posted 04-05-2015 02:53 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by LM-12:
The photo was taken 1972-04-12 according to this JSC website.

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posted 04-07-2015 02:07 PM               

I took a few pictures at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in the early 1990s. One of them said "It was worn by Grissom during Gemini 3." The watch said "Omega Speedmaster." The word "PROFESSIONAL" did not appear.

Now I could not see any number engraved on it.

posted 11-23-2015 07:09 AM               

It was a grand watch, a combination timepiece-stopwatch built by Omega to be water-resistant, shock-proof, and able to withstand 12 Gs of acceleration. Most impressive of all: It had flown on Apollo 11, the first mission to land humans on the moon. When Michael Collins, Apollo 11's command module pilot, was the director of the National Air and Space Museum, he wanted to add the watch to the Museum's collection. When it was inventoried, however, its serial number indicated it was actually Neil Armstrong's watch — and had been on Armstrong's wrist when he landed on the lunar surface. What had happened?

posted 03-24-2016 01:29 PM               

The Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon "Meteorite"

The original OMEGA Grey Side of the Moon is revered for its outstanding design and innovative thinking. Today, this new model delivers beauty in ceramic and 18K Sedna gold, as well as a real piece of space that you can wear on your wrist.

For the incredible meteorite dial of this watch, OMEGA has sourced slices of the Gibeon meteorite that fell in Namibia in prehistoric times. The ribbon-like "Widmanstätten" pattern is clearly visible and also unique for each model.

Speedmaster Moonphase Co-Axial Master Chronometer Chronograph

As well as beautifully measuring every moment on earth; this timepiece follows the phases of the moon, which makes perfect sense given that the Speedmaster was the first watch ever to be worn on the lunar surface. As a Master Chronometer, the Moonphase celebrates another pioneering moment: OMEGA's exacting new standard of testing approved by METAS in 2015.

A bold use of blue gives the Moonphase its distinctive look. The sun brushed dial, ceramic bezel and leather strap are all in brilliant blue. The case is in stainless steel and the twin two-handed subdials with rhodium-plated circles give the watch a beautifully symmetrical look. The image of the moon, in sharply contrasting black and white, is as detailed as a NASA photograph.

posted 04-30-2016 05:12 AM            

Why does ANY collector pay large amounts of cash for any collectable? Such is the nature of collecting anything: passion I guess. Each to their own.

I appreciate this may be a rather simplistic question but I wonder how Omega can justify the price of the latest commemorative Snoopy watch? How much more does it cost to make the new Snoopy watch over and above the standard Speedy... or is it purely nostalgia buyers are paying for?

posted 04-30-2016 08:45 AM               

With the Snoopy 2, it was a very popular watch and they were sold out of the piece almost instantly. It was very difficult to get in a jewelry or watch store, although I know of one lucky gentleman walked into his jewelry store, found one, bought it for a little less than retail and flipped it for $12,000 USD. Now you see people flipping this watch for $15,000 USD on eBay.

Omega is a great example of brand marketing. The company built a very good chronograph back in 1957, but so did Breitling, Angelus, Universal Geneve and Rolex. But going into space and onto the moon was the significant difference. That journey signifies strength and precision. Facts that Omega has popularly exploited for five decades now.

posted 04-30-2016 09:05 AM            

Thanks for the detail Larry: thorough as always.

quote:

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Originally posted by Larry McGlynn:
As for why collect such a watch? I guess it is probably due to a psychological disorder such as hoarding, OCD, etc, take your pick.

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posted 04-30-2016 10:06 AM               

The dial kind of grows on you, because the Super Luminova on the dial as well as the bezel show up at night and makes the watch look distinctive.

It is the case back that is the beautiful part of the watch. The "Silver Snoopy" is a hand carved piece of Sterling silver placed on a blue enamel background with sprinkled silver powder to make Snoopy appear to float in Space among the stars and it is all protected by a sapphire crystal.

posted 07-05-2016 05:44 AM               

What is new is that not only one watch – the Speedmaster - survived Jim Ragan’s test, but also that the astronauts unanimously preferred Speedmaster in their own evaluation. Why did the astronauts choose Speedmaster? Only thing mentioned in the letter from Mr Ragan to Mr Slayton about why the astronauts preferred Speedmaster is that they say it was easiest to operate, but the exact details of the astronauts’ own evaluation are not yet fully known. The astronaut explicitly said it was easy to operate with the gloves on. The one tested was 105.003, without the crown guard.

At 115:32:45 in the ALSJ - Apollo 12, CDR Pete Conrad makes the following interesting observation about the operation of the Omega Speedmaster during lunar EVA:

I know we had the watches on all the time, but I don't ever remember starting or stopping them. Because they're the world's hardest thing to start or stop with your glove on.

posted 10-04-2016 07:05 AM               

Yesterday, it was exactly 54 years ago that astronaut Walter 'Wally' Schirra orbited Earth 6 times in the Sigma 7 spacecraft. The name of the NASA mission was Mercury-Atlas 8, and Schirra picked 'Sigma 7' as the name for the spacecraft. Using the mathematical symbol for summation as appropriate for an "engineering evaluation", and the "7" to refer to the seven Mercury astronauts. On his wrist, an Omega, the first Speedmaster in Space.

posted 10-17-2016 06:13 PM               

I suspect that the watch would be introduced at Baselworld in 2019, so there is time for them to design an Apollo 11 50th watch.

posted 10-18-2016 10:46 AM               

The following year, they produced a rose gold version with a white face that looked great, just a little pricey. This past year, Omega introduced the CK 2998 which is virtually identical except for different subdial hands and the "lollipop" chrono second hand. So this would suggest that they have been good sellers.

posted 11-08-2016 11:30 AM               

A new experience and a great event, with many space fans who wear the brand - of course. The boutique had an array of factory museum specimens from Switzerland, including a flown example, as well as many fellow fans sporting their Speedys. We had two "Safety Snoopy's," who posed together, plus the rare "TinTin" (European comic book character) example.

posted 11-23-2016 11:29 AM               

I believe 11 watches were flown (Leonov three, Kubasov two, Stafford two, Brand two and Slayton two) but the NASA astronauts might have taken their tribute gold version during the mission as well?

posted 11-23-2016 12:18 PM               

There is an article by Robert noting Leonov wore three watches but I have never seen any photographic documentation of the third. All the images I have seen show Leonov with one watch on each wrist, one on an elastic strap and one on a flat link bracelet.

All the images of Stafford I'm familiar with show him wearing two stainless steel watches one on each wrist and both on Velcro straps. I have seen numerous images of Stafford wearing his gold Speedmaster but they are all from pre-flight training images.

Here is a quote from the Omega Museum's website.

On the flight there were a total of ten watches used, all of which were Speedmasters; however, Tom Stafford wore the 18 Ct yellow gold Speedmaster Deluxe he had received after the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. All the other watches worn by the astronauts were the standard NASA issue watches equipped with 321 calibre while all the cosmonauts wore the newer ST145.022 with 861 calibre.

posted 11-24-2016 02:18 AM               

In fact Leonov stated he brought three Speedmasters onboard. That brings the total to 11 Speedmasters.

Let's not forget that each astronaut and cosmonaut probably had a PPK (Personal Preference Kit) in which they could take a few personal items, such as an extra wristwatch.

posted 11-24-2016 03:09 AM               

Robert's article also quotes Kubasov saying the following:

I took on this flight two Omega watches, one on my hand [wrist] and one in my spacecraft.

posted 11-29-2016 11:36 AM               

I will ask Stafford about flying his gold Apollo 11 Speedmaster. I do know that the watch was stolen out of his hotel at the Dallas airport many years ago. The watch community is on the look out for the watch. If it ever shows up at auction, it is wanted back by the General. He currently wears the 1980 German issued version of the gold Speedmaster with his name engraved on it.

As for the subject of the bezel on the gold Apollo 11 Speedmaster watches, many of them were worn and the burgundy bezel was lost.

Looking at past auctions, you see both red and black bezels on some of the gold Apollo 11 Speedmasters up for sale. I was confused by the difference, but in talking with several astronauts, they told me that they wore the watch regularly and one day they found that the bezel fell off.

One moonwalker told me that he was at the beach and when he was leaving he found that the red bezel had fallen off and was lost on the beach. In talking with one of the lead watch technicians at Omega NJ, they told me that the gold bezel and gold case was a problem for Omega back then.

Once the red bezel was gone, a local jeweler could only replace it with a black bezel. That is why some of those gold Apollo XI commemorative Speedmasters show up with black bezels. The original watches gifted by Omega at the Hotel Warwick on November 25, 1969 all had the red or burgundy bezel which is beautiful with the rose gold watch case.