Omega Speedmaster World Cup Semi-Final Preview (It Just Got Serious)
Y’all hold onto your hats, now. This thing just got stormy. We are racing towards the Quarter-Final voting deadline (MIDNIGHT CET TONIGHT, December 3rd). Our predictions are beaten, battered, and bruised. Ultimately, we came pretty close to calling how this would go but there were some disgustingly unforeseen bumps in the road of this, the latest round of the Omega Speedmaster World Cup…
So how did your favorites fare? Two of the four Quarter-Finals were one-sided affairs (as we’d imagined they would be), but despite that, huge numbers turned out to vote for the losers. Despite not progressing, the FOiS and the Apollo XI 45th Anniversary model have their followers.
…the overall favorites…
In fact, the surge of the FOiS couldn’t have come at a better time, as the model seems to be waving goodbye to the Omega catalog/has already packed its bags and left. If your local dealer has one clinging to the shop window for dear life, now’s the time to pull the trigger and put the poor blighter out of its misery.
The Apollo XI 45 is a misunderstood beast. To some, it is simply too far removed from what makes Speedmasters great to really be considered a contender; to others, that’s exactly what made it the best. But what of the other entrants? How did the overall favorites fare as we barrel towards the weekend’s Final Four(?) run-off…
Quarter-Final 1: RJ “The Terrible” Broer devours all in his wake
Our sweet and merciful bossman was not shy about telling the Fratelli he’d rather have seen his beloved Moonshine make it out of his stacked Group A, but it seems the 2015 Silver Snoopy is doing him proud. It crushed British Ben’s FOiS, but the plucky outsider put up a good fight. Now, the only question that remains is can the Snoopy be stopped?
The Snoopy has been touted as a potential champ from the get-go. It quickly took a stranglehold of Group A and roundly dismissed its QF challenger, and it did this despite its champion’s loyalties being clearly torn. Given the immense demand for this model, it is kind of funny that RJ (who owns a 2015 Snoopy, hand-engraved by astronaut Charlie Duke) might find himself squaring off in the final against either the Ed White 321 (which he owns and loves), the Snoopy III (which he has on order and loves), or the ST1 (which he was responsible for bringing to life…and loves).
As such, we might see him cross party lines and vote AGAINST himself. But for that to happen, he first needs to get past the Flying Floridian, who just authored the comeback of comebacks in…
Quarter-Final 2: slow and steady wins the race
Mikey Mike looked dead and buried a few days into QF2. Jorg’s Alaska had taken a 10% lead. It had looked on course to bury the charming Tintin deep beneath the frozen tundra. And then something happened. Maybe Captain Haddock was roused from his blathering stupor and decided to download a VPN free trial. Maybe the stars aligned to gift our American Amigo a surprise reversal of fortunes. Or maybe the community just woke up to one of the all-time great, formerly-under-the-radar-now-pure-unobtanium Speedmasters and started clicking Radio Button Eins.
The Tintin now holds the same commanding lead it was once tasked with overhauling. With hours left on the clock, it looks unlikely the Alaska is coming back now. That means our first Semi-Final should be:
RJ with the Silver Snoopy 2015 Vs. Mike with the Tinin
Voting will open on Saturday. Get your thinking caps on.
Quarter-Final 3: the Son puts Papa to the sword
This one was over before it began. G2 was blessed/cursed with the oddest Group of four Speedmasters it seems possible to assemble given the democratic way in which the groups were selected. Balazs had an air of apology about himself as he stepped sheepishly into the ring to take on “G-Pops” for a place in the Semis.
But let’s be frank: the Apollo XI 45th did itself proud. It corraled almost 700 votes, which was 30% of the overall share. That’s no mean feat against the technical brilliance and heavy, heavy recency bias that favored the 321.
Wait… Who will it be facing in the next round?
Having breezed through its Group and enjoyed an effective walkover in the Quarters, the 321 arrives in the Semi-Finals the least tested or battle-hardened of the four(?) remaining watches. Will it prove its mettle in the Semis or will it fall flat when it comes up against… Wait… Who will it be facing in the next round?
Quarter Final 4: Err, what?
So we all knew the contest between the Speedy Tuesday 1, Tribute to Alaska, and the Silver Snoopy 50th Anniversary (or Snoopy III, as I like to call it) was going to be close. Nobody expected the lead to flip 17 times and for the votes to be tied after more than 4,000 had been cast.
…an eager enclave of enthusiasts comprising 1% of the total population of the Marshall Islands…
Now, during this contest, we were faced with a dilemma. And, in the interests of transparency, it is only right to pull back the curtain and fill you in on what’s been going on. For the first 3,500 votes, everything was progressing as normal. The watches were neck-and-neck all the way. Then, it would seem, a small contingent of watch lovers in Cambodia voted 57 times in a row for the Speedy Tuesday 1. Shortly after that, an equally passionate bunch of watch aficionados from Antigua voted 100 times in a row for the Snoopy III. Unsurprisingly, moments later, an eager enclave of enthusiasts comprising 1% of the total population of the Marshall Islands (who knew we had such reach), voted 200 times for the ST1 in response….
What we’re going to do about it
If you noticed this unrealistic see-saw voting, you were not alone. We picked up on it in the back-end and will be removing the votes that were clearly cast in bad faith from duplicate IP addresses.
On the one hand, it is truly awesome that people feel so passionately about certain watches doing well. Thanks for the clicks, also. But this contest is one we want to run fairly so that the community knows we have a worthy winner. Rest assured, we are monitoring voting patterns for this and for the Watch on your Wrist contest.
…a three-way Semi…
And so, as tonight’s midnight deadline approaches, the Snoopy III and ST1 are still knotted-up at 50/50. Even though one watch may have a handful more votes than the other, if the percentages remain tied, we will put them BOTH through to a three-way Semi including the Ed White. Now I hope the (?) I’ve been placing after the word “Four” makes sense…
Will it be the Final Four or will it be the Final Five? Cast your votes here and help us decide! If you want to learn more about Omega, visit the official site here.
