Carara Dark Chapter 001 ((INSTALL))

The closing words of Pink Floyd's seminal work The Dark Side Of The Moon say, "There is no dark side of the Moon really, matter of fact, it's all dark". Truth is, by the time those words were recorded for that 1973 album, mankind had seen the dark side of the Moon some five years earlier. The crew of Apollo 8, which launched December 21, 1968, were the first to lay eyes on the far side of the Moon, and in honor of the first time that humans circled the Moon, Omega created a special Speedmaster hybrid called the Moonwatch Apollo 8 Dark Side of The Moon.

Carara Dark Chapter 001

Launched 50 years ago today, Apollo 8 carried astronauts James Lovell Jr, Frank Borman II, and William Anders from Earth, around the Moon some ten times, and then back home. The second manned spaceflight in the Apollo program, Apollo 8 saw not only the dark side of the Moon, but also Earthrise (as famously captured by Anders on Christmas Eve, 1968). This was an iconic moment in space travel and helped to prove the viability of putting a man on the Moon. While Apollo 11 gets much of the general mindshare, Apollo 8 ventured into the unknown void of space for the first time (it was the first manned spacecraft ever to leave Earth orbit) and it's hard to overstate what was accomplished on this mission. Thus, it's a fitting inspiration for a special Moonwatch.

Where the case is shared across the Dark Side Of The Moon family, the dial and movement are what set the Apollo 8 apart from its siblings. The Apollo 8 has a semi-skeletonized dial that carries a laser illustration of the Moon's surface along with an open view of a portion of the chronograph movement underneath. Flip the watch over and you're treated to an unexpected view: a wide sapphire-covered display case back highlights the Apollo 8's use of Omega's Calibre 1861 hand-wound chronograph movement. With bridges finished to match the lunar-like details of the dial, this 1861 is a mix of dark textures, purple jewels, and the varied brightwork of metal cams and wheels.

While the previously mentioned Pink Floyd lyrics were perhaps speaking of the unknown and undiscovered dark side within all of us, Apollo 8 was true exploring. They picked a spot on the map that they didn't know or fully understand and devised an audacious and bold plan to see it for themselves. Apollo 8 was a seminal post-war moment, as it changed the rubric of possibility; it adjusted the horizon in a way that I think is hard to fully grasp if, like me, you are too young to have witnessed it as it happened. As Omega's ties to space travel have become more of a historical footnote than an active program, watches like the Moonwatch Apollo 8 are collector items that function as fun reminders of that exciting era. While many past Apollo special editions were based around Speedmaster Professionals, it's hard to think of a more fitting home for a tribute to the mission that first saw the Dark Side Of The Moon.

"They are by Raphael," said the Senator. "I bought them at a greatprice, out of vanity, some years ago. They are said to be the finestthings in Italy, but they do not please me at all. The colours are toodark, the figures are not sufficiently rounded, nor in good relief; thedraperies in no way resemble stuffs. In a word, whatever may be said, Ido not find there a true imitation of nature. I only care for a picturewhen I think I see nature itself; and there are none of this sort. Ihave a great many pictures, but I prize them very little."

"Who?" said Pococurante, "that barbarian, who writes a long commentaryin ten books of harsh verse on the first chapter of Genesis; that coarseimitator of the Greeks, who disfigures the Creation, and who, whileMoses represents the Eternal producing the world by a word, makes theMessiah take a great pair of compasses from the armoury of heaven tocircumscribe His work? How can I have any esteem for a writer who hasspoiled Tasso's hell and the devil, who transforms Lucifer sometimesinto a toad and other times into a pigmy, who makes him repeat the samethings a hundred times, who makes him dispute on theology, who, by aserious imitation of Ariosto's comic invention of firearms, representsthe devils cannonading in heaven? Neither I nor any man in Italy couldtake pleasure in those melancholy extravagances; and the marriage of Sinand Death, and the snakes brought forth by Sin, are enough to turn thestomach of any one with the least taste, [and his long description of apest-house is good only for a grave-digger]. This obscure, whimsical,and disagreeable poem was despised upon its first publication, and Ionly treat it now as it was treated in its own country bycontemporaries. For the matter of[Pg 140] that I say what I think, and I carevery little whether others think as I do."

It was small, fast, and reminded him of a lizard. There were six of the creatures in total. All six of them shared the same appearance: each of them stood up on its hind legs, balancing on its thick tail. They were almost a foot tall, dark green with brown stripes along their backs. Its tiny front legs ended in little lizard fingers that wiggled in the air. 041b061a72