If you’ve ever seen a movement without it’s watch, and it’s got a date, you’ll know that the display consists of a large disc with the numbers 1–31 written on it that incrementally rotates every 24 hours. Fairly simple to understand, and also a little tricky to see—hence the big date complication. But how on Earth does the big date actually work?

There’s no point dragging this out; mechanical watches are not better than quartz—quite the opposite in fact. Quartz is objectively, categorically—and by a considerable margin—better than mechanical. It’s as simple as that.

When astronaut Neil Armstrong climbed out of the lunar module and stepped onto the moon’s surface for the first time, he was immediately instructed to scoop up a handful of moon dust and stuff it into his pocket, just so they'd have something in case the mission was suddenly aborted. Well here's your chance to own some of that dust, and it'll cost you just shy of £4,000—oh, and you get a watch thrown in with it for free.

By now you’re probably well aware of Omega’s significance in the field of space exploration, from the first in space on the wrist of Wally Schirra during the Mercury missions, all the way up to the X-33s worn on board the International Space Station. This is the latest in a long line of watches designed for elite pilots and astronauts—the Spacemaster Z-33. But how on Earth does it work?