![]() There are plenty of Speedmasters to choose from for inspiration for this new stainless steel 44.25mm watch. Omega Speedmaster Racing Master Chronometer The steel caseback is stamped with the Seahorse medallion, protecting the in-house Co-Axial self-winding calibre 3330. The pushers, crown and gem-set bezel are on Sedna gold while the rest of the case is in steel, with taupe brown leather strap. Of course, the tri-compax layout is here to stay (albeit in oval form now), with the addition of an oval date window at 6 o’clock. Cased in a combination of steel and Sedna gold, the watch stays the Speedmaster course with an aluminium inner bezel that retains the distinctive tachymetre. In fact, it is a little smaller - the 1957 Speedmaster was 39mm - because this is a ladies’ model, with a diamond-paved bezel. One of two models revealed ahead of BaselWorld 2017 in the Speedmaster range, this one returns to the dimensions of the 1957 piece. Being that this was the first model officially called the Moonwatch, it is the ancestor of all Moonwatches and is linked in an unbroken line to even the current edition. In 1968, Omega switched out the Calibre 321 for Calibre 861, an arguably even tougher movement as it used the cam-lever system instead of the column wheel, something a collector once called “virtually indestructible”. The word Professional appeared on the dial for first time in this historic model, after White’s spacewalk. The 1965 Speedmaster that the astronauts wore was also the first time the now-familiar asymmetric case debuted. It is important to note that it was calibre 321 that powered both Armstrong and Aldrin’s Speedmasters in 1969 as Omega made a crucial change to the Speedmaster in 1968. ![]() In fact, this calibre had been in service at Omega since 1942, gaining in the Speedmaster in 1964 important anti-magnetic elements. Where it all started, the Broad Arrow created in 1957įrom 1957, right through to the space mission, Omega used the manual-winding Lemania Calibre 321, with column wheel and horizontal clutch. In later years, Omega would proudly tell the story of how NASA officials simply walked into a store in 1965 and bought the Omega watches the agency needed. One can only imagine how Omega employee’s felt. His Speedmaster was attached to his arm via a long nylon strap secured with Velcro. Nevertheless, there’s a legendary story, well known among watch fans and collectors that Omega only learned that the Speedmaster had been making trips to space when the firm’s executives or watchmakers saw a photograph of astronaut Ed White taking the US’s first spacewalk in 1965. Historians note that NASA declared the Omega Speedmaster as its official timekeeper in 1965, ahead of the Gemini 3 launch. Omega’s space odyssey began with NASA and was entirely at the space agency’s independent initiative. Little did he know though that like the astronauts he so desperately wanted to spot, his father was wearing an Omega so he was in fact, closer than he thought to the action. If you love space adventures, you’ll find it oddly moving to hear how, as an eight-year-old, he was looking at the Moon to see if he could see the landing with the naked eye in his suburban backyard with his father. Ambassador and space enthusiast George Clooney has already been seen in ads on YouTube and the like. On the occasion of the 60 th anniversary of the Speedmaster, Omega is even commemorating it with the adventures in the great beyond taking the lead. ![]() The story of the Moon landing, and the narrative of space flight during the earlier NASA Mercury and Gemini missions have so overshadowed the origins of the watch that some even believe that this chronograph model was purpose-built for NASA. Piguet and Moinat are just two of the people who should be remembered for making a watch tough enough to withstand the rigors of space and indeed the rigors of NASA’s stress tests! Watch historians and Omega itself have speculated that these characteristics, more specifically the toughness part, that allowed the Speedmaster to make it into the space programme. Astronaut Eugene Cernan on the final Moon mission in 1972
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