Hotline: +1 917-477-7703 | The Omega Speedmaster Professional: The Watch That Landed on the Moon
- August 20th, 2009On 20th July 1969 Buzz Aldrin wore his Speedmaster Professional, nowadays known as the Moonwatch. It is a hand wound watch that was launched in 1957. The watch was not only chosen by NASA, but also by the Russian Space Agency. When the Americans were making the systematic road map of space walk it came to the notice of NASA that they did not have an authorized watch for space travel. The cumbersome and time consuming procedure of developing their own watch for space travel was bypassed and NASA sent two engineers secretly to buy a couple of watches over the counter. A hand wound model was preferred to the automatic because of the apprehensions that the zero-gravity conditions might impede with the function of the watch. Five well known brands were put to different grueling tests in the NASA laboratories. However, it was the Omega Speedmaster that came out unscathed by the tests and it became the officially certified watch for all manned space missions of the NASA. It is interesting to note that Omega did not know anything of the drama that was going on in camera.
Buzz Aldrin with his Omega
Did Omega Speedmaster rise to the expectations of NASA? Yes it did. The Omega Speedmaster Professional flew first in space on October 1962. The Gemini 3 crew was issued with Omega Speedmaster Professionals and they wore it outside the pressure suit. Edward White, the first American to walk in space, wore this watch. It was the first watch to be worn on the moon. Later space shuttle missions also used the same watch. The unsolicited NASA stamp on the Omega by becoming the approved watch for the space missions tells volumes about its quality. The halo around Omega Speedmaster as a participant in the heroic moments of man’s triumph and the astounding performance in trying conditions have made it the most sought after brands of watches across the globe. However, the quality and fame are also accompanied by a prohibitive price tag on the brand and makes it much longed for, but a difficult possession. The hurdle now is crossed by the production of replica watches by made by reliable manufactures and stocked by quality conscious and customer friendly sellers like the ReplicaExpert.US. Owning a Omega replica or other time tested replica watches are only a click away.
