The short answer
A "fake Apollo 13 Snoopy" almost always means a counterfeit of the Omega Speedmaster Apollo XIII 50th Anniversary Silver Snoopy Award released in 2020, or the 2015 Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award that came before it. Both are white dial Speedmasters carrying Snoopy artwork tied to the Apollo 13 rescue. Three things separate a genuine watch from a replica: the moving caseback, the quality of the dial printing, and the movement inside. Replicas tend to get one of those right and the other two wrong, and the caseback is where they give themselves away fastest.
Adulterated Apollo 13 Snoopy: Spot a Mismatched Speedmaster
Where Snoopy comes from
Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970. Two days later an oxygen tank in the service module ruptured, and the crew had to abandon the landing and fly home on limited power. The Speedmaster was used to time the engine burns that put them back on the right trajectory. Later that year, on October 5, NASA gave Omega its Silver Snoopy Award, a pin handed to people and organisations for work that made a mission safer or more successful. Snoopy is the award mascot, and that is why he is on the watch.
The two references people mix up
- 2015 Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award, reference 311.32.42.30.04.001, a limited run of 1,970 pieces. White dial, Snoopy in the small seconds subdial, calibre 1861, silver Snoopy medallion on the back.
- 2020 Speedmaster Apollo XIII 50th Anniversary Silver Snoopy Award, reference 310.32.42.50.02.001. Not a limited edition. 42 mm steel case, blue ceramic bezel with a white enamel tachymeter scale, and the Master Chronometer calibre 3861, METAS certified and rated to 15,000 gauss.
What replicas usually get wrong
The caseback
On the 2020 watch the display back is not just a window. There is an animated element built into it, with a disc that turns once a minute so Snoopy appears to travel around the far side of the Moon. Copying that takes real watchmaking, so most fakes print or engrave a Snoopy scene and leave it static. If the back is a picture rather than a mechanism, stop there.
Dial printing and subdials
Genuine Snoopy dials are multi-layer: white lacquer, applied markers, and a small seconds subdial at 9 with a silver Snoopy over a blue background. Fakes use flat paint, a sticker-style Snoopy, fuzzy edges under a loupe, and a blue that reads too purple or too bright.
Subdial layout and date
A real Speedmaster Professional has three subdials at 3, 6 and 9, and no date. Plenty of cheap counterfeits run a movement with a different layout, so you see counters at 12 and 6, or a date window at 4:30. Either one means the watch is not what it claims to be.
Movement finishing
The 3861 is a modern co-axial movement with clean finishing; the 1861 in the 2015 watch is a well known cam-switched chronograph. Replica movements show rough edges, uneven striping, and screws that do not sit flush. Run the chronograph and reset it. A 3861 snaps back crisply, while a cheap movement feels soft or wobbles.
Bezel and hardware
The blue ceramic bezel on the 2020 watch has the tachymeter scale filled in white enamel, not printed, and the fill sits level instead of standing proud. Check the crown and pushers too. On a real watch they line up, they turn without grit, and the crystal has anti-reflective treatment that keeps the dial readable from an angle.
How I go through a Snoopy in hand
- Shoot the dial in daylight and zoom in on the Snoopy subdial and the text. Edges and fonts are where fakes fall apart.
- Turn the watch over and watch the caseback for a full minute. Nothing moving means nothing genuine.
- Run the chronograph for a few minutes, reset it, and check the pushers return to the same position.
- Compare case size and thickness against the published specs, and check the reference number against the paperwork.
- Ask for the warranty card, box and service history. A seller who dodges those questions is telling you something.
Buying notes
The 2020 Snoopy trades well above its original retail price, so a cheap listing is not a bargain. Nobody sells a genuine one at a fraction of market value. Sellers who describe a watch as a "1:1" or "mirror" copy are describing a counterfeit, and passing one off as real is fraud in most countries. If you want the Snoopy look without the price, homages with original designs exist and are honest about what they are. They are not Snoopys, and they should never be sold as one.