There is one colour on this watch that is not gold, and Omega used it three times: the ceramic bezel ring, the markings on the caseback, and the movement itself.
Burgundy. Not as a flourish — as the deliberate counterpoint to a case, dial and bracelet made entirely of 18K Moonshine gold, borrowed directly from the 1969 BA145.022 that Omega gave to the Apollo astronauts.
Which makes the strap decision on this reference unusually clear, and unusually easy to get wrong.
The fit: 20mm, nothing to select
Despite the material, this is the standard 42mm Speedmaster case, and the distance between the lugs is 20mm — the same as every other Moonwatch.
Every strap in our Speedmaster collection is cut to 20mm, so there is no width dropdown to get wrong.
Buckle colour matters more here than on any other Omega we cover. Your entire watch is Moonshine gold, so Gold is the obvious choice — with one caveat worth knowing before you order: Moonshine is a paler alloy than traditional yellow gold, so a standard gold buckle will read slightly warmer than your case rather than matching it exactly. Silver is the alternative and disappears rather than trying to match. Neither is wrong; look at both.
Spring bars are included. On a solid gold case, use the Omega strap installation tool rather than anything improvised — gold marks far more easily than steel, and the lugs are the first place it shows.
What you own
A 2019 limited edition of 1,014 pieces, marking fifty years since Omega gave a solid gold Speedmaster to the Apollo astronauts.
A 42mm case, around 14mm thick, in solid 18K Moonshine gold, brushed and polished, with sapphire front and back and 50 metres of water resistance. The dial is a vertically brushed step dial in solid Moonshine gold with faceted onyx hour markers; the hour and minute hands carry black luminous paint and the chronograph hands are blackened. The bezel ring is burgundy ceramic with a Ceragold tachymeter scale — gold fired into the ceramic — and a dot over ninety.
Inside is the manual-wind Master Chronometer calibre 3861; along with its steel sibling, this was among the first Speedmasters to carry it. Through the back you will find an inner decorative ring in blackened Moonshine gold showing a partial map of the American continent, and a domed lunar meteorite inlay set to represent the true proportions of the Earth and the Moon.
The bracelet is solid Moonshine gold too. Which brings us to the point.
The best reason to own a strap for this watch
Gold is soft.
A solid gold bracelet picks up hairlines from a desk edge, a car door, a shirt cuff. Over years the links stretch at the pins and the whole thing loosens. And on a limited edition of 1,014 pieces, a replacement Moonshine gold bracelet is not a spare part you casually order — it is a substantial fraction of what the watch is worth.
Everything you wear it for that is not an occasion is wear you cannot undo. A rubber strap costs a rounding error and takes the daily punishment instead, and it takes a great deal of weight off your wrist at the same time.
Wear the gold when the gold matters. Wear rubber the rest of the time, and keep the bracelet in the box looking the way it did.
One thing not to do
Do not put a brown or tan strap on this watch.
It is the standard advice for gold, and it is wrong here for a specific reason: Moonshine is a paler alloy than traditional yellow gold. Warm straps are calibrated to the richer stuff, and against Moonshine they drag it towards brass rather than lifting it. On a watch that is gold from end to end, that mistake is not subtle.
Cool it down or match the burgundy. That is the whole rule.
Four that work
1. Bordeaux — match the colour Omega chose
Start here, because Omega already made this decision for you. Burgundy is the only non-gold colour on the watch and it appears on the bezel, the caseback and the movement. A bordeaux strap picks it up directly.
The effect is that the watch stops reading as "a gold Speedmaster" and starts reading as the two-colour design it actually is — gold and burgundy, exactly as the 1969 original was. Nothing else we make is this specific to a single reference. Bordeaux rubber strap →
2. Black — answer the onyx
Your hour markers are faceted onyx and your chronograph hands are blackened. Black is the watch's second colour, even though most photographs make it look like it only has one.
Plain black rubber also does the single most useful thing you can do for a pale gold alloy: it removes every competing tone from the wrist, so the Moonshine reads as bright and precious rather than yellow. This is the everyday option and the one that makes a very valuable watch look restrained. Black rubber strap →
3. Black with a red line — both at once
The compromise, and a good one. A black body handles the onyx and keeps the gold cool; a fine red line down the middle answers the burgundy bezel without committing your whole wrist to it.
If the full bordeaux feels like a lot for daily wear but you still want the bezel acknowledged, this is the middle path. Black w/Red Line LuxLine® →
4. Navy blue — the coldest ground
The one nobody expects on a gold watch, and it works for exactly the reason brown does not. Deep navy is the coolest strap we make, which pushes the pale Moonshine as far towards warm as it will go — the gold looks richer against blue than against anything else here.
It is also the least ceremonial of the four. If you want to wear a solid gold Speedmaster without announcing it, this is how. Navy blue rubber strap →
Related Omega guides
- Best straps for the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch 310.30.42.50.01.001 — the steel 3861, same case and same 20mm
- Omega Speedmaster '57 332.10.41.51.01.001 strap guide
- All Omega strap guides
Ready to change it?
Helvetus is one of the largest names in aftermarket luxury watch straps, and every Omega strap we make is cut to a specific case rather than trimmed from a universal blank — so a Speedmaster strap fits a Speedmaster, with no gap at the lugs and no guesswork at checkout.
All rubber straps carry a lifetime warranty. Shipping is free worldwide, there are no import costs wherever you order from, and more than 50,000 customers have already made the swap.
Browse all Speedmaster straps → See the full Omega strap range →
Helvetus is not affiliated with Omega SA. Model names are used for compatibility reference only.
