The OMEGA Speedmaster has been the choice of astronauts and space agencies for more than half a century. In fact, it has been associated with some of humankind's greatest extra-terrestrial adventures and has been one of the most famous chronographs in the world ever since it became the first watch worn on the Moon in July of 1969.
The tests that NASA performed on the chronographs that were submitted to the agency in 1964 were designed to destroy the watches. In the end, only one watch survived: the Speedmaster.
Wally Schirra wore his own Speedmaster on his Mercury mission on October 3, 1962. It was the first OMEGA in space.
NASA requested quotes for wrist chronographs. OMEGA was one of four companies that submitted watches for testing.
NASA declared the Speedmaster "flight-qualified for all manned space missions" in 1965, first launching with Gemini 3 on March 23.
Only three months later, Edward White wore his Speedmaster on America's first spacewalk on his Gemini 4 mission.
On 21 July, when the steps were taken on the lunar surface, the Speedmaster became the Moonwatch.
In April, the Apollo 13 astronauts used their Speedmasters to time critical engine burns that led to their safe return.
As part of Apollo 16, Charles Duke left a photo of his family on the moon, while the Commander|of Apollo 17, Gene Cernan, left the last lunar footprints in history.
In July, the American Apollo rocket docked with the Soviet Union's Soyuz in space. All the spacemen wore Speedmasters.
The Speedmaster was launched in 1957 but its official space legacy started in 1965, when NASA qualified it for use on its piloted missions. Since then, it has been worn on all six lunar landings and earned the nickname “the Moonwatch”.
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