OMEGA CELEBRATES GOLDEN JUBILEE OF MOON LANDING
On the historic day of 21 July 1969, the Omega Speedmaster Professional officially became the first watch worn on the Moon when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface for the very first time. The moonwalk left a defining footprint on the history of space exploration.
Five years prior to that, NASA’s space programme went on a search for one watch that it could rely on for all its manned-missions. Of the watches submitted for the torture tests, only Omega’s Speedmaster made the cut. As a result, it was declared “Flight Qualified for all Manned Space Missions” and Omega became the only supplier of watches for NASA’s Human Space Flight Program, trusted throughout the Mercury Missions, Gemini Program, and, of course, the Apollo Program, which had its sights set on the Moon.
On the importance of Omega, James
Ragan, the NASA engineer who qualified the Speedmaster, said, “If the astronauts lost the capability of talking to the ground, or the capability of their digital timers on the lunar surface, then the only thing they had to rely on was the Omega watch they had on their wrist.”
The success of Apollo 11 was celebrated with a special “Astronaut Appreciation Dinner” held in Houston, where Omega presented the Moon landing heroes with the 18k yellow gold Speedmaster BA145.022, featuring a rare burgundy bezel and the inscription “To mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time.” The gold Speedmaster was Omega’s very first commemorative numbered edition, with only 1,014 models produced. Among the recipients were US President Richard Nixon and the NASA astronauts, including (posthumously) the three crew members who died during Apollo 1, namely Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
Marking the golden anniversary of the first moon landing, Omega has produced a new limited edition of 1,014 pieces ‒ the Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Limited Edition. Following the design of the Speedmaster BA145.022, this new 42mm Master Chronometer is made of 18k Moonshine gold, a unique new alloy whose colour is a little paler than traditional yellow gold, designed to offer high resistance to the fading of colour and lustre over time.
Remaining true to the historical piece, Omega has included a burgundy bezel ring ‒ this time in ceramic, with its tachymeter scale in Ceragold. The gold dial is enhanced by the facetted black onyx indexes set in the hour-markers. The caseback features the appropriate anniversary wordings, along with a partial world map of the American continents, with a glimpse over the rocket’s lift-off site Cape Kennedy, and a domed lunar meteorite inlay representing the Moon.
The new crater box housing the exclusive watch is made up of grey ceramic panels with 3D printing of the lunar surface. Each box is unique since every panel is structured differently. Furthermore, the top panel is printed with the image of the Sea of Tranquillity and the landing position of Apollo 11.