Supporting Orbis With The MoonSwatch Auction
Since 2011, Omega has been one of the partners of the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital. With ambassadors like Daniel Craig and Cindy Crawford, the Swiss watch brand aims to get more attention for Orbis’s initiatives.
Omega ambassador Cindy Crawford aboard the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital — Image: Omega
The Flying Eye Hospital
Orbis is fighting against preventable blindness. Since 1982, this non-profit organization has had a flying hospital (starting with a DC-8), and today, Orbis uses an MD-10 airplane donated by FedEx. Once a cargo plane, it is now a hyper-modern hospital, training facility, and recovery room, all in one. This way, Orbis can both train medical staff and perform surgeries on location. You can read more about the Flying Eye Hospital on the official Orbis website. The video below, a documentary by Omega, gives an impression of the noble work that Orbis does.
Seymour the Teddy Bear
You might have seen the Omega × Orbis bear that goes by the name of Seymour. This teddy bear gives comfort to kids who are undergoing medical procedures. Seymour even receives a matching eye patch when the child has one.
Teddy bear Seymour is there to bring comfort to kids who have been treated for eye illnesses — Image: Omega
Auctioning 11 MoonSwatch cases
The auction for the 11 MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold cases, which my colleague Thomas reported about here, is currently taking place and will end on February 24th. The proceeds of this auction will go to the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, which is also the reason why Omega is taking care of this bit of the collaboration rather than Swatch. Each box contains 11 MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold models, all “engraved” in the case band with the airport code of the boutiques where these boxes were on display.
For the (Moon)Swatch collectors
Unlike Thomas, I am a fan of the MoonSwatch and own several versions. To me, as a Speedmaster collector, these MoonSwatch models are just fun. They bring some color to the collection, and you can play around with different straps for them as you can with the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch models. From last year’s MoonSwatch Moonshine Gold models, I own the first one that was introduced in Zürich. It’s a fun watch to own, and I can imagine that diehard (Moon)Swatch collectors will want to complete their collections.
The 11 MoonSwatch boxes are being auctioned by Sotheby’s, and the current highest bid at the time of publishing is CHF 48,000 for the New York (JFK) set. You can find and bid on them via this page.
