Answer first: the Speedmaster "Apollo 13 45th Anniversary" is Omega's 2015 Silver Snoopy Award limited edition, and replicas of it start around $70 in quartz and climb to roughly $400 to $450 for a hand-wound copy built on a Seagull ST19 chronograph movement. It is one of the easier Speedmasters to fake at arm's length and one of the harder ones to fake under a loupe, because so much of the personality sits in the Snoopy artwork and the caseback medallion.
What the original is, in plain terms
Omega released this watch in 2015 to mark 45 years since the Silver Snoopy Award, the honor NASA crews handed the brand after the Speedmaster helped get Apollo 13 home. Production was capped at 1,970 pieces, which is why real ones trade well above retail and why the replica market filled the gap.
The spec sheet is simple. A 42mm stainless steel case, a white dial with three subdials, a blue ceramic bezel with a white enamel tachymeter scale, and the hand-wound caliber 1861 inside. The Snoopy connection is not subtle: a silver Snoopy figure sits in the running-seconds subdial, and the solid caseback carries a Snoopy medallion on a blue ceramic ring. That caseback is the part collectors look at first.
What the good replicas get right
Case proportions. The 42mm case, 20mm lug width and mid-teens thickness are well documented, and the better factories have the profile close enough that it sits like a Moonwatch on the wrist. The pushers feel crisp on the hand-wound versions.
Dial layout. Three subdials at 3, 6 and 9, the tachymeter on the bezel rather than the dial, applied hour markers, applied Omega logo. On a $200 copy this all reads correctly from a foot away.
The blue. Ceramic bezel inserts with enamel-style fill have gotten genuinely good. The bad ones look flat and plasticky. The good ones have that slightly milky depth.
Where copies fall apart
- The Snoopy. This is the one. A printed or stamped Snoopy in the small-seconds subdial almost never matches the shape, the ears, or the silver tone of the original. Look at close-up photos of the real thing before you judge a rep photo.
- Caseback artwork. Factory reps often use a laser-etched medallion with shallow relief, and the blue ring is paint instead of ceramic. The engraving on the ring is the second tell.
- Dial print. "Speedmaster" and "Professional" should be crisp and thin. Blobby text is a giveaway at conversational distance.
- Bezel numerals. Enamel fill that runs over the edge, or numerals cut too thick.
- Hands and lume. Subdial hands that are too short, or lume that glows a hard green instead of a soft blue-green.
Pick a movement, then pick a watch
Three options, three different watches.
- Quartz (Miyota or Seiko VK): cheapest, around $60 to $120. Subdials are usually decorative or fake. Fine if you want the look for a season.
- Seagull ST19: hand-wound, column wheel, running seconds at 9, 30-minute counter at 3, 12-hour totalizer at 6. Around $150 to $300. This is the sweet spot, and the layout tracks the original's 1861 closely.
- A7750 automatic: thicker, and the subdial layout tends to shift. I skip these for this reference.
Before you pay, check five things
- Subdial function. Running seconds should sweep at 9. The chrono minute counter should actually count.
- Caseback photos in daylight, not renders.
- Bezel insert edge. It should sit flush, not proud of the case.
- Crystal. Domed sapphire with slight edge distortion is right. Flat and glassy is not.
- Strap. The original came on black coated nylon with a tang buckle. A rep on a generic leather strap usually signals a lower tier.
Do not mix it up with the 50th
The 2020 Snoopy is a different watch: blue dial, different caseback, different story. Sellers blur the two constantly. If a listing shows a blue dial and calls it a 45th anniversary, it is not.
Living with one
A hand-wound chrono wants winding. Do it the same time each morning and the power reserve stops being a surprise. Keep it away from magnets, and find someone who services ST19 movements if the chrono starts dragging. That is the whole ownership story. The rest is whether the Snoopy on your wrist makes you smile, and that part is not something a spec sheet settles.