The universal Omega Speedmaster 1968

July 21, 1969: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin put their feet on the moon.

For the first time in the history of humanity, two men are walking on our satellite, the same one that governs the tides and lights our nights. Ok, but what really interests us is what they have on their left wrists!

It has become a legend and is known to all: here is the Omega Speedmaster !!!

Except that the history of this mythical chronograph did not start in 1969 but in 1957. Omega then presented its winning trio of sports watches: Railmaster (the Earth: antimagnetic), Seamaster (the Sea: the diver) and Speedmaster ( Air / Speed: for pilots of all kinds).

At the same time the Cold War is in full swing on all forms of terrain including the conquest of space. NASA is working hard to walk on the moon and recover the lead over the USSR, which was the first nation to send a man into space. The US space agency must find a watch to equip the wrist of its astronauts. Six watches will be pre-selected but only the Speedmaster will win a ticket to the Moon.

The rest of the story you know it. The lunar missions will continue to follow each other until 1972. Note that the Speedmaster participated in other space missions with NASA and is still the official watch of the agency.

The watch that we present to you today is from 1968, so it's a "Pre-Moon" (yes 1969 being a bit of a reference date when we talk about Speedmasters, so we use the term Pre-Moon just as "BC" is "Before Christ"). The main advantage of the Speedmaster is that it is a watch of incredible modernity for the time. Its diameter, its dial opening, the external tachymeter bezel (because there are also pulsometric scales), the readability of the counters, this watch already sets the standards of modern chronographs 15 years in advance. 1964 brings the lug horns, which Omega said has the distinction of having a central ridge that allows us to play with the finishes. The modern Speedmaster is born.

So we find all these design cues on this great copy of 1968 (which celebrates its 50th anniversary), excusing the little mentioned Transition model with the applied Omega logo of the previous models and the caliber 861 of the subsequent models.

The Speedy is a sports chronograph and we allowed ourselves to play on its history obviously, but also by giving it a very 70's touch (a bit vintage) and even bringing out its patina with straps evoking a more "military" face. In short this watch is a real chameleon/doll (scratch the useless mention!!) that fits perfectly with your mood.

For this young fiftieth anniversary our only focus was to highlight its patina pulling between the grey and the eggshell (we could say greige ..: p). Golden brown hues highlighting the yellowing of tritium, the grey bringing out the slight patina of the matte black dial and the chilled brown coming to balance between the patinas of the tritium and the dial itself ... you can actually have fun in even looking for more technical straps such as the Hirch Stone which has the distinction of combining natural rubber and granite (yes you read correctly) on a wristwatch!