The Omega Speedmaster Professional is the watch that seems to be the back bone of my watch collection and interest in mechanical wrist watches. It is the watch that started the whole madness for me. That’s probably why it is in the header picture of this website anyway I have to admit though, that there are periods that I almost never wear mine and that it gets almost no attention at all. However, with the slightest trigger the whole obsession with this watch start all over again. The latest trigger has been a small GTG with a few long time watch friends. One of the guys was wearing this very rare Speedmaster Professional ref. BA 145.022. He also brought the original box which is a relief “Lunar surface” box which is probably even more rare. Although this watch is not considered to be Omega’s holy grail Speedmaster, it is highly sought after.

In 1969, after the moon landing, Omega created a gold version of the Speedmaster Professional (caliber 861) to commemorate this spectacular event. This watch has been produced in only small numbers (1014 in total), from august 1969 till somewhere in 1972. The first 28 pieces were given to the president of the United States (Richard M. Nixon at the time, who received number 1), the vice-president and the active NASA astronauts. According to Omega’s Journey through Time book, Richard Nixon refused the watch because it was a gift of too high a value. I guess the White House had a Compliance department in 1969 already.

The first 28 pieces had the following inscription in its caseback: “to mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time”. Including the number of the watch and the name of the recipient. The other watches had the “the first watch worn on the moon” text (horizontally) engraved.

During a gala dinner on the 25th of November 1969, at the Hotel Warwick in Houston, approximately 26 pieces were offered to the NASA astronauts. The number 1 and 2 watch, offered to the president and the vice-president (Spiro Agnew), is on display in the Omega Museum since 1999.

Last saturday I had the opportunity to observe one of these 1014 special time pieces, and its original box. Please see the pictures below. This model has the “First watch worn on the Moon” engraving, filled with the maroon color. The first time pieces with this engraving, had a smaller font type and were only engraved (not filled-in).

The owner of this watch wants to remain anonymous. Inquiries are not appreciated.

As written before, Johan and I set-up a website to support the LinkedIn Group ‘a Passion for Watches’.

Not too long ago, Johan and I added a forum, to be able to discuss the watch industry and watch branch. “Another forum”, I hear you say. Indeed, we are aware of that, but this forum has a slightly different approach. This forum is there to discuss the movements (nice choice of words RJ :)) within the watch branch/industry. What happens over at Swatch Group? How do you become employed in the watch branch? And most of all, it should be a forum where people from the watch industry, jewelers and customers meet.

And yes, you have to register to participate. Blogs and forums are unfortunately the victim of spam and spam bots as well. You do not have to be signed-up on LinkedIn, but that is the place to get connected to other watch passionates.

My blog friend Alon Ben-Joseph posted a great article on ‘who’s the king?’

“We all love ranks, lists, competition and knowing who is the best. In the watch industry many players crown themselves as the king of the industry. Consumers always want to own the best watch. But who is actually the king?”

Click the following link to go to the article:
http://watchfreaks.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/whos-the-king/

Don’t forget to bookmark Watch Freaks Blog!

Oh, shoot me. This Panerai Forum is something I set-up with the help of some Panerai enthusiasts. The Dutch Rolex Forum is quite popular, so I wondered if there would be space for a Dutch Panerai Forum as well. Panerai is a brand that I have the famous love - hate relationship with. I had this wonderful PAM 113 and sold it because I thought I could do without. Boy, I was wrong. I really missed the whole Panerai experience.. being a Paneristi, buying and changing Panerai straps once in a while (or too often). So, about a year after I sold it, I ran into this great looking Panerai 000. As good as new. And the enthusiasm was immediately there again. Anyway, as a result, I started the Dutch Panerai Forum. For Flemish and Dutch writing/reading Panerai enthusiasts. So if you are one of those, click and take a look at the forum!

http://www.paneraiforum.nl

Photo by Gertjan, visitor of the paneraiforum.nl site.

I remember being very enthusiastic about the re-invented Rolex Milgauss watches in 2007. I am a regular visitor of several Rolex forums, and most active on the Dutch Rolex forum, as writing/reading posts in your mother language still works best. It occured to me that only few forum visitors/members have a Rolex Milgauss in their collection (or as their only watch). When I just visited the sales corner of ‘das R-L-X’ forum, I noticed quite a few for sale, including those with the green saphire crystal called Rolex Milgauss GV.

Although the odds were different one year ago, the Milgauss doesn’t seem to be an immediate hit as I expected it would be. The period where prices were over the list price is long gone already, except for the green sapphire model I guess. The regular models (white and black dial) start below 4000 euro. Although I don’t care much about block buster watches, I was clearly wrong about the future of the Rolex Milgauss. If you look at watches as an investment, it might be a good bet anyway. Rolex watches that do no sell very well at this moment, are probably the most sought-after watches in the (far) future. Think former Milgauss, 1960s and 1970s Daytona and (more or less) the Rolex Oyster-Quartz models. That is at least what I hope for with respect to my precious Yacht-Master Oh, anyway… for those who have a modern Rolex Milgauss, enjoy your watches!

Rolex Milgauss 116400, a LNIB for sale at Bernard Watch Co for less than list..

Interesting book on this subject:

Today, I noticed an Omega LED wrist watch on someone’s wrist in an interior store. Now, if I would be in a watch shop or perhaps in a bar or something, I probably asked him more about this watch. Is he a collector? Is this his only watch? How did het get it? What about the history of this watch? Is he aware that he wears something ’special’? Does he have box, papers and the original receipt? You know the drill, these questions need to be answered if you encounter someone with a nice watch.

Now, back at home, I still don’t know anything about this man and his watch. I think I will manage to sleep well, but it would have been nice to interact with someone who has a nice time piece. At least when he was aware of having one I felt it wasn’t the right place to ask, this man was clearly occupied with shopping for interior with his family. What would you do?

Just when watches with a >40mm case diameter are considered to be normal sized, I took my vintage Rolex Date-Just ref.1601 with me for a meeting last Friday with a small number of watch enthusiasts. Although I consider 36mm the bare minimum of millimeters for my wrist size, the watch stayed on all weekend and Monday during my work day. The other people who were present on the meeting also had fairly modest sized wrist watches strapped around their wrists. Among them a vintage Glashütte (G.U.B) from the 1960s, a Cartier Tortue Mono Poussoir, a vintage Rolex Day-Date (ref.1803), a Girard Perregaux Richeville, a Patek Philippe Nautilus (5711/1A), a Breguet Type XX and my vintage Date-Just and modern Yacht-Master in steel/platinum. Except for the Yacht-Master, Type XX and Nautilus, the other watches should be considered (relatively) small for the current standards on case diameters.

Extremely large watches – with a reason (e.g. divers, aviators)– are probably here to stay, but I doubt if brands who recently started making larger wrist watches will continue doing so in the future. The rather conservative brands like Patek Philippe are not making serious moves towards large watches. Rolex upgraded their GMT, Sea-Dweller, Day-Date and Date-Just watches with a more muscular case with the exception of the Yacht-Master II, which can be considered to be extremely large. IWC upgraded their Fliegerchronographs as well with a few millimeters in diameter and of course, have their Big Pilot model as well. And than I didn’t even mention Hublot’s Big Bang watches yet. Officine Panerai always produced large watches and is probably responsible for initiating the hype of big watches

Will this hype continue to go on, and for how long? Or was this small number of watch enthusiasts not representative for ‘the next step’ in watch collecting? I actually felt quite comfortable wearing the 36mm size Date-Just for a few days in a row. Perhaps other people will think otherwise

TheTimeTV is a television channel for Watchmaking enthusiasts and professionals. New products, interviews, events, insights - TheTimeTV covers the latest Watchmaking industry news through exclusive reports and interviews. I blogged about the time tv on 11 May 2006 as well, but a number of things has been changed since then..

The Time TV now offer a wide range of videos – Products/ Interviews/ Events etc, and it is becoming one of the leading websites in terms of exposure. In June this year, they have also launched a new partnership with www.horlogerie.com, and now, the videos can be found on both WebTVs.

Personally, I especially like the product videos on the TheTimeTV website. A number of great watches of known and less known brands are present! Video is the next best thing on the web imho, and I am glad that TheTimeTV is showing how it should be used for us watch freaks