Back to reality, legibility suffers when everything is black – it is no secret that to make things visible, you need both light and shadows, and here, apart from the few reflective surfaces, we are sort of lacking the former. The ceramic dial has been “matted” with laser technology to deprive it of its characteristic, jet-black gloss. Even the luminescent material inside the indices and the hands is black SuperLuminova, rendering the “Blackmaster,” if you like, somewhat legible when you are out there exploring the dark side of the Moon – black lume is not famous for its torch-like brightness. And yet, despite all this blackness, legibility of the base Speedmaster dial design shines through – quite literally so, as when light finds it in a favorable way, the indices and hands “pop” from the black-hole-like backdrop.

The Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Pitch Black aims at the exact opposite end of the scale when it comes to legibility, regardless whether that concerns day or night time. In fact, the name Pitch Black is the ultimate misnomer: sure, the case parts and dial are black, but this watch has more lumed components on it than probably any other Omega ever made, as it lights up design elements (and some more) that you’d possibly need to see at night.

The hour, minute, and chronograph seconds hands have an off-white colored lume applied to them, which emits a radiant green light when charged by an external light source. The icing on the cake, though, and what makes the Pitch Black really come to life at night, are the lumed tachymeter scale of the ceramic bezel, and the Super-Luminova applied Omega logo on the crown – both are really cool features which would make for some neat details on not just this one, but arguably, on all other Speedmaster watches (excluding the original Moonwatch, of course). Last but not least, the three hands of the two sub-dials have off-white varnish to go with the color of the Super-Luminvova applied to all other components.

Third in line is the Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Sedna Black, which uses Omega’s proprietary 18k gold alloy of palladium, copper, and comprising at least 75% gold. Sedna Gold was specially developed in an attempt to make normal red gold more durable and hence more beautiful in the long run. The indices, hands (except the chronograph seconds hand), as well as the bezel (which sports a ceramic insert for that extra bit of black) are in Sedna Gold, while two splashes of red, used for the Speedmaster script and the tip of the central chronograph hand were added.

From a personal perspective, having seen all four Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon watches “live,” this piece, mixing the yellow-ish color of the gold and the aforementioned spots of red seemed to be a bit out of place among the rest of the Dark, Grey, and White Side Of The Moon watches. The counterpoint is, though, that gold makes it that little bit more dressy and elegant.

Now, the Vintage Black. While the Black Black is sure fun, the Pitch Black is interesting for its lume-craze, and the Sedna Black is a tad more elegant than the rest, the Vintage Black may just be the most coherent and fascinating new design of the lot. In fact, if the brand had released just one new Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon watch in 2015, of the four, I would not have been surprised if this were their pick.

To some extent, the term vintage certainly applies to the style of this reference, as its combination of matte, dark blacks, sand colored lume and text everywhere, plus its brown leather strap all make for an obvious vintage vibe. As the vintage-revival is very much a trend that is well and alive, we see faux-vintage lume used on watches more and more often; there is, however, a major difference between most other examples and this one. Where numerous brands (small and large alike) use it to imitate aging on their newly released “vintage tribute” watches, here, on the Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Vintage Black, that gaudy, “try-hard” sense is gone for the simple reason that one cannot possibly mistake a 44.25 millimeter wide, full ceramic watch of this caliber for a vintage timepiece.

What is left, however, is a strikingly well-balanced look that is as simple and straightforward in its color combination as it is elegant and easy to wear on a day-to-day basis. Much like the Pitch Black, the Vintage Black also features a lumed tachymeter scale on its bezel, and it even sports the lumed Omega logo on its crown as well. All hands, indices, and text are in this color that Omega itself refers to as “Vintage” Super-Luminova – no splashes of red or other colors added, just this restrained mixture of two high contrast colors.

As noted above, this ceramic dark magic brings a price premium over the steel Omega Speedmaster, with prices for the new-for-2015 versions of the Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon varying slightly as follows:
– Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Black Black (Ref 311.92.44.51.01.005) is $12,000;
– Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Sedna Black (Ref 311.63.44.51.06.001) is $15,000;
– Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Vintage Black (Ref 311.92.44.51.01.006) is $12,000;
– Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon Pitch Black (Ref 311.92.44.51.01.004) is $12,000. omegawatches.com