OmegaSpeedmaster Professional

Offered by a private collector, this Omega Speedmaster from 1968 is being auctioned along with its box and service receipt from Simon Freese watchmakers dating to June 2018. Presented with wear commensurate with the watch’s age, it is consistent with the seller’s ‘B’ grading.

The 42mm stainless steel case has lyre style lugs with polished bevels and is fitted with a Hesalite thermo-plastic crystal bearing an etched Omega logo. Designed for legibility, the matte black dial has contrasting white numerals, indices and hands with dished sub-registers at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. Tritium luminescent material applied to the markers and hands has faded over time to create a beautiful cream colour. The watch comes equipped with a stainless steel three-link bracelet with a single-fold clasp, reference 1039 and with 516 end-links. Inside beats Omega’s calibre 321 - a manually wound chronograph that powered the watches of all six lunar missions by NASA, and was used to time the corrective engine burn to bring home the stricken Apollo 13.

Produced for a limited time frame, the reference 145.012-68 seen here was one of the last Speedmasters to use the iconic 321 calibre. Michael Collins, who was the Apollo 11 Command Module pilot, wore a 145.012-68 on the first successful lunar mission in July of 1969. Omega transitioned to the later 861 movement after this reference, with the 145.022-68 and beyond.

All watches offered for sale are searched and cleared against The Watch Register database and a certificate is available to the winning bidder upon request.

The description of this auction lot is, to the best of the seller's knowledge, accurate and not misleading. Watch Collecting requests a range of detail about the lot from the seller, and performs a level of due diligence. However, bidders must satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of the description, and conduct any research they feel is necessary before committing to a bid. Please see our Terms and Conditions for full details.