Omega Speedmaster
There have already been numerous spectacular highlights in the life of the Omega Speedmaster - the first luxury watch on the Moon can actually rest easy. However, it has not done so for a second in the 50 years that have passed since then. Omega successively developed the Speedmaster Chronometer even further. In addition to the Speedmaster Professional, nicknamed "Moonwatch," other Speedmaster luxury watches - Mark II, Racing, HB-SIA, Spacemaker and Skywalker up to the current version of the Professional - joined the extraordinary model portfolio. Nevertheless, the timeless timepiece has not changed in essential features, but has maintained its classic face.
Currently available Omega Speedmaster watches
Classics fit into any new era
Marginal improvements have only been made in the development of Omega Speedmaster calibers, ranging from caliber 321 with a switching wheel - the company's first chronograph movement - from 1942 to caliber 1863. All of which are top of their category, characterizing and distinguishing their wearers. You simply feel like a completely different person - with a luxury watch on your wrist that fascinates not actually because of its value, but because of its stupendous uniqueness. It is also the noble simplicity that attracts: precise, stable, easy to handle, perfectly legible, it is in great demand when buying watches on the web, and not only among sworn Omega aficionados. Its high safety factor is also convincing - no other luxury watch in the world has been tested as intensively and as often as this one. No wonder that especially the vintage models from the sixties and seventies, provided they still enjoy their original condition, are hunted by collectors and witness interesting increases in value.
A chronometer whose design withstands the contingencies of space
Fit for flight and space, the Omega Speedmaster is a testament to both major spacefaring nations. Since the early 1960s, the U.S. space agency NASA had been searching for a watch that could accompany American astronauts not only into space, but more importantly to the ambitious goal of landing on the Moon. Anonymously purchased specimens of the Speedmaster Professionell from various dealers were subjected - among other candidates - to the toughest tests for their suitability in terms of weightlessness, extraterrestrial magnetic fields, extreme vibrations and severe shocks, and functioning within a temperature range between -18 and +93 degrees Celsius. Temperature-pressure chambers with high fluctuations in pressure, temperature, humidity, acceleration, decompression and oxygen content played a decisive role. The Speedmaster delivered what it promised: accuracy, pressure resistance, legibility under various lighting conditions, water resistance, shock resistance, anti-magnetism and resistance to shattering. The fact that the Omega Speedmaster Professionell could be manually, electrically or self-winding driven was an added bonus.
An Omega luxury watch success story that does not happen every day
The Speedmaster's extraterrestrial career has been exceptional ever since: it went into space with the Gemini 3 pilots, Ed White wore it on the first space launch in 1965, and on July 21, 1969, it was part of mankind's cautious baby steps on the Moon. That the specimen Buzz Aldrin wore was lost and strangely never reappeared is among the legends surrounding the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch. In 1970, the chronograph saved the crew of the Apollo 13 mission from a seemingly unavoidable disaster, and since 1978 it has been part of the equipment of the space shuttle program. The fact that Russian cosmonauts also swear by the Speedmaster is a fine example of how perfect precision and exceptional technology can overcome ideological differences.
Exceptional luxury watches also for everyday astronauts
The Omega Speedmaster Skywalker with titanium bracelet harkens back to the past of the Moonwatch. An ultra-precise functional quartz movement with functions tested and developed by ESA, based on the patent of astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy. The Omega Speedmaster Skywalker C-33 displays three different time zones, has PET, timer, chronograph qualities, alarm functions and a perpetual calendar. Perhaps the Speedmaster Racing is not as legendary as the Moonwatch, but in its excellent features it is not inferior to its well-traveled sibling. The chronograph and bracelet are made of cool steel, and inside beats the strong heart of an automatic chronograph movement with column-wheel mechanism and Co-Axial escapement for higher precision and longevity. The Speedmaster Racing with caliber Omega 3330 is certified as a chronometer and is powered by a free "Si14" silicon balance spring.