add a micro-adjust to your clasp, and you’ll avoid some angry emails. Drill your lugs, and… well, I at least will be excited. And when it comes to chronographs, a sure-fire way to get some attention is to invert your sub-dials. Yep, though it has been done countless times, “panda” dials still get the thumbs-up from us nerds. So, it was no surprise that the recently released “Black and White” Speedmasters (which, to those of us from NYC, brings to mind a certain iconic cookie before a watch dial) were received with much excitement. Take one of the most celebrated watches in production, give it a dial treatment that is hard to mess up, and, unsurprisingly, you have a hit. Well done, Omega. Yeah, the Speedmaster Black and White is very nice looking To make matters more exciting, despite the many, many, many versions of Speedmasters over the years, Pandas are not common among them. I’m no Speedy scholar, so my internal reference archive isn’t complete, but having been the occasional Speedy customer, I know that pandas were few and far between, usually limited, or precious metal, and rarely a “reverse” or “evil” panda (white sub-dial on a black surface) in form. That this new model is available in steel and not limited actually makes them special, by not being special. The dilemma, if you can call it th...
