The Omega Speedmaster is a chronograph watch that was first sold in 1957. One of the main reasons it’s become such a popular watch is because it’s been permanently written into the history books by NASA. The space organisation made the Speedmaster its watch of choice for the Apollo space missions due to its accuracy and reliability.
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Omega Speedmaster in Steel and 18K Gold Automatic Chronograph Men’s WatchUS $1,265.00 |
Used Good Condition OMEGA Speedmaster Automatic 351050 Black Dial Authetic 337US $1,265.60 |
OMEGA Speedmaster Automatic 351050 w Inner Box 5 extra links 100 Auth 808US $1,265.60 |
The Speedmaster collection
There are many watches contained within the Omega Speedmaster collection. For example, the Omega Speedmaster Professional was the first in the line. Others include the Co-Axial Chronometer and the Broad Arrow GMT.
Omega Speedmaster Co-Axial Chronometer
The Co-Axial chronometer is both a chronograph and a chronometer for increased accuracy in reading and measuring the time. There is also a date function and a tachymeter. The back of the case is transparent.
The Co-Axial Chronometer Speedmaster usually comes with a steel-on-steel casing and strap.
Omega Speedmaster Professional
This was the original watch in the Speedmaster collection and is also the most well known. There are many more choices when it comes to the design and steel compared with the co-axial chronometer. For example you can buy Speedmaster Professional watches with a leather strap. There are also a variety of different colours available from steel to maroon.
The Speedmaster Professional is a chronograph and comes with a tachymeter.
Omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow
AS the name suggests, the Omega Broad Arrow has wider second and hour hands than other models in the collection. It’s also a chronometer and chronograph.
The Speedmaster Broad Arrow is water resistant down to 100m and can be bought in styles including steel-red gold on steel-gold, steel-red gold on leather strap and yellow gold on leather strap.
There’s also a GMT version of the Broad Arrow which allows the user to keep track of the time in a different time zone using a 24 hour hand.
NASA and the Omega Speedmaster
When NASA first began to plan for human space missions one of the things that was discussed was picking a watch for the astronauts to use. The problem was that they needed the watche relatively quickly and hence had to buy chronographs from retail stores. At this time there was no such thing as an automatic chronograph so all the watches (including the Omega Speedmaster) were self winding. The Speedmaster was the only watch to pass all the tests that NASA performed on it and beat watches from both Rolex and Breitling.
Aside from NASA the Omega Speedmaster Professional is also the watch of choice for the Russian Space Agency.