The first watch on the Moon, and the legend that followed

Before smartphones, digital timers, or even the simplest onboard computers, a team of NASA engineers sat in Houston staring at a single, almost unbelievable goal: to put a human on the Moon and bring them safely home. While rockets, spacecraft, and mission protocols evolved at breathtaking speed, one quiet constant sat in the background. a stainless-steel chronograph built not for glory, but for precision. That watch would become the Omega Speedmaster Professional.

The Speedmaster didn’t begin as a spacefaring icon. When it launched in 1957, it was designed for the world of motorsport: bold, functional, readable at high speed, a timing instrument for racing drivers. It was tough, accurate, and purpose-built, but no one imagined it would one day leave Earth’s atmosphere. That changed when NASA began searching for a wrist-worn instrument that could withstand the brutal realities of spaceflight.

To keep the process unbiased, NASA bought a selection of chronographs anonymously from major brands and subjected them to a series of tests so extreme they bordered on destructive. The watches were baked at scorching temperatures, frozen well below zero, shaken with violent vibrations, blasted with high humidity, crushed by intense pressure, and placed in vacuum chambers that destroyed oils and fragile parts. One after another, the competitors failed, their crystals cracking, hands warping, and movements seizing.
Only one watch survived every test: the Omega Speedmaster.
In 1965, with little fanfare, NASA quietly stamped it with a sentence that would change its destiny forever: “Flight-Qualified for All Manned Space Missions.” From that moment onward, every astronaut climbing into a Gemini, Apollo, or later Space Shuttle mission wore a Speedmaster as standard equipment. It wasn’t a luxury, it was a lifeline.

Its ultimate moment came in 1969. When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon, Neil Armstrong left his Speedmaster aboard the Lunar Module as a backup timer. Buzz Aldrin, however, wore his. As he stepped onto the lunar surface, the stainless-steel chronograph on his wrist became the first watch ever worn on the Moon. No spotlight. No promotion. Just a tool doing its job, 240,000 miles from home, while humanity watched breathlessly.
The Speedmaster’s legend continued to grow. In 1970, during the disastrous Apollo 13 mission, when an explosion crippled the spacecraft, the astronauts were forced to time a crucial engine burn manually, the difference between a safe return and drifting into deep space. They used their Speedmasters to measure the precise 14 seconds required to align their trajectory. That moment saved their lives, and the watch earned a reputation not just as a witness to history, but as a genuine instrument of survival.

Today, the 2025 Omega Speedmaster Professional (Ref. 310.30.42.50.01.002) honours that legacy with remarkable fidelity. Its 42 mm stainless-steel case retains the iconic Moonwatch proportions worn during the Apollo program. The hesalite crystal mirrors the warm, distortion-free look of the original. The stepped dial, tachymeter bezel, and tri-register layout remain unmistakable. Inside beats the Master Chronometer calibre 3861, hand-wound, incredibly accurate, anti-magnetic, and built to modern Omega standards while preserving the ritual and soul of the traditional movement
Every detail is intentional.
Every element speaks to a piece of history no other watch can claim, 
And now, that history could be yours.

We’re offering a brand-new 2025 Omega Speedmaster Professional, boxed, sealed, and ready to be hand-delivered anywhere in the UK. Only 899 tickets exist, our lowest ever, each just £17.40. For a watch with a story written in mission logs, lunar dust, and the margins of survival, opportunities like this don’t come often.