By TEEEMPUS · Published
The Speedmaster Moonwatch went to the Moon with Apollo 11 in 1969, and Omega has never let anyone forget it. Fair enough. Today's Moonwatch Professional is still a 42 mm steel chronograph with a black dial, three sub-dials, a tachymeter bezel and a Hesalite crystal, and you still wind it by hand every couple of days. In the US it lists at $7,800 on the bracelet.
That's a lot of money for a look that is easy to borrow. We went through what's on sale in the US today and kept five watches that pass for a Speedmaster across a room, from $152 to $2,600. Each one comes with the thing it gets wrong, because every one of them gets something wrong. Prices are US list prices from the brands' own sites, checked on 24 October 2026. The photos are to scale, so if a watch looks smaller here, it is.
Two of the five are marked as homages, the watch world's word for a watch from a smaller brand that follows a famous design on purpose, under its own name. Retailers often sell for less than the list prices here.
This is the watch every pick is measured against, the Moonwatch Professional, reference 310.30.42.50.01.001, on six points:
Nothing below matches all six. The Tissot PR516 is the only one with a hand-wound movement like the Omega's, and only the MoonSwatch and the Seiko are as wide. Above $5,000 you're most of the way to the Omega's price anyway, and nothing we found there looked close enough to the Speedmaster to make the list.
| Watch | US list price | Case | Water resistance | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pagani Design PD-1701 (homage) | $152 | 40 mm | 100 m | Quartz |
| Dan Henry 1962 Racing Chronograph (homage) | $290 | 39 mm | 50 m | Meca-quartz |
| Swatch MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon | $300 | 42 mm | 30 m | Quartz |
| Tissot PR516 Mechanical Chronograph | $2,100 | 41 mm | 100 m | Hand-wound |
| Seiko Prospex Speedtimer | $2,600 | 42 mm | 100 m | Automatic |
| Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional, for comparison | $7,800 | 42 mm | 50 m | Hand-wound |
This is the one we'd point a tight budget at. It's the cheapest watch here, and it still gives you the Moonwatch look in steel, bracelet included. The black dial has three black sub-dials at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, and the bezel is black with a tachymeter scale. The 316L steel case is 40 mm across and 14 mm thick, with a sapphire crystal, and it's water resistant to 100 metres, twice the Omega's rating. It runs on a Japanese quartz chronograph movement. Pagani doesn't publish its lug-to-lug length.
What you give up starts with the design, which is Omega's, not Pagani's. The finishing is what $150 buys. There's a date window at 4:30 that the Omega doesn't have, the case is 2 mm narrower, and the movement is quartz rather than hand-wound. It costs $152, about a fiftieth of the Omega. Amazon's only PD-1701 listing is under another brand's name, so the Amazon button runs a search instead.
If 42 mm is more watch than you want, look here: at 39 mm, this is the smallest pick. Dan Henry calls the 1962 a tribute to the racing chronographs of the 1960s, and in black it has the Speedmaster's look: a matte black dial with three black sub-dials, dauphine hands and a black tachymeter bezel on a polished steel case. The 316L case is 13.5 mm thick and 45.9 mm from lug to lug, with 20 mm between the lugs like the Omega, under a double-domed mineral crystal. It's water resistant to 50 metres, the same as the Omega. Inside is Seiko's VK63, a quartz movement with a mechanical chronograph module. Dan Henry sells this version as a limited edition, and it was in stock when we checked.
What you give up: it runs on quartz, the case is 3 mm narrower than the Omega's, and it comes on a black leather strap rather than a bracelet. Dan Henry's steel 1962 Metal Bracelet costs $90 more. This one costs $290, a little less than the MoonSwatch.
If you want the Speedmaster's face and nothing else, start here. Swatch makes the MoonSwatch with Omega, and the dial says Omega and Speedmaster on it: the black dial, the three sub-dials and the tachymeter scale you came for, at the same 42 mm width and a hair thinner.
What you give up is everything you'd notice once it's on. The case is grey Bioceramic rather than steel, it comes on a black Velcro strap, and Swatch doesn't make a bracelet for it. It runs on quartz, it's water resistant to 30 metres, and the crystal is a bio-sourced material rather than Hesalite or sapphire. It costs $300, a twenty-sixth of the Omega. You'll need a Swatch account to buy one online, or a trip to one of the Swatch stores that sell it.
The PR516 is the pick if winding the watch is part of the point. It's the only one here you wind by hand, as you do the Moonwatch. Tissot names the movement only as a Swiss mechanical Valjoux, with 67 hours of power reserve against the Omega's 50, and puts it behind a see-through case back. The black dial has three sub-dials at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock and a black tachymeter ring, and the 41 mm steel case is 13.67 mm thick, under a sapphire crystal, on a steel bracelet. It's water resistant to 100 metres.
What you give up is the Omega's plain dial. Tissot found room on this one for silver rings round the sub-dials, orange and red hands, a touch of blue on one sub-dial and a white pulsometer scale on part of the ring. The case is 1 mm narrower, and Tissot doesn't publish its lug-to-lug length. It costs $2,100.
We call this one best built because of what's inside. Seiko makes the calibre 8R48 itself. It's the only self-winding movement here, though you can still wind it by hand, and it has about 45 hours of power reserve. The Speedtimer has the Moonwatch's colours at its 42 mm width: a black dial with three black sub-dials, a black tachymeter bezel and a steel bracelet. The steel case has Seiko's super-hard coating, the crystal is dual-curved sapphire, and it's water resistant to 100 metres. It's also a pick in our Breitling Chronomat guide.
What you give up: a date at 4:30, which the Omega doesn't have, and a thicker, longer case, at 14.6 mm thick and 49.5 mm from lug to lug against the Omega's 13.54 mm and 47.5 mm. The power reserve is about 5 hours shorter, too. It costs $2,600, a third of the Omega's price.
