It really is a remarkably beautiful city to visit, even from the air the greenery and neat rows of buildings is in stark contrast to Australian cities which are somewhat more like an ant's nest.

I have to say when Robert-Jan first started talking about putting together this event much earlier in the year, I was both really impressed that someone was creating a gathering for Omega collectors and rather nervous about the size of the undertaking, as its really never been done before for Speedmaster fans. I had figured 25-30 would be a difficult but respectable number in terms of turnout, but in the end more than twice that number came along, and the entire event was just so well put together that I have to take my hat off to Robert-Jan for the incredible work he put into it.

James Ragan was everything you would expect of a NASA test engineer, and when he says he tested all of the watches that were submitted exhaustively and methodically, he's dead serious, even political pressures at the time didn't enter into the equation, it was merely a matter of which chronograph will stand up to the job and that result is now rather obvious. He owns several Speedmasters these days and was wearing an Apollo-Soyuz meteorite edition (Apparently he saw a prototype of it Omega had produced before production and decided he had to have one even before it was released). Truly a wealth of knowledge on Speedmasters and their connection with the space program.

It was also great getting to meet Petros and Alain from Omega, I had no idea Omega had young guys like Alain with such an incredible depth of knowledge and passion working in the archive and museum, it definitely feels like Omega's heritage is in good hands.

I'll definitely be planning a trip back to the Netherlands and Europe again before too long and make it an extended stay, can't wait for the next big gathering of Omega collectors!





Didn't want to risk too much through customs so just took the Gemini IV Limited Edition & The Calibre 321 145.012-67



Omega were kind enough to bring their Speedmaster related Baselworld 2013 pieces, the Speedmaster 57 in 18K solid gold looks so much more impressive in the metal than it does in press pictures, I was genuinely bowled over by this one!



Plenty of very serious Speedy fans were in attendance, every time there was someone walking around with a briefcase you wondered just what cool toys were there, this full set of Speedmaster Mark series watches really impressed me



Lunch was brilliant, and Omega had brought along an incredible selection of vintage pieces from the museum, all hiding under glass domes



This one was fascinating, a Seamaster Professional prototype for the X-33 Mars Speedmaster



An assortment of Speedmasters, from the 1950s through to the 1970s



18K Solid Gold '69 Commemorative Speedmaster Pro



Alaska Project prototypes



More Alaska Projects



This one doesn't particularly need any introduction



More pics at Fratello and many many other places: http://www.fratellowatches.com/speedy-tuesday-event-photo-report/

 

There were actually several 2915s including a FAP, they're just brilliant

 

Yea... I sort of turned up in the Netherlands wearing a polo shirt and trousers, which in fairness, is what you wear in winter in Australia

I didn't realise until I got there that a coat or jacket was probably a lot more important than the three pairs of shorts and T-shirts I'd packed

So for future reference, Amsterdam is quite cold.

 

We are quite spoiled when it comes to climate. It's too easy to forget that other places aren't always sunny and warm.

 

Good Gawd man, how could you forget this: