A commemorative Omega Speedmaster in solid gold, donated to astronaut Michael Collins, who participated in the Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 missions, was sold at Heritage Auctions in the United States for $ 765,000.
History
To decide which watch would be up to accompanying its astronauts on space missions, NASA officials physically went to various Houston stores, including Corrigan’s, the city’s main watch and jewelry outlet at the time, purchasing 5 of them. the best chronographs that the market at that time offered.
The space agency had already successfully used an fake omega Spedmaster on a Mercury 7 mission on 3 October 1962. To be more precise, it was a CK2998 that spent 295 hours in space on the wrist of astronaut Walter Shirra.
In order to choose which space clock should have been, NASA subjected the chronographs I mentioned earlier to authentic “torture”, whose detailed tests you can read in this article.
On May 27, 1965, NASA announced the test results and declared Omega Speedmaster the winner and its official fake watches for space missions.
Michael Collins’ Speedmaster
At the time Michael Collins was one of the space agency’s favorite astronauts, so much so that among various missions he also participated in Apollo 11 which saw man arrive and walk on the moon for the first time.
Colins was the man who remained on the capsule orbiting the moon allowing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to descend and walk on the satellite’s ground.
Sold for $ 765,000
With still more than palpable euphoria in the air for the moon landing, on November 25, 1969 a special thanksgiving dinner was organized in Houston, Texas for the Apollo 11 astronaut team.
On that occasion a special and commemorative Speedmaster reference BA145.022 with a brand new burgundy bezel was given to Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin – and to the then President of the United States Richard Nixon who politely refused it. Collins was sold by Heritage Auctions – ha.com – for $ 765,000.
The inscriptions engraved on the caseback are very suggestive: “to mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time”. GEMINI 10 – APOLLO 11.
Therefore, one of the rarest Speedy models in circulation changed ownership for a considerable amount, which Omega three years ago reproposed in an Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Limited Edition.