Omega Replica Speedmaster: For space and beyond
Most people probably know who was the first person on the moon, but which was the first watch? The history of the Omega Speedmaster is full of interesting details and is closely linked to space travel.
Omega Speedmaster: Its history and space travel
The Speedmaster came onto the market as early as 1957, back then with the hand-wound caliber 27 CHRO from 1942. Its precision, stability and optimal readability were particularly valued in motorsports and rally drivers. The Speedmaster became a legend in a completely different sphere, namely as the first and so far only wristwatch on the moon: When Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 21, 1969, he was wearing a Speedmaster on his wrist. Since then, the Speedmaster, with the addition Professional since 1966, has also been called the “Moonwatch”.
Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award 50th Anniversary
In April 1970, the Omega Speedmaster Professional was involved in the Apollo 13 rescue mission, helping to prevent a catastrophe. After almost all systems on board failed, the watch was used to navigate. NASA then awarded the watch the “Snoopy Award,” the highest honor given to NASA astronauts. To mark the 50th anniversary of this event, Omega released the “Silver Snoopy Award” Speedmaster, Ref. 26331ST.OO.1220ST.01, seen here in the video from minute 09:14:
Equipment and optics
Apart from minimal improvements, the Speedmaster has remained almost unchanged since 1957. Characteristic features include the black dial, luminous hands, a tachymeter scale and the case, which is waterproof to 50 meters. The dial has three totalizers – typical of chronographs. The classic Speedmaster is the stainless steel version with hesalite glass, but there are also stainless steel versions with sapphire crystal and date display as well as models with a gold case. There is now even a Speedmaster Swatch (Read more: MoonSwatch vs. Moonwatch: Would you buy this watch?).
Omega Speedmaster with moon phase
The Omega Speedmaster with moon phase corresponds to the classic design of the Moonwatch and admittedly: Hardly any watch fits this complication better than the first watch on the moon (Read more: Moon phase watches: This is how the little complication works):
Omega Speedmaster Mark II
The Omega Speedmaster Mark II is also a throwback to the moon landing in 1969 – at least the model with the streamlined case was launched that year. In 2014, Omega presented an updated new edition of the classic chronograph.
Omega Speedmaster Racing
The origins of the Speedmaster lie in motorsport and the Speedmaster Racing series draws on this. The classic design is retained and yet the watch gets a special racing look thanks to the offset minute ring, tapered indices and a sporty leather strap.
For the 44.25 mm version, materials such as stainless steel and Sedna gold as well as ceramic are used for the bezels:
Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope
While the Mark II and Racing date back to the 1960s, the Chronoscope model delves much deeper into the history of the Speedmaster. The design is inspired by the wrist chronographs of the 1940s.
The defining elements are the leaf-shaped hands and the fine spiral pattern on the dial:
Service example; Omega Speedmaster shows how closely some extraordinary watch models are linked to milestones in human history. If you are interested in such a “piece of history”, you will find a large selection of Omega watches on watch.de.