2014 Omega Speedmaster Apollo 11 45th Anniversary 311.62.42.30.06.001
Ref: 311.62.42.30.06.001

Points of Mention

This watch is sold with its Omega box and Omega paperwork. The watch comes paired with a well-suited leather strap, the original Omega 20mm reinforced NATO with a Titanium buckle is provided in the box. The watch comes from November 2014. The watch is in worn condition, but overall fantastic condition for its age. The watch comes with our 12-Month NON-Waterproof Warranty.

The Watch

The Speedmaster was originally introduced in 1957 to compete with the chronographs in the crowd-pulling motor racing field, which was becoming ever more competitive as the drivers achieved higher speeds, therefore a need for accurate timepieces became all the more essential. Omega was the first to have the tachymeter on the bezel rather than on the dial, this was later adopted in 1963 by the Rolex Daytona. The Omega Speedmaster Professional was made famous for its 6 lunar missions. NASA in 1964 sent out letters to 10 watch brands, asking them to send in a Chronograph and only four brands responded to NASA’s request: Rolex, Longines-Wittnauer, Hamilton, and Omega, comically Hamilton sent in a pocket watch. Omega continued to be tested with the many manned flights with all the specific requirements to achieve. The continued commitment by Omega to push the envelope of a watch and its movement means it is still the only flight-qualified watch that meets the requirements for EVA (Extravehicular activity) – outperforming quartz watches, with LCD displays, which are vulnerable to temperature changes, and literally, get destroyed when on spacewalks. Roll forward to 2014 and Omega released this Speedmaster Apollo 11 45th Anniversary 311.62.42.30.06.001 with a striking 42mm brushed Titanium and 18ct Sedna Gold case, Patented by the Swatch Group since 2013 instead of silver they use a much rarer and more precious Palladium mixed with yellow gold and copper to give that darker and more rich Rose Gold hue. This limited watch of 1969 pieces celebrates the 45th Anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969, the Omega 18ct Sedna Gold bezel ring has a matte black ceramic [ZrO2] insert with a tachymeter scale. On the right side is a signed crown with recessed pushers for the chronograph. Its domed sapphire crystal is AR coated on both sides, the dial has a grey/black PVD grain texture with slim applied 18ct Sedna Gold baton indexes to mark the hours and 18ct Sedna Gold fence hands with a chronograph seconds hand that has a PVD-coating in Sedna Gold. A 30-minute register, a 12-hour register, and a 60 seconds register were recessed and precisely executed. At 12 o’clock we have Omega Speedmaster Professional. On the reverse, a screw-down case back with the Apollo 11 45th Anniversary Engraved and the limited number out of 1969 around the outer edge, in the centre, we have the embossed Omega Hippocampus. Inside we have the Cal. 1861, 18 jewels hand-wound Chronograph beating at 21,600 bph, it has a Rhodium-plated finish. As a manual wound movement, it is the direct descendant of the original moon watch that used the Cal. 361 movement. The watch comes paired with a well-suited leather strap, the original Omega 20mm reinforced NATO with a Titanium buckle is provided in the box and also comes with its Omega limited edition presentation box and papers.

Personal Note

The Brand

Formerly known as the La Generale Watch Co. in 1848 founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds. When he died in 1879, his sons carried on his dream. In 1880 they moved to 96 Rue Jakob-Stampfli where they remain today. The brothers produced their first mass-produced calibre, the Labrador In 1885.  Just a few years later in 1892, they produced the first minute-repeater. In 1903 they renamed the company Omega until 1982 when they officially changed their name to Omega SA. During WW1 Omega watches were used as official timekeepers for the Royal Flying Corps and the US Army. In 1930, Omega and Tissot merged together to form Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère (SSIH) In 1931, another group was formed - Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG). Where SSIH was primarily French-speaking, ASUAG was founded by the more German-speaking members of the Swiss watch industry. In 1948 they introduced the first edition of one of its most symbolic watches: the Seamaster. Omega first introduced the Constellation in 1952. At the time it was Omega's flagship timepiece. The first models had a Cal. 354 bumper movement in them. Later in 1955 Omega introduced the Automatic Cal. 50x, followed in 1959 by the Cal.55x (no date) and 56x (date) versions. Many of the Constellations came with pie-pan dials, diamond indexes, and fancy lug configurations. All the gold Constellations of that time have the Observatory of Geneva hand engraved on the back. The stainless steel and stainless steel/gold versions had a gold medallion on the back with the Observatory of Geneva. The eight stars above the Observatory stand for the many exploits of Omega in the world Chronometer competition. Celebrating the fact that all Constellations are Chronometer Certified. In 1962,  when astronaut Wally Schirra wore a Speedmaster on his Mercury Sigma 7 Mission, making it the first Omega watch to enter space. After rigorous tests, NASA used Omega for all their Apollo missions including the 1969 Moon landing of Apollo 11. Today Omega is still an astronaut's first choice. In 1969, President Nixon famously said it was “too valuable” and turned down the first-ever all-gold Speedmaster Professional Deluxe. As a response to the ever-growing threat of electronic watches to the manufacturers of mechanical watches, Omega and many Swiss brands such as Rolex and Patek Philippe formed Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH). Prototypes began to appear in 1967 with their production starting in 1968. Then In 1972, Omega introduced the reference, 198.030, which included the Omega calibre 1250, a ‘tuning-fork electronic movement which was made under licence from Bulova. Later we saw a merger of SSIH and ASUAG into SMH, or Société de Microélectronique et d’Horlogerie. This merger took place in 1983. In 1992, the company acquired Blancpain, and in 1998 they officially rebranded themselves from SMH to the Swatch Group. Then, in 1999, they purchased and integrated Breguet into the Swatch Group.