The Rise of the Lunar Pilot

On the path to being relegated by history, a lunar horological accident gave this model its provenance.

In Spring of 2024, my mom was dying. She’d long been dying of Parkinson’s, a cruel disease that quickly took from her the ability to communicate, something the retired journalist and grade school librarian excelled at.

We’d just been been up in Cleveland for the solar eclipse, and I was sporting my King Samurai I found at a Cincinnati suburban Macy’s, but my mom was at a Cleveland Clinic hospital with pneumonia. We’d planned to be up for the eclipse and to enjoy it all together. My mom watched it from a hospital room as best she could.

Leaving that hospital, I knew my mom was going to be dying soon. I reasonably figured that it would, probably, be the last time I saw her.

Back in Virginia, I went to my favorite local watch dealer: Fashion Time at the Potomac Mills mall, a simple horological paradise run by a father/son. If you live anywhere near Washington, or are passing through, worth a visit. It’s like how mall watch shops used to be, before they were sort of squeezed out of existence. Now, it’s sort of a Dakota Watch Company vs. Watches of Switzerland divide, with a sort discount jeweler (think Kay’s Outlet) chain dominance. Shops like these are increasingly rare.

I had a modest watch budget that I had planned for and Fashion Time, which liked to get collectible limited editions of various watches, had the new limited edition Bulova Lunar Pilot with the meteorite dial.

With apologies to my friends and colleagues who love the Omega Speedmaster, I do not. I am not a hater, but rather, I am a Seamaster sucker. Always have been.

So, when I read about the horological accident of the popped off crystal on Apollo 15 and the back-up watch that Dave Scott used? I was interested in the basic remake, which is an underrated watch for the price (under $500.)

While the experimental model that lost out in the battle of being NASA’s official space watch to the Omega Speedmaster had a different movement, the new Lunar Pilots have the highly accurate NP20 quartz movement, which is accurate to like 10 seconds a year, thanks to its 262 kHz frequency.

That, plus its provenance, and its price point (compared to a Speedmaster)? I was on the hunt.

One thing I do not like about the remake is the flowery font in the signature of Archive Series.

This looks like it could be a state logo. Who thought this was a good design?

I was hesitant to make the purchase but wanted to see one in the flesh. Could I live with that weird signature? That B? That A? They have subsequently fixed the font issue, going with a more militaristic look in subsequent reissues, which they also did with the meteorite model, in case you were wondering.

I didn’t have to make that decision because Fashion Time had #1,448 of 5,000 for sale. I held it and thought, well, this might be the watch I want to buy if I want something specially for the occasion of my mother’s impending death. It, like my mom, is one of a kind.

Yes, it is one of 5,000, but the meteorite dial is what makes it one of a kind. As Teddy Baldassarre explains:

Its dial is forged from a piece of Muonionalusta Meteorite, the oldest known space rock known to science, estimated to be 4.56353 billion years old. After falling to Earth in a meteor shower, the meteorite experienced intense heating through gravitational compression, followed by millions of years of slow cooling, resulting in the lattice-like crystalline patterns on their surface known to science as “Widmanstatten,” named for the Viennese Count who first observed them in 1808. These natural textures cannot be replicated in a laboratory and are unique to each meteorite; in layman’s terms for potential purchasers of this watch, it means that no two dials are exactly alike.

And, she would appreciate this, they price matched Kay Outlet. (My mom was a big bargain obsessive.)

For the extra money, you get a titanium case, with this nice lunar touch, over the usual stainless steel. Sapphire is standard on the Lunar Pilots.

They were advertising this watch on TV for months. I saw ads on MSNBC for it. Based on the price and the number of watches, we’re talking $7.5 million in overall revenue here.

Perhaps the ads were to reintroduce the Lunar Pilot line of watches and Bulova’s name. The success of this release likely prompted Bulova to expand the line.

That’s my theory, at least, as the newly released Timascus just dropped. Why else would you spend money on such a limited release, and for watches that retail for so little? (At least in comparison to a wide release, or a higher-priced watch.)

When you get the limited edition, you get a nice wooden box, along with a replica travel clock.

It’s a nice little gift, but not worth the $125 some think it is.

There is also a wall clock version of it, now, which you may have spotted on the wall behind Marc at Long Island Watch. I have one, too.

My mom was released from the hospital to hospice care, and as I knew I’d be heading back to Cleveland to bury her soon. I wanted this to be an intentional purchase, a watch I would, in a way, remember her by.

I had it when I got the call: time to come back to Cleveland. I raced over to pick up my sister in nearby Burke from Woodbridge, where I lived at the time, and brought this new watch on the mission for which it was intended.

Whenever I put it on, and I try to reserve it for special occasions, I think of that week in Cleveland and the many memories I hope to treasure forever that my mom gave me.

—Casual Time #14 by Jim Swift

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The Watch: Bulova Lunar Pilot, REF: 96A312. MSRP $1,500. Prices may vary, as it is a limited edition. A growing number of references to choose from.

Quick Specs Summary

Case Diameter 43.5 mm

Case Thickness~13.2 mm

Lug-to-Lug~51 mm

Case Material Grade 5 Titanium (SuperTitanium™)

Weight~94–95 g

Crystal Sapphire with anti-reflective coating

Dial Muonionalusta meteorite

Movement Quartz NP20, 262 kHz, ±10 s/year

Chronograph Yes – 1/20 sec precision

Bezel Tachymeter ring

Strap Black leather NATO, 20 mm

Water Resistance50 m (5 ATM)

Limited Edition 5,000 pieces