My budget Silver Snoopy

Sans the cartoon character on the dial. Not quite the Speedmaster pedigree but I like it. $895 USD retail, just picked it up on sale at Bloomington's for $626.50

This watch seems to have a little more street cred than the Swatch Moonswatch, perhaps on the pedestal of the 2nd place podium next to (and far behind) the Speedmaster. It's lamentable that Bulova has lost the prestige it once reigned over.

A little history for anyone who is interested...

This was an interesting find, considering there's no way I'm going to purchase the Speedmaster Silver Snoopy award version given the current asking prices, and I wouldn't wear a watch with a cartoon character on the dial anyway. I also like the fact that this is a quartz watch (I already own a couple of automatics, and I'm too lazy to keep up with adding more to my collection).

This is the "Lunar Pilot," Bulova's version of their Moon Watch. According to the internet sleuths, Bulova also attempted to name this a moon watch, but encountered legal resistance from Omega, based on trademark infringement.

The story behind this model is that is was worn on the moon by astronaut David Scott on the Apollo 15 Mission between July 28 to August 7, 1971. Scott was wearing his officially-issued Omega Speedmaster but on August 2, 1971, during EVA #2 of the mission (Extra Vehicular Activity - a.k.a. "moonwalk") the crystal on Scott's Speedmaster popped off and was lost (I guess it's still on the moon's surface somewhere?). Scott then slapped on his personal Bulova Lunar Surface chronograph - a prototype given to him by Bulova. In October of 2015, Scott's Bulova, the only privately-owned watch which has been worn on the moon sold for north of one million dollars (sources vary, putting the number between $1.3M-1.7M; my research puts the official figure at $1,592,500.00). The rest is history - Bulova is the only contender who competes with Omega for bragging rights over their watches having been to the moon.

This particular model is the second re-issue of Bulova's lunar chronometer. It resembles the original Lunar Surface Chronograph, with the Bulova lettering in the original vintage font (there is a black version of this same watch that more accurately resembles the original worn by Scott). However it is upgraded to Bulova's 3-prong tuning quartz crystal that vibrates at an ultra high frequency of 262kHz which is 8 times more than the traditional quartz crystal, claimed to be accurate to +/- 10 seconds/year (the movement is more commonly known as the Bulova "Precisionist" movement). Due to the much higher rate, the seconds hand sweeps smoothly, often touted as even smoother that a Rolex sweeping hand.

The first iteration of the re-issue measured a gargantuan 45mm, which deterred would-be buyers. It contained a date complication and was offered in black and silver on a brushed bracelet and also a 50th Anniversary, black and gold edition. They came with an additional NATO strap similar to the one on Scott's watch. This version was reduced to 43mm, deleted the date complication and is offered in black, or like yours-truly's white and blue (unofficially dubbed Silver Snoopy) on a silver case and PCL bracelet. the black version includes an additional black leather strap and the blue version a blue leather strap. The case back (initially covered by a grotesque "made in China" sticker) is inscribed with a tribute to the Apollo 15 mission, including the specific location on the moon where the Bulova was worn.


For some reason, Bulova has been very careful about officially calling this a Precisionist movement. This Lunar Pilot's caliber is labeled as N20, whereas the original 45mm version is called NP20. My research revealed that they are in fact, Citizen/Miyota caliber 8136 (furnished exclusively for Bulova), the same as the Precisionist-labeled watches. I have also found out that Bulova provides this movement with 9 jewels (apparently on their Precisionist-labeled watches) and 11 jewels (contained in their CURV line). The N/P20 movements contain no jewels. i found this interesting, considering the Lunar Pilot is offered as a collector's watch within their Archive line.

Nevertheless, I really like this watch and the price was more than right for what it is. I own several of their Precisionist watches and love 'watching' the sweeping seconds hands. On this one, the seconds hand is parked at 12 o'clock, unless the chronometer is running, but it's nice knowing the degree of precision it runs on.

What you all think about this alternative moon watch?

Really cool backstory and nice watch.

Out of curiosity why won't you wear a watch with a cartoon character on the dial?

Thanks. My job requires suit and tie attire, and wearing a cartoon character makes me feel like it's akin to wearing sneakers on the job - for the price of a silver snoopy, there's many alternatives that are better suited to my style
That's about it.

Thats the beauty of watch collecting, different strokes for different folks. In defense of Snoopy, the odds of anyone being able to even see him on the dial is pretty small and if they do, you have a really cool story to tell them about the connection between NASA, Omega, and Snoopy. Enjoy your new watch.

You are correct - I actually really like the silver snoopy but it's just not for me.