The Apollo 8 mission was the second manned mission of the program, this was the first mission to leave earth orbit and travel to and orbit the moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders were the first humans to escape the gravity of a celestial body orbiting the moon 10 times. This was a very impressive step in the moon landing program, they orbited the moon to prove they could.

The Apollo 8 mission was a highly important mission as this was the first mission to move past the gravitational pull of the earth and enter lunar orbit. The Apollo 8 crew were the first humans to view the dark side of the moon hence the Speedmaster Apollo 8 is named after this important mission.  The watch design views both sides of the moonwatch with the near side represented by a laser etching of the movement through the skeletonised dial, the far side is viewed through a display caseback. The case is black ceramic fitted with a sapphire crystal with a 50 metre water resistance rating.

Some would argue there are way too many special or limited edition Speedmaster models with Omega cashing in on their NASA ties. Well of course this is the case, Omega is going to milk the NASA connection. It has been argued that the Apollo 8 is the best of the special editions and while I am not a fan of skeletonised dial, this edition is interesting to me. I would suggest this is one of the better limited edition models, they are extremely difficult to get hold of, not too many Omega boutiques is offered this limited edition model, so they are snapped up pretty quick.