Space Shuttle Echoes in the Amida Digitrend NASA Tribute: A Driver’s Watch Reborn

On a sunlit dashboard, a white ceramic lid catches light like a heat-shield tile — a deliberate nod to the space shuttle that inspired the new Amida Digitrend NASA Tribute. The watch presents time on a face turned toward the driver, its jumping hour and trailing minutes visible through a prism; it arrives as a tight, purposeful revival of a 1976 design.

How the space shuttle inspired the design

Amida said, “Our inspiration comes from the iconic ceramic tiles covering the space shuttle’s exterior, to protect it against the brutal heat of atmospheric reentry. ” That inspiration is literal in materials and symbolic in mood: the top is a white ceramic shell marked with the red NASA worm logo used from 1975 to 1992, set into a fluted black DLC monobloc case. The Digitrend keeps the perpendicular dial that defines driver’s watches, using a prism to present a jumping hour and a dragging minutes aperture so a driver sees time without turning a wrist.

The project positions itself as a tribute to an era of mechanized optimism. Amida described the piece as designed to capture the spirit of the era of the Space Shuttle, “when humanity dared to reach for the stars. ” The new edition leans on that visual language while retaining the quirky ergonomics that made the original a cult object.

What’s inside: movement, materials, and the limited run

Mechanically, the Digitrend NASA Tribute is driven by the Soprod Newton P092 automatic caliber, which offers a 44-hour power reserve and is visible through a transparent or exhibition caseback. Amida’s in-house jumping hour disc comprises nine mechanical components or a 9-piece module that creates the analog “digital” display beneath the prism. The case construction combines a black DLC-faceted metallic monobloc body topped with a ceramic lid; finishes noted include brushed and glossy surfaces that echo retro-futurist architecture.

Details underscore the collector-focused intent: a black leather strap with a quilted white nylon center, a black DLC steel buckle, hook-and-loop pass-through fastening, and 50m of water resistance are all part of the package. The watch is presented in a bubble display case that leans into the imaginary of vintage space props.

Amida limits the run strictly to 100 pieces. Pricing is listed at CHF 3, 400 (approximately $4, 500) in one description and appears as $4, 420 in another; either way, the edition is positioned as a niche, collectible offering rather than a mass-market model.

Who revived it, who will wear it, and what this revival means

Industry veterans Clément Meynier and Matthieu Allègre revived Amida in 2024 and led the return of the Digitrend concept. Matthieu Allègre appears in context as watch designer associated with the rerelease; the pair expanded the original 1976 idea — an automatic jumping-hour driver’s watch that once competed with cheaper quartz designs — into a contemporary limited edition tied to space imagery.

The Digitrend NASA Tribute is aimed squarely at collectors and horological enthusiasts who prize mechanical curiosity and period references. The watch’s combination of a historical complication, a visible Soprod caliber, and a NASA-branded ceramic top creates a product that is both a wearable object and a piece of designed nostalgia. For buyers, the appeal will be tactile: the angled display, the prism effect, the clasp and strap details, and the bubble display case that presents the watch as an artifact.

For the industry, the release illustrates how small brands mine specific histories — here, a 1970s driver’s watch and the visual language of spaceflight — to make limited-run objects that trade on story as much as on specs.

Back on the dashboard: a final look

When a driver glances down and finds a mechanical jump-hour readout framed by glossy ceramic, the watch’s reference to the space shuttle is no longer just decorative; it becomes part of the imagination that the object carries. The Amida Digitrend NASA Tribute returns a peculiar 1976 novelty to a moment that favors collectible, story-driven watches, closing the loop between a specific historical design and the enduring lure of spaceflight. Whether owners will wear it often or keep it boxed in its bubble case, the piece asks the same question the revival itself embodies: what keeps mechanical designs alive in a digital age, and how far will nostalgia for the space shuttle push collectors to reach for the past?