Although the moon landing was years before I was even born, I always had an interest in the space race. The fact that the Omega Speedmaster Professional was the first watch worn on the moon, probably has a role as well in that interest. Last year, when we celebrated the 39th anniversary of the moon landing, I wrote an extensive blog post on the moon landing, NASA and the role Omega played in it with their Speedmaster Professional watches.

a Dutch (Rotterdam) newspaper from 21 july 2969 covering the moon landing

This year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, Omega introduced the 40th anniversary Speedmaster Professional watch during the BaselWorld 2009 expo. After seeing it in the flesh, I wasn’t very enthusiastic to be honest. The red tip at the chronograph second hand is too loud to my taste. The sterling silver Apollo 11 patch in the 9 o’clock subregister is very nicely done though.

However, this is ofcourse not the watch that is similar to the one that landed on the moon in 1969. As written before, the Speedmaster Professional watches with reference numbers st105.003 (Aldrin), st105.012 (Armstrong) with serial number 24002981 and st145.012 (Collins) with serial number 26552506 were the first watches worn on the moon, all with movement caliber 321. If you want something modern but yet similar, I suggest you get the regular Speedmaster Professional watch with hesalite crystal and stainless steel caseback (not the transparent one that is), ref 3570.50. Milking out the moon landing to market a new limited edition Speedmaster every 5 years (and other limiteds in between) has become a bit sad, and I think I am not alone on this one.

If you are going to spend 3850 euro on the Speedmaster Professional 40th Anniversary edition, you can actually better spend it on a REAL moon watch, like the aforementioned 145.012, 105.003 or 105.012. These vintage beauties with movement caliber 321 (column wheel chronograph manufactured by Lemania) can be had for 2500-3000 Euro in good condition. Some years ago, I wrote this article about the different Speedmasters through the years (1957 till modern models) and how to identify them correctly. It might be useful when looking for a vintage Speedy.

My friend Chuck Maddox, has written excellent articles about these vintage Speedmasters and was an absolute space freak himself, one of the articles which is definately a classic is the one that tries to definatley answer the big ‘which watches have been worn on the moon’-question. You can read the entire article by clicking here.

Although I am not wearing my vintage Speedmaster Professional 145.012 on a daily basis anymore, it does get wrist time at times like these, to commemorate the moon landing in 1969. I also think this watch is one of the nicest chronographs around, even nicer than, let’s say, a Rolex Daytona for example. However, for the Rolex fans there is the GMT-Master ref.1675 that is known to be the favorite of astronauts in their private/spare time. As the Speedmaster watches were official NASA equipment and had to be returned, the Rolex GMT 1675 was the way to go for most astronauts.

The Speedmaster is one of the purest chronographs around in my opinion, an incredible readible dial, bulletproof handwound movement, a plastic crystal that magnifies the superb dial and – ofcourse – an incredible history. NASA did only choose official for the Omega Speedmaster Professional after running several exhaustive tests.

Oh yeah, if you want to take a peek at one of the most special Speedmasters around, make sure to check out the gold Speedmaster Professional that was produced between 1969 and 1972. Only 1014 pieces were ever made, with a box in the shape of a moon rock. The one below is owned by a friend of mine, who proudly wears it! I covered this rare Speedmaster in this article last year. 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.

To all Speedy owners, enjoy this day!

39 years ago, on July 21st 1969, 2:56 AM (GMT), Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. For us watch freaks, it is nice to know that not Neil Armstrong was the first to set a foot on the moon wearing an Omega Speedmaster Professional but Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin was the first astronaut to wear the Omega Speedmaster Professional on the surface of the moon. The technical debrief in 1969 states that the Neil Armstrong’s watch was left behind in the capsule since the mission timer was out (source: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a11/a11.evaprep.html). I assume it is also widely known that Buzz Aldrin’s watch got stolen afterwards, unfortunately.

Late Chuck Maddox did a study on which type of Omega Speedmaster Professional was worn on the moon. And additionally, if it was really the ‘only’ watch worn on the moon, as Omega claims it to be on their Omega Speedmaster Professional case backs. The full article written by Chuck Maddox can be found at http://www.chronomaddox.com/moonmovement.html.

The Apollo 11 NASA astronauts – Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins will be probably know best, but Omega’s answer is the closest ‘we’ can come I guess. Former Omega employee John Diethelm (known for his swift replies with respect to vintage information inquiries) stated several times in his e-mails to Omega collectors/customers that the Speedmaster Professional watches with reference numbers st105.003 (Aldrin), st105.012 (Armstrong) and st145.012 (Collins) with calibre 321 movement was the first watch worn on the moon. I copied the content of such an e-mail from Chuck’s article on the first Moonwatch:

“ * mvt N° xxxxxxxxxx * manual winding chronograph movement of Calibre 321 – 17 jewels * case reference: ST 145.012 – stainless steel * manufactured and delivered to our Agents in Danemark on October 25, 1968.
It is confirmed that the OMEGA Speedmaster chronographs that went to the " Moon " were of identical reference as your above watch.”

Part of a double paged 1969 Omega Speedmaster advertizement

I consider this one quite funny, since my own Speedmaster Pro pre-Moon ST145.012 was according to the same Mr Diethelm made in 1967 and delivered to Norway on October 22, 1968. Only a few days in between, and both to scandanavian countries. Were they the last to receive caliber 321 Speedmaster chronographs? As per november 1968, only calibre 861 Speedies left the Omega factory in Bienne.

As for being the ‘only’ watch worn on the moon, as Omega claims, this is proven to be wrong. David Scott wore a Waltham Chronograph on the surface of the moon during the third EVA of the Apollo 15 mission (source: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15.eva2prep.html). The crystal of David’s Speedmaster Professional chronograph popped-off, and he started using his Waltham chronograph as a back-up wrist watch.

David Scott’s training space suit on display in the Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC.

On the earlier Omega Speedmaster case backs, the inscription was ‘The first watch worn on the moon’ which seems to be more spot-on than the current ‘The first and only watch worn on the moon’.

Photo by Chuck Maddox, “First watch worn on the moon” caseback. Made between approx. 1969 and 1973.

Anyhow, if you want to get closest to the real thing, I suggest you start looking for that caliber 321 Speedmaster Professional ref. ST145.012 and buy yourself a NASA Velcro strap from gasgasbones.com. These Speedmaster Professional pre-Moon models, as they are being called, are becoming more and more expensive. Thanks to the Omegamania auction held by Antiquorum in 2007. Prices are going up, also for the later 1970s models with calibre 861 movements.

Photo of my own Speedmaster Professional pre-Moon on a Velcro strap

To wrap things up: I have been wearing my Speedmaster all day to commemorate the moonlanding in 1969. Wearing the watch also reminds me of Chuck Maddox, one of the guys that really got me into the obsession for Omega Speedmasters. I consider myself to be a lucky guy to have known this legendary chronograph collector.

Interesting links:
http://www.chronomaddox.com/
http://www.buzzaldrin.com/
http://www.speedmaster-mission.net/
http://www.old-omegas.com

Interesting book on the subject:

Click here for more titles.