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Watches are bought to mark special milestones and occasions graduation, a birth, an anniversary. But watches themselves also mark great milestones in human history. And this cannot be truer for the Omega Speedmaster. The chronograph, born in 1957, found its calling as a piece of essential NASA-qualified equipment that accompanied NASA astronauts to the moon on the Apollo 11, and also helped bring NASA astronauts back to earth on the aborted Apollo 13 mission.
Since then, many of us consider the Speedmaster Moonwatch sacred nothing sparked more joy than when Omega revived the legendary Calibre 321 in 2019. The Calibre 321 was the original column wheel movement that powered the very first Speedmaster in 1957. Through tomography scanning, Omega was able to derive the new Calibre 321 that stayed true to the original version. The Speedmaster Calibre 321 “Ed White” in stainless steel, released that same year, instantly became a grail watch for collectors.
Omega
There are very few iconic watches. Fewer still that enjoy instant recognition well beyond the confines of watch aficionados. Omega s Speedmaster Moonwatch is, by any estimation, in this group.
Now Omega has updated this classic with a new, Master Chronometer-certified movement for 2021. Offering resistance to magnetic fields reaching 15,000 gauss, the co-axial calibre 3861 is housed inside an asymmetrical case much like the one found on the fourth-generation Moonwatch, the model worn on the Moon first by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
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Omega announced an upgraded version of the Moonwatch calibre back in March 2019 as the 3861 was first seen in the gold Apollo 11 Anniversary Limited Edition. Since then, it s powered 2019 s Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Limited Edition in stainless steel and 2020s Silver Snoopy 50th Anniversary Speedmaster. But, crucially, only from now can it be found in the standard-production Moonwatch with a 50-hour power reserve, from £