Alon Ben-Joseph of AceJewelers.com – friend of the show – did a very nice video review on last year’s introduced Omega Speedmaster Professional 40th Anniversary Limited Edition.

I love this version of the Omega Speedmaster Professional. The logo on the dial and special case back make it worth buying over most other limited edition Speedmaster Professional models. I have seriously considered buying this watch after it was presented during Baselworld 2009, but since I have had a few of these Speedies and cherishing my Speedmaster Professional pre-Moon caliber 321 the most anyway, I went for something completely different

Enjoy the video and don’t forget to give some feedback on it!

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!

A few days ago, I posted a small message about a NOS (New Old Stock) Omega racing strap I bought via eBay. I picked it up from the post office last friday and today I finally had some time to remove the stainless steel bracelet and attach the NOS strap. Here is a first picture that I just took.

As you can see, the strap is quite flat and in my opinion, that suits the vintage Speedmaster Pro (pre-)Moon better than the heavy padded straps that Omega delivers nowadays. I also attached a vintage stainless steel buckle with applied Omega logo. I think this buckle is a bit more 1950s which makes it not entirely appropriate for this ref. 145.012-67 Speedy, but it does the trick for now. I probably have a 1960s buckle laying around somewhere, so that’s something that can be done later on today. Or tomorrow.

Have a nice weekend all! Coming days/weeks you can expect some nice reviews and articles here on various watches. Among them are a lady’s Patek Philippe 24 in gold with 34 diamonds with satin strap (my girlfriend really liked this one), a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso and an Oris TT3 PVD.

As you probably may know (or not), the Omega Speedmaster was introduced in 1957 as a watch for racing drivers. At least according to their own advertisements from that period (who are included in a.o. Omega SAGA). We all know the Speedmaster (pre-)Professional watches for their share in the Apollo (and current) space programs by the NASA.

Since Omega was my first introduction to serious watches, and my first proper watch was (and still have it in my collection of course) a Speedmaster Professional 145.012 from 1967, I regulary search the internet for similar watches or for accessories for this particular watch (or my 145.022 from 1969 that I also own). Last week I came across a vintage racing strap on eBay.com.

This Omega racing strap, a leather strap with holes (so your skin gets some fresh air?), is a nice add-on for this watch and looks good too. This type of strap was also used on the Tag Heuer Monaco for example, which is definately the ultimate racing watch

I think I paid approximately 45 euros including shipping and an original vintage Omega buckle. When it’s here, I will put some pictures online of this strap attached to my Speedy 145.012-67.

Haven’t got a clue to which Omega watch this strap originally belonged, but as long as it’s genuine and looks good, it is fine by me

In 1973, the people over at Omega decided to celebrate their 125th anniversary with something HUGE. The first automatic winding chronograph with a chronometer certificate. And not only that, the watch itself was also HUGE. Even for today’s standards, this watch is a massive piece of stainless steel. However, compared to today’s average large watches (mostly because of fashion), this watch has some interesting piece of engineering inside as well. The movement inside this watch, Omega caliber 1041 (based on Lemania’s caliber 1341) is still honored today by a lot of Omega and chronograph enthusiasts. The Omega Speedmaster 125 (ST378.0801) is becoming rare, since only 2000 pieces have been made. Years ago, Chuck Maddox wrote an excellent and a very extensive article on this Speedmaster 125. I don’t think the prices mentioned in that article are up to date anymore, especially not since Antiquorum did their OmegaMania auction tour. You can read his article here.

Today, I stumbled across some great pictures of this big (51mm x 42mm) stainless steel chunk. Apparently, the owner (using a nickname that suggests he is a Paneristi) really knows how to photograph a watch, see the picture below. You can see all his photographs in this thread in the Omega forum over at TimeZone, taken by PaneraiXS.

Honestly, I think that Omega Speedmaster watches from that period really breathes a certain ‘true craftmanship’ that they [watch manufacturers] nowadays only can imitate with – most of the time – unaffordable so-called ‘toolwatches’. This is why I love Omega for still making the Speedmaster Professional ‘Moonwatch’ in stainless steel with a hesalite (read: plastic) crystal for a very decent price. Unfortunately, they also create a whole bunch of other watches that I’d rather see them not doing.

If you want to step out of the ordinary, leave the current catalogues as-is, and click Chrono24 (for example), to find your own Speedmaster 125. Although being more expensive than a few years back, they still go for less than the price of a basic Panerai wrist watch for example. A quick search on Chrono24 tells me that these big ones are for sale for just under 2000 euro. For starters of course, expect to pay more when you want one with box and papers. WatchMunich.com for example, has one for sale in great condition, for 2050 euro.