The short answer
A counterfeit Apollo 13 Snoopy is any watch sold as an Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award that Omega did not make. Two references carry the nickname, and both get faked hard: the 2015 45th Anniversary and the 2020 50th Anniversary. The quickest way to sort real from fake is to stop staring at the dial and look at the caseback. On the 2020, the back is a working mechanism, with Snoopy and a rotating Earth tied to the chronograph. Most fakes print that scene flat or leave it frozen. On the 2015, the caseback and the bezel are where the shortcuts show.
Know which reference you are looking at
The nickname gets applied to two very different watches, and sellers lean on the confusion.
Faux Apollo 13 Snoopy: Replica Silver Snoopy Speedmaster Guide
- 2015, 45th Anniversary. Reference 311.32.42.30.04.003. White dial, blue ceramic bezel, 42 mm steel case, hand-wound calibre 1861, limited to 1,970 pieces. That number is not random: Apollo 13 launched in 1970.
- 2020, 50th Anniversary. Reference 310.32.42.50.02.001. Blue dial, calibre 3861, a co-axial Master Chronometer movement, and no fixed production number.
Both exist because NASA's astronauts handed Omega a Silver Snoopy Award in 1970 for timing the 14-second mid-course correction that helped bring Apollo 13 home. If a listing calls a blue dial a limited edition, the seller does not know what they have.
Manufactured Apollo 13 Snoopy: What Replica Watches Copy
The caseback is the first thing I check
Flip it over. The 2020 model has a domed sapphire back with an animated scene: Snoopy in the command module, a rotating Earth disc, and stars, all driven by the chronograph seconds. It runs when you start the chrono. Fakes either etch the image into metal or stick a printed disc under flat glass, and nothing moves when the chrono runs. That single test eliminates most of the market.
The 2015 has a plainer back with the award motif and a line about what you could do in 14 seconds. Genuine engraving cuts deep and stays crisp under a loupe. Laser-etched fakes look shallow, and the letter spacing drifts.
Movement tells you almost everything
The Speedmaster Professional is a hand-wound watch. If you can see an oscillating rotor through a display back, you are not looking at a Speedmaster movement.
- Quartz fakes give themselves up instantly: the chronograph seconds hand ticks instead of sweeping.
- Most mechanical fakes run a Seagull ST19 or a similar budget column-wheel chrono. It is a real movement and it feels fine in the hand, but it does not hack, it has no co-axial escapement, and it has never seen METAS certification.
- The 2020's calibre 3861 is a Master Chronometer: 50 hours of reserve, hacking seconds, magnetic resistance to 15,000 gauss. No replica passes those tests.
Ask for a timed rate check or a photo of the movement with the caseback open. A refusal is an answer.
Dial, bezel, and printing
Fakers spend their money on the dial because the dial is what photos show. Check it anyway.
- The 2015 bezel is blue ceramic with a white enamel tachymeter scale. Under angled light it reads glassy and slightly three-dimensional. Fake scales look like a sticker printed on the surface.
- Subdial rings should be sharp and evenly spaced. On fakes the rings run thick and the print blurs at the edges.
- On the 2020, the small Snoopy on the running seconds subdial is applied and silver-toned, with clean edges. Fake versions are painted and flat.
- Lume plots should sit level and fill evenly. Smearing or doming is a production tell, not a wear tell.
Case, lugs, and how it feels
Genuine Speedmaster cases have lyre-shaped lugs with polished flanks and a brushed top surface, and the transition between the two is razor sharp. Fakes round that edge off, and the brushing runs too shallow or in the wrong direction. Pushers should have firm, short travel. If the chrono pushers feel mushy or the reset snaps late, stop there.
Weight matters less than people assume, because plenty of fakes use solid steel. Finish quality is the better signal.
The price and paperwork trap
Both Snoopy references trade above original retail and hold value. A deal at half of market is a fake or a stolen watch, and usually a fake. On the 2015, check the limited number; anything outside 1,970 is nonsense. On both, papers should match the reference, and Omega can verify a serial if you ask before money changes hands.
What a replica can and cannot be
Being straight about this: a well-built replica Snoopy can look convincing across a table. It cannot carry a co-axial Master Chronometer movement, it cannot reproduce the 2020's animated caseback, and it cannot be serviced by Omega or hold value. If a seller claims all three, they are lying about at least two of them. Selling any of these as a genuine Omega is fraud, not a gray area.
Quick checklist before you pay
- Caseback animation works with the chronograph (2020).
- No rotor visible. Hand-wound only.
- Chrono seconds sweeps, never ticks.
- Bezel scale is enamel on ceramic (2015), not a printed disc.
- Limited number sits inside 1,970 (2015).
- Lug edges sharp, brushing even and directional.
- Price in line with the real secondary market.