Fly me to the moon with Omega Speedmaster

What do Neil Armstong, Buzz Aldrin, and the Omega Speedmaster have in common? They all landed on the moon on July 21 1969, making Armstrong and Aldrin the first humans to land on the moon, and the Speedmaster the first extraterrestrial timepiece.

The first-generation Omega Speedmaster (model CK 2915) was launched as part of the brand’s new professional range of watches in 1957, intended for car enthusiasts and racing drivers.

The second, improved version (CK 2998) in 1959 had a new “Alpha” design hands, and this was the model that was purchased by by Mercury astronauts Walter “Wally” M Schirra and Leroy G “Gordo” Cooper in 1962 as their private watches. Schirra took his into space on his Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7) mission, officially making it the first Speedmaster to be worn in space. Two years later, Nasa put the next-generation Speedmaster (ST 105.003) to test.

In 1964 Omega’s North American agent sent Nasa a selection of three of these pieces (without knowing exactly what they were being used for and without telling his headquarters in Biel, Switzerland) to be considered. Rigorous testing of these chronographs resulted in them being selected to be used for all manned missions to space by Nasa, gaining them a certified stamp of space approval.

The question is, what made the Speedmaster so special? Well, the testing was designed to find a point of destruction for the watches — setting them up in extreme conditions. They were subjected to temperatures from 71°C to 93°C over two days and then frozen to -18°C. High and low pressure, high humidity, corrosive oxygen levels, and noise levels of 130 decibels were endured by not just the Omegas, but other watch brands too. Of the watch samples, only one model that was tested survived these Nasa tests — the Omega Speedmaster. From here on, Omega didn’t stop innovating and improving the Speedmaster and its fourth-generation Speedmaster model in 1964 is termed the Original Moonwatch.

Through the decades more models have been introduced, with two of the newest  launched in 2015: the Speedmaster Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy Award, and the Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon. The latter has four styles, each dark in colour and finish, mimicking this lesser-researched domain of lunar travel.

This only goes to show that the Omega Speedmaster has an illustrious history in time and space travel and continues to do so well into the 21st century. The brand notes a quote by the historian Arthur Schlesinger: “The 20th Century will be remembered, when all else is forgotten, as the century when man burst his terrestrial bonds.” And as Omega president Stephen Urquhart notes: “He did it wearing a Speedmaster.”

Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy Award is a watch “that pays homage the unforgettable mission 45 years ago and celebrates the teamwork, quick thinking, ingenuity and courage that brought Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise home safely. A closer look at the timepiece shows that Snoopy, the beloved dog from the Peanuts cartoon and a NASA mascot, decorates the dial and the caseback – a small tribute to the Silver Snoopy Award that OMEGA was presented with in 1970.”

“The four new timepieces share a caseback design that hints at their common inspiration: the original Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon. The black ceramic caseback ring of each of these models features matt chromium nitride marks as well as the name of this iconic collection”

1. ‘Dark Side of the Moon “Black Black” has a polished and brushed black ceramic casebody, a matt black ceramic dial and a black ceramic clasp on a black coated nylon fabric strap.’

2. ‘The Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon “Vintage Black” stands out with brown indexes and hands.’

3. ‘Dark Side of the Moon “Sedna Black” has a completely brushed black ceramic case with an 18K Sedna gold bezel ring, which matches the 18K Sedna gold applied indexes and hands.’

4. ‘The Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon “Pitch Black” is distinguished by the Super-LumiNova (glow in the dark) that coats the  indexes and all the markings on its matt black ceramic dial.’

omegawatches.com