Omega SpeedyMoon 345.0809 — The First Moonwatch With A Moonphase

A few weeks ago, I attended a Speedmaster get-together with like-minded watch enthusiasts, and I took some Speedmaster references with me to show to the others. One of the watches among them was a Speedmaster Professional Moonphase 345.0809, also known as the “SpeedyMoon.” I was a little bit surprised to see how popular this watch was among the guests. But it was equally surprising that some had never seen or heard about this edition before.

The Speedmaster Moonphase 345.0809 combines two of the complications I love the most — the chronograph and a moonphase indicator. It makes the dial a bit more cluttered, but the beautiful moon and stars on a disc make up for that. The SpeedyMoon was produced between November 1985 and January 1989. Let’s have a closer look at the one we have here.

Omega and the moonphase complication

Moonphase watches were not new for Omega in 1985. In fact, Omega designed various watches with this popular and aesthetically pleasing complication (read our article on the Omega Cosmic Moonphase to find out more).

The moon disc makes one full rotation in approximately 29.5 days, from one new moon to the next. In real life, however, it takes a little longer to complete this cycle (29.53 days, to be more precise). This is why watches with this complication require a correction every 2.5 years.

The moonphase complication is still popular, and Omega has a few watches with it in the current Speedmaster collection. Today, though, we’re looking at the first Speedmaster Professional with a moonphase indicator, the SpeedyMoon 345.0809.

Omega SpeedyMoon 345.0809

Although there were only 1,300 Speedmaster Moonphase 345.0809 watches ever made, there are a few variations. There are three different moonphase discs, for example. First, there’s one with two large moons with five stars in between, as we have here. Then there’s a version with two large moons and seven stars in between them. The rarest version is with two moons that have a smiling face.

It’s also interesting to note that Omega used no less than three different bracelets for this SpeedyMoon 345.0809 — refs. 1447, 1450, and, later, 1479. The last one is less common as it was only used on the last few 345.0809s that left Omega in Biel.

Our example watch here has the ref. 1447 bracelet with ref. 805 end links. It is interesting to see that in such a short time and with such low production, Omega used different parts for the same watch. That is almost unthinkable today.

Caliber 866

The movement inside the Omega Speedmaster Moonphase 345.0809 is a Lemania-based caliber 866. It is a caliber 861 with the addition of a calendar and moonphase indicator. Just like the base caliber 861, it is a copper-colored movement. The calendar and moonphase disc, located in the same sub-dial, are corrected via the small pushers in the case band. The upper corrector is for advancing the moonphase disc, and the lower corrector is for the date.

Be careful

The prices of the SpeedyMoon 345.0809 have gone up quite a bit in the last 10–15 years. Expect to pay around €16,000 for a good example and even more when if you want one with its box and papers. Unfortunately, this also means that people may try to sell you a SpeedyMoon that has service parts (or a replacement dial) without mentioning it in the advertisement. The easiest giveaway is often the dial, where the dates from 9 to 21 are facing outward.

These are often service dials. It is still an original Omega part, but it does affect the value of the watch. The same applies to a wrong handset or different bracelet reference. But those are easier “fixes” than a service dial or fake dial. You will also find that parts of the later Speedmaster Moonphase reference 3576.50 or 3876.50 (2003 and later) are used for the 1980s SpeedyMoon.

There are more Omega moonphase models

Around the same time (1986), Omega introduced one more Speedmaster reference with a moonphase indicator, ref. 345.0810. There are 700 of these watches, with 300 in a gold/titanium combination and 400 in titanium only. This Speedmaster Moonphase 345.0810 was based on the Teutonic (Mark V) models and was only delivered to the German market.

In total, Omega used 2,000 caliber 866s. It was not until 1999 that Omega introduced a new Speedmaster with a moonphase complication. The white gold 3689.30 used caliber 1866. This movement is based on the former hand-wound caliber 1861. Since then, there has always been a Speedmaster with moonphase complication in the Omega collection. For more information on the current models, visit Omega online.

*This article appeared first on June 9th, 2020. We’ve updated the article and changed some of the images.