I wanted the white one. It looked like it belonged on the sleeve of a spacesuit. But the white Nubeo Elysium was sold out when I looked, which left me comparing the black and blue versions and asking a perfectly reasonable grown-man question. Which one feels more like NASA?

Blue Galaxy won me over. The white NASA lettering sits low on a wide-open blue dial, just below a little round date window at six o’clock. Then there’s the bright red crown sticking out of the brushed steel case. It looks enough like a button that some part of me wants a little plastic cover over it and a second person to authorize turning it.

Give it a little ultraviolet light

In daylight, there’s enough empty space on that dial to make you wonder why Nubeo left it all there. Shine a UV flashlight on it and up pops “Failure is not an option.” That’s a pretty stern briefing for a guy checking whether he has time to microwave a burrito. Nubeo Watches

There’s a fun bit of space history tucked into those five words. The screenwriters of Apollo 13 came up with the line after interviewing people who worked the mission. Ed Harris delivered it on screen as flight director Gene Kranz, and the real Kranz later used it as the title of his autobiography. So if you read the dial and immediately hear it in Ed Harris’s voice, you’ve got the right guy. nasa.gov

Turn it over and watch the rotor

My favorite reason to pick up an automatic watch is that there’s something to look at even when I already know what time it is. Inside the Elysium is a Japanese Miyota automatic movement. Give the case a slow tilt and you can see the weighted rotor swing through the clear back. That motion winds the mainspring, which stores the energy that keeps the hands moving after I sit back down. Finally, all that talking with my hands is funding the space program. Nubeo Watches

Nubeo drew gauges and switches across the rotor and put the same Failure is not an option inscription along its edge. I like that detail even more than the glow. On the front, you get the clean NASA lettering. On the back, you get a tiny control panel that actually moves.

Would I still pick blue?

At $300, the practical question for me is size. The steel case measures 45 mm across, 48 mm lug to lug, and 13.5 mm thick. If you’re considering one, that 48 mm measurement is the one I’d compare with a watch you already wear. You also get a blue rubber strap, an anti-reflective mineral crystal, and 5 ATM water resistance. Nubeo lists 150 pieces in this color. Nubeo Watches

I’d still happily wear the white one. But if all three were sitting in front of me today, I’d reach for Blue Galaxy. That red crown against the blue is what I’d notice every time I looked down. The hidden message is what would have me handing the watch and a UV flashlight to somebody else and saying, “Here, you’ve got to see this.”

See the Nubeo Elysium Automatic NASA Limited Edition in Blue Galaxy