It’s possible you might be aware of a connection between Omega’s Speedmaster and NASA. They don’t really like to go on about it, or anything…
Anyway, when the Americans were planning to go to the moon, they evaluated a selection of wristwatches and eventually settled on using the Omega. One of the earliest “issued” Speedmasters was a 105.003 given to Ed White, who performed the first “Extra Vehicular Activity” – spacewalk – for the USA. Other watches had also been issued previously – the Bulova Accutron had been worn by a variety of the early cohort.
Astronauts sometimes wore their own watches – like Bill Pogue taking his Seiko to Skylab in 1973, or several of the earlier Apollo crew sometimes wearing other watches on the moon, like another Bulova or even a Rolex GMT Master. But one notable wristwatch first was on the wrist of Walter “Wally” Schirra, who took part in the Mercury program which went before Apollo and Gemini. He had his own Omega Speedmaster CK2998 with him, making that the first Omega watch that had gone into space.
The Speedmaster Generations
Much has been written about all the differences in early Speedmasters – see the heavyweight Moonwatch Only book – but an easy-to-follow guide is published on Speedmaster101.com. A little info is even on Omega’s own vintage pages, but you can really dive into minutiae when looking at all the small differences.
The CK2998 was the second generation (from 1959) of the CK2915 watch which debuted in 1957. The format later evolved into the 105.003, with much of the look remaining except the hands went from arrow/dauphin to sticks.
above: “Ed White” 105.003, 145.012-68 and 145.022-71
After the “Ed White” 105.003 came the 105.012 and later 145.012, which still used the Omega calibre 321 movement but had a change of case shape, with asymmetrical lugs and additional crown/pusher protection. The 012 references were also the first to be branded “PROFESSIONAL”. In 1968/69, the 321 was replaced with the 861 movement and the numbers changed to 145.022.
The First First Omega in Space
Omega chose to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Wally Schirra’s choice of wearing his own watch when he was fired into space for a few hours, by releasing a “First Omega in Space” watch in 2012.
It was a decent effort, however die-hard Speedmaster fans might have bemoaned the lack of “Dot Over Ninety” bezel or stepped dial, the fact that the Omega and Speedmaster logos are quite different from the original. Still, it has arrow hands, a straight-lug case and it kinda looks like a CK2998, even if Omega was to go on a few years later to release a watch called CK2998 which didn’t look much like the original. this “FOIS” came only on a strap (though owners quickly found both vintage bracelets and modern ones which fit) and was actually less expensive than a contemporary Moonwatch.
The Second First Omega in Space
Happily, Omega listened to some of its more vocal collectors and came out with a new “FOIS” in late 2024 – and it’s a belter.
The new FOIS has similar arrow hands to the original CK2998 (which, if truth be told, are a bit hard to read the time with, at least compared to the white stick hands that followed). It has a stepped dial, applied metal OMEGA logo, the OMEGA and Speedmaster fonts look similar to the original and it even has a Dot Over Ninety bezel. The dial finish is a subtle metallic blue sunburst, which looks great in the right light. The author of Speedmaster101 identified a variety of factory-issue metallic sunburst prototypes or special dials, which he called “soleil“,
The new FOIS comes with a modern 3861 co-axial movement, a solid case-back and either a strap or a nice remake of the original flat-link bracelet. It’s like a Speedmaster greatest hits and, in my eyes, is pretty much a bullseye. UK RRP is £7400 or you can find them online for a fair bit less.
Comparing the new FOIS with a later Speedmaster, a 145.022-76…
