Omega Speedmaster Missions Watch Set - Earth to Omega...I want one of these!!

Back in the '60's and early '70's there was a race to Space in more ways than one. While the US and the Soviets raced one another to get into space, watchmakers Omega and Bulova were racing to be the first timepieces in space.

While Bulova had the edge by providing all of the on-board clocks for NASA craft no one had ever put a wristwatch on an astronaut...until Omega created the Speedmaster Professional Chronograph or "Moon Watch" and NASA strapped it on the wrist of the pilots of the 1965 Gemini V mission.


The Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph has to be one special watch to take the rigors of zero-gravity and space travel. With its Lemania hand wound movement and sturdy case it made for the perfect companion for all manned space missions. Pictures of it being worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 lunar landing got it dubbed the "Moon Watch.


For the 40th Anniversary of the Omega Speedmaster Professional, Omega offered a collection of 22 Speedmaster watches presented in a case fitted with genuine cloth from a spacesuit. Each watch in the collection is adorned with a different NASA mission patch on it's dial at the 9 o'clock position: starting with the 1965 Gemini V to the 1973 Skylab SL-4. It also contains a replica of the original 1957 Speedmaster.
These sets are commanding some serious money at auctions such as Antiquorum's recent Omegamania where one set sold for a whopping $368,900. If you are lucky, you can occasionally find one popping up on Ebay every now and then like this example .