One myth I used to repeat that turns out is wrong - That the manual wind Speedy was chosen because automatics dont work in zero gravity. The reality is that automatic chronographs didnt exist until the very late 1960s, so none were available in the early years of the Apollo program

I bought a Speedmaster Professional in 1968. I was in the RAF and flying gliders at the time and needed a chrono for navigation because it was map, compass, watch and looking out the window at the time. I still have said watch, and the receipt from the NAAFI

It's because there was a waitlist

Hi Sam- I first discovered the Speedmaster by watching your early videos including the paper clip clasp repair! Immediately loved that watch with the hesalite crystal and sapphire case back. I went on to purchase one and have never looked back, it is still my favorite and I will keep it forever; even the local Omeaga boutique staff find it to be a special model that stands out among the many other iterations. Keep up the great work!!

... Amazing insight information. Thankyou!

Great story. Thanks for the video.

it's my understanding Omega didn't even know NASA had chosen them, because NASA just bought them from a local store, not from Switzerland HQ. such a great story! love it. Although it should be made clear, Casio, Rolex, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Sinn, and others have been to space and to the space station as well. not just omega. and the Omega X33 i think is the most advanced.

Ragan goes into more detail and lists the multitude of tests used and the Omega was the only one that survived all tests and worked as it did prior to the tests. He even talks about how he serviced many kf the watches as well.

Good dialogue and vid. I encourage people to check out the testing results of the watches, really fascinating to see how poorly some of the brands/watches fared in the tests. Granted it was the 1960’s but some of the failures with the Hamilton, Rolex and others were catastrophic. (edit: If memory serves me correctly the Speedmaster was the only one to actually “pass” all the grueling tests, not that they survived all tests since most rigorous testing goes beyond the “pass” limits. I heard that NASA was quite hopeful that the Hamilton watches would do well since it was an American watch company but alas it did not do well at all.

I had heard that some of the early Mercury 7 astronauts; in particular Wally Schirra, wore his personal Omega Speedmaster into space on the early Mercury missions. Other astronauts caught on and purchased their own Speedmasters. I believe NASA then saw the need for a watch to endure the rigors of space travel and thus the testing program and selection process began. Ibn 1962 Scott Carpenter wore a Breitling Navitimer into space and when he exited the capsule upon splashdown the watch promptly flooded. I believe Breitling still has this watch in its museum. Not saying the Omega Speedmaster is any more water resistant.

Fascinating information to me as an owner of a 1961 pre moon example.

Fun fact: one of the problems NASA and Ragan ran into was that while the Apollo astronauts were issued the Omega watches for training on Earth, it wasn’t a permanent issue; they were expected to return the watches to NASA once the training was finished and the mission was over. A lot of them didn’t, until Ragan complained to Deke Slayton the head of the astronaut office. Slayton told the astronauts they wouldn’t be allowed to use NASA’s T38 aircraft (which they used to commute around NASA’s training sites cross-country) until the watches were returned.

Great video, fun fact the first watch on the moon Buzz Aldrins Speedy was used because Armstrongs had to be left on the ship because the Bulova clock on board failed. Aldrin watch is now 'missing' after he posted it back to NASA. Then on Apollo 15 Dave Scott's Speedy 'failed' leading to him using his Bulova. So it's like a reverse. Cheers

For the waterresistance of course:)

I think Carpenters Breitling Cosmonaute was made at the request of NASA , Carpenter wanted a watch that had a 24 hour dial so one sweep in 24 hours instead of two to avoid confusion as to day or night. Also I believe Breitling was the first to have the slide rule bezel to calculate navigation. Please correct if I’m wrong

I cant be there for the live streams or always spare the time to rewatch at a later date so these excerpts of interesting discussions are a great idea

Ooo, that was great!

Wally Schirra was the first astronaut to wear a Speedmaster. He wore his own watch when he first went into space in 1962.

That’s the same reason I got from Omega!

I’ve a x33 speedmaster which I believe is the official omega supply for the European Space Station for all current astronauts

So while I own a well working Seiko Pogue, the reason for choosing Omega is not nearly as intriguing as why NASA has lost all film footage of the Kubrick inspired pseudo-moon set.

The "space watch" was pretty much an afterthought. As the chap pointed out they had a tiny budget. It was a tiny side project not considered essential for flight. If it had been they almost certainly would have approached a watch company(likely American) to build a watch specifically to their specs. Much like they had with the Bulova Accutron clocks fitted to their spacecraft NASA did consider mission critical. SR71 Blackbird pilots had already been issued Accutron watches, but Accutron didn't have a chronograph/stopwatch. An actual designed for purpose space watch would likely look nothing like a civilian chronograph. Indeed Omega prototyped an evolution of one; the "Alaska". Didn't have "Speedmaster" on the high contrast white dial, the movement was housed in a hefty squareish steel case, fitted within an anodised aluminium clamshell to protect against temperature extremes, with very large chrono pushers so an astronaut could actually operate the functions on an EVA. Something that would have been near impossible with a standard chronograph. It didn't look too dissimilar to the huge and very legible(and simple)wrist worn bomb timers of the 1920's and 30's, designed to be operated in often open cockpits of aircraft by someone wearing gloves. So similar enough operating conditions. They didn't test a multitude of watches either. They only bought four off the shelf; Omega, Longines-Wittnauer, Hamilton and Rolex. The Hamilton was a pocketwatch so was dropped as an option almost immediately. The Longines-Wittnauer and Rolex were running the same movement. Hardly a great spread of options.

The crystal on David Scott's Speedmaster popped out during a mission.

Awesome. I finally bought mine in the 50th anniversary year of the moon landing.

Did you know that Omega coined the name Hesalite for the crystal ?

Because rolex AD tried to convince nasa how exclusive daytona was. Failed 🙃

Why did they need watches? They had clocks on the instrument panels, they were in contact with mission control, they could take astronomical measurements.😊

I'm guessing because money ?

I gues i know whay omrga done that or nasa without fwien that ; might its intresting tofindout what Timex say about and iff they had off a produkt delicate tothe spaceprogram .

Omega been milking it ever since but I still love’em

Didn't Bullova "gift" a watch to one of the astronauts?

I thought the watches were submitted by the watchmakers for NASA to bid for the contract. Omega was the winners by a long way. There were hoping that Rolex would win. I got my Speed Master as a present to myself for getting a first in my Horology degree. Neil Armstrong's watch from the moon landing has been lost. Buz has his because he bort it from NASA. Omega still make a speed Master for NASA today but it's a bit different. I think Omega gave Buz one, I know he has one.

Love my Hesalite Moonwatch. Just want to remind to you all that Omega is official timekeeper of the olympic games since, well forever. Omega is Omega not because of the moonwatch. The monwatch is the moonwatch because it is an Omega.

Should’ve have went with Seiko.

Personally I would have chosen a different watch. Ball Watches are a well respected old American brand. The Engineer II is incredibly rugged. Lives up to the motto: Accuracy under adverse conditions.

Not that it matters to the legend but why does the narrative comes off as to somehow diminish the achievement of Omega if a random selection at a random jeweler performed better (broke less) than all other brands.

It’s even more amazing that modern tech fails at repeating moon landing… We’ve barely managed to land a few rovers over there, while in the 60s we sent dozens of people who spend days (!!!) on the Moon. Ain’t that unbelievable?

That is not the original photo from the 1960s. The original shows Aldrin wearing a different watch probabl from his personal collection. To me it looks like a Bell pressurized but I am not saying it actually is one. It has more of a super elliptical face. This omega was doctored in as part of an advertising campaign. I assume Aldrin was compensated for it. I noticed the difference right away because Aldrin is my favorite astronaut and I always admired the original photo.

Well, I had 3 Speedys ( Day-Date, steel with 9300 movement and the current one with the 3861 movement). After owning Panerai, Breitling, Tudor over the years I have to say Omega was the worst brand by far. Only the one with the 9300 movement ran pretty much without issues. The worst was the 3861 caliber (chrono got stuck or didn't run properly, whole watch stopped being almost full wound.etc..A nightmare and it spend 4 months in repair. My opinion, never ever Omega. And the Speedmaster on the moon had a Lemania movement, obviously a quite good one...

I was told Bulova had submitted a new model that was designed for the moon missions but it failed NASA's tests, prompting them to grab existing models from other btands off jewellers shelves for testing. Is this nonsense?

Hehehe… except for the fact that none of those guys ever set foot on the Moon.

They paid for it. Which is the Omega strategy. Doesn’t have the brand value of Rolex.

If only this was in English

Lowest bidder, like every government contract.

The Daytona failed yet that models seems to have done just fine over time

So Rolex didn’t go to the moon, and is still a very successful brand, for other reasons. So if Omega had not been chosen, it would still exist… without the moonwatch !!! 😊

Casio g-shock! Is the best 😤

What’s new about this? This has always been the official story. Thank you for the time waste. 😂

Because Omega gave NASA a load of money to use them, it's called promotion. Same as Fisher with the Space pen, totally unesessary but NASA went with it for some reason, whereas the Russians just used pencils.

No one went to the moon, so who cares. Great watch but. 😂

Nobody ever walked on the moon, so Omega should remove that stupid writing on the back of the watch.