The most famous watch in the world
|
The Omega Speedmaster. This is a watch that I’ve wanted to own for as long as I can remember. It is a serious investment however so when my friend John asked me if I’d like to borrow his, I jumped at the opportunity. Would this be like the time James May experienced another legend, the Lamborghini Countach? A case of ‘never meet your heroes’?
I guess most people my age became interested in Space thanks to Star Wars, but my interest goes deeper. I have clear memories reading a nicely illustrated book from 1961, given to my Mum and her siblings, detailing what a vehicle would look like that would eventually bring humans to the moon. I read this countless times and whilst ‘Star Wars’, ‘Alien’ and even Disney’s ‘The Black Hole’ certainly fuelled my interest even further. I devoured scifi authors, especially Arthur C Clarke’s books. One in particular, A Fall of Moondust, set on the moon made a huge impression on me.
|
|
|
Needless to that the Space Program was something I took particular interest in. Since I also loved watches from a young age, it’s fairly obvious that the combination of the Omega Speedmaster being chosen by Nasa as the only flight qualified watch for the astronauts, and its subsequent visit to the moon on the wrist of Buzz Aldrin, would leave its mark on young Esbjorn. The fact that the watch was also instrumental in saving the lives of the Apollo 13 crew, a subsequent movie that I absolutely loved but most of my mates fell asleep to, I’d argue that there is no more famous watch in the world.
Most watches I put on my wrist for the first time, leave me a bit cold initially. I seem to take a while to really start appreciating most watches I’ve bought or tried on. Not so this time. This is truly a classic, timeless design and I loved it immediately. The layout has been copied countless times and I’ve certainly owned a few of those homages, but attaching the original on my wrist I can honestly say, there is no substitute.
|
|
|
I am less of fan of chronographs these days. I think having that large seconds hand just sit there, combined with the fact that you’d probably never time anything these days with a chronographs is one thing, but the real issue is that it hinders the legibility of the watch.
To me this is the irony of ironies…wear something that you don’t really need that can’t fulfill the function that it was designed for. Hard to justify to the wife that one and slowly failing eyes won't be happy either. |
|
|
No such issue here though. It’s such a sorted design. The recessed dials clearly set themselves apart from the larger dial, the white on black is easy to read, the typefaces used for the numbers and text is functional and beautiful. The minutes and seconds hands are long and slender and just the right size to not distract.
Despite the modest lume, telling the time in low light is no problem at all. There are no distractions, nothing that does not belong (such as a squeezed in date window, my pet hate). Just perfection. |
|
|
Turning the watch over is a different story. Now we’re more in Omega marketing overdrive territory. It’s very hard to read anything from Omega that does not talk about the moon or space endlessly, but it’s hard to really blame them isn’t it? The Speedmaster was after all chosen by Nasa. Not because Omega sponsored Nasa but since it was the only watch that survived the torturous tests all the various watches were subjected to.
Ten watch makers were invited to submit models for testing, but amazingly, only four responded. Omega, Longines, Rolex & Hamilton. Rolex had recently been the first watch to Everest so one would assume they were reasonably confident but as it turns out, Omega was ultimately victorious. So, if you had all that history and this was based on performance of the equipment at the time and not a paid marketing deal, wouldn’t you mention it as often as possible? I would. |
|
|
So yes, the back has ‘PROFESSIONAL MOONWATCH’ (silly) and ‘Flight qualified by NASA for all manned space missions’ (less silly) and finally ‘First watch worn on the moon’ (not at all silly).
Whilst this is all a tad over the top in my opinion, it is on the back of the watch so you really have to go look for it which is perfectly fine to me. Shouting about this on the dial, less ideal but that would not be Omega's style anyway (at least on the Speedmaster). |
|
|
This brings me to another point. Google ‘buy Omega Speedmaster’ and you’d soon wish you hadn’t. There are so many variations of this watch that it has its own reference book, called ‘Moon watch only’. This is an absolute beast of a thing at almost 600 pages and it details more or less every variation in existence. There are countless special versions, some of the more famous ones being the ‘dark side of the moon’ models that are really quite cool. If you’d rather not spend 6 months researching all this, let me give you the benefit of my modest knowledge by giving you the three most common options.
|
|
|
If you’d rather have an automatic movement, I’d look at one of the many variations, many of which are beautiful to look at and no less special than the standard Professional model.
So the one I’m writing about here is the proper one. Manual wound, hesalite crystal and Omega manual movement. That crystal really is something special with its beautiful distortions. The sapphire versions can go a bit milky white from certain angles but not so here. It’s the model that I’d buy myself but I would be very tempted to go the open case back for a look at the beautiful Omega movement, particularly since this is a manual one meaning it's not obstructed by a rotor. |
|
|
So what’s it like to live with?
Today, I had to go to Bunnings (an Aussie hardware store) and also take my dog for a walk. I was thinking, I can’t take the watch to Bunnings since maybe something would happen to it and it’s also not appropriate is it? Then I thought, this watch went to freakin’ outer space (!) and came back. So I did wear it and I can confirm that you can pull this off even amongst light fixtures and tool boxes. It also looks awesome next to a Cocker Spaniel in a country town outside Melbourne |
|
|
In fact, I can’t see this watch lookomg bad in any situation. Dress it up with a bracelet, go casual with leather (my fave) or go sporty with a marine national strap. Really, slap almost any strap on it and it’ll look awesome. It’ll work in every scenario whether you’re après ski, typing boring emails at your desk or simply need a reason not to take out your frustrations on a shopping trolley in the local shopping centre (one look at this beauty and your mood will stabilize).
It could be the perfect one watch collection in fact, particularly if you’re me. But then again, if you’re me, you also have a ridiculous watch addiction and should really pay off the mortgage rather than wasting money on….Oops, sorry, briefly channeling my lovely wife there. So what was it like to meet my hero? Well sadly, it’s going to cost me. I know now that it fits me, it’s gorgeous and I love it. Dammit. |
|
Did you enjoy this review? Coffee fuels my night time ponderings
