Watch This Space

One small step for man, one giant leap for watch-kind. Nicolette Wong explores the history and evolution of the legendary Omega Speedmaster

- Nicolette Wong

THE YEAR WAS 1969, AND history had just been made. Amid the powdery dust on the surface of the moon was a solitary footprint, marking the pinnacle of human engineering ingenuity. We had made it to the moon. Among the towering masses of rockets, engines and modules on the Apollo 11 mission lay a comparatively miniscule piece of equipment that would become a legend unto itself—the Omega Speedmaster.

Nicknamed Speedy, the Speedmaster most famously graced the arm of astronaut Edward “Buzz” Aldrin when he descended from the lunar module to join compatriot Neil Armstrong to be the first men to ever walk on the moon.

Despite the Speedmaster’s interstellar reputation, it didn’t begin life as the “Moonwatch”. The Speedy was originally released in 1957 as a racing watch, designed to allow race car drivers to determine their speed and distance travelled before the age of computers. Drivers used the chronograph complication and tachymeter scale to mentally calculate their essential on-road statistics—in fact, the Speedmaster was the first-ever chronograph wristwatch to have the tachymeter scale engraved on the bezel rather than printed onto the dial. That original 1957 Speedmaster “Broad Arrow”—so named for its distinctive hands—is highly sought after by collectors, since it’s the primogenitor of the Speedmaster’s legendary family tree.