Cover: a Skywalker X‑33 floating in the ISS Cupola during Alexander Gerst’s 2014 mission. © ESA/NASA – A. Gerst.
Omega’s analogue-digital astronaut’s watch faces an uncertain next chapter. Official product pages mark both the Skywalker and Marstimer as no longer available, but the future of the wider X‑33 programme remains unresolved.
The Speedmaster X‑33 occupies an unusual place in luxury watchmaking. Its appeal rests on the practical business of keeping time during a mission: coordinating events, tracking intervals and sounding an alarm when attention is required. Its retreat from the retail spotlight raises a larger question about the place of highly specialised instruments in a luxury catalogue.
What is confirmed about the X‑33’s withdrawal?
As of November 3, 2026, Omega’s official Hong Kong pages for the Skywalker, reference 318.90.45.79.01.001, and Marstimer, reference 318.90.45.79.01.003, state that the watch is no longer available. That is direct evidence of their status on that regional storefront. It does not establish a worldwide production end date or explain the decision.
No successor or launch timetable could be verified in the official material reviewed. Retail availability, any potential professional supply arrangements and servicing for existing watches must also be treated separately. The withdrawal of a consumer offering does not, by itself, settle the other two questions.
A different kind of Speedmaster, since 1998
Introduced in 1998, the X‑33 extended the Speedmaster’s remit into electronic mission timing. The mechanical Moonwatch carries an extraordinary history; the X‑33 brought a different working vocabulary to the wrist, combining hands with a digital display and programmable functions.
The 2014 Skywalker made that purpose particularly clear. It incorporated an ESA patent based on ideas from astronaut Jean-François Clervoy, helping users track mission events and calculate elapsed or remaining time. The benefit was practical: a watch could organise several temporal references around a demanding schedule.
Marstimer and the problem of a longer day
Launched in September 2022, the Marstimer extended that thinking to Mars. ESA engineers and scientists conceived its Mars-specific functions to support operations for the Rosalind Franklin rover. The requirement originated with teams working on Earth; the watch’s name should not be read as evidence that it has travelled to Mars.
Its 45mm Grade 2 titanium case houses Omega’s thermocompensated quartz calibre 5622. The watch tracks the date and time at Mars’s prime meridian alongside terrestrial time references. A Martian solar day runs approximately 39 minutes longer than an Earth day, creating a genuine scheduling challenge for exploration teams working across the two cycles.
The commercial challenge of a specialised instrument
Those capabilities explain the X‑33’s significance. They cannot establish the size of its market. A tool built around mission schedules addresses a narrow requirement, while a luxury customer may favour a watch whose appearance and operation feel immediately familiar. Turning specialist utility into sustained consumer demand requires more than technical competence.
Range consolidation is therefore a plausible commercial interpretation of the withdrawal. It remains an interpretation. Omega has not supplied a verified explanation here, and publicly available model-level sales figures do not justify declaring the X‑33 a commercial failure. Nor is there sufficient evidence to attribute its departure to production costs.
Qualification requires precision, too
ESA subjected the Skywalker to vibration, acceleration, vacuum, temperature and radiation testing. The Marstimer was also evaluated at the agency’s ESTEC technical centre. These are substantial credentials, but a qualification should be understood within its specific scope. Describing a watch as space-qualified does not automatically establish approval for every task, including extravehicular activity.
What should come next?
A future X‑33 would deserve to be judged on legibility, straightforward programming, effective alarms and long-term serviceability. New display technology or phone connectivity might be conceivable, but neither should be presented as an announced feature of a forthcoming model.
Collectors should apply similar discipline. Discontinuation alone cannot guarantee appreciation. Electronic condition, display integrity, working controls and access to service deserve scrutiny before rarity becomes the centre of a purchase decision.
The X‑33’s enduring contribution is the way it allowed a professional requirement to shape a luxury watch. Its next chapter would be strongest if it began with another clearly defined job to do. Until Omega announces that product, the distinction between a retail withdrawal and the end of an idea remains essential.
