This was a tremendous amount of fun and a great night for everyone, I was lucky enough to have been at the very first SpeedyTuesday gathering in the Netherlands with James Ragan, RJ, Gerard and the Fratello team so it was great to see them again in Singapore last week, my favourite country in the world for watch shopping.





I had to take a Speedy and didn't feel like going through the customs inconvenience again so just went with the Apollo 8 for the whole week in SG, even in the heat and humidity its a really comfortable strap and I can't state enough how much I love this piece, the size, thickness and light weight really make it practical and though it no doubt contains metal I was able to walk through the various metal detectors without being asked to take it off.



It really is one of the most beautiful places in Asia to visit which is why I seem to end up back there so often, and as far as watch shopping, you'll see rare novelties and rare pieces here that you will struggle to find anywhere else, the Marina Bay Sands shopping center in particular is amazing, and Omega has a lot of very large boutiques here with selections of pieces I've never seen before in Australia and countless ADs.



At the event Omega had a selection of their latest current models (including the twin of my Apollo 8) along with some great vintage pieces from the museum and historical advertisements for the Speedmaster, while Robert-Jan was there in his Apollo 11 50th anniversary LE 18K Gold Moonwatch signing SpeedyTuesday watchboxes and memorabilia for people including this Ultraman above, it was actually really cool to see enthusiastic collectors bringing boxes along for him to sign and I think he must be one of the only non-Astronauts to have ever been asked to do such a thing!



We got to enjoy a talk from RJ, Petros from the Omega museum and James Ragan followed by a panel discussion and QA sessions which was really great, James and Petros are an absolute wealth of knowledge and some great pieces of info came up such as that the Speedmaster that was used for the burn on Apollo 13 was actually mission commander Jim Lovell's, the history surrounding political pressure on NASA to buy American in spite of the testing and the situation surrounding the Speedmaster's re-certification in the event that the new Co-Axial 3861 need to be re-tested for space (Omega have the testing processes and can recreate as necessary).



We got to try on the new 50th Anniversary LE which although I'm not getting is a really great piece with probably the best Speedmaster bracelet ever fitted to a Moonwatch, beautiful clasp, beautiful fit and finish and perfect for a vintage model, so while Omega are unlikely to ever sell it separately I'd love to pick one up if it ever turned up on eBay as it would be perfect for a 321. They also had a Calibre 321 re-edition prototype movement for us to see up close however just in a movement holder, nothing resembling a watch yet but this will likely be my next new purchase.



We were treated to an amazing dinner, even as a vegetarian weirdo it was superb and the food is always one of my favourite things about Singapore and the desert even had flakes of gold on it and a galaxy / starfield painted plate which was a really nice touch, then at the end of the night we each got to take home a copy of the Omega Lifetime magazine along with a special gift to commemorate the evening.

I greatly hope we have more events in the future and in more locations so others can get to enjoy this tremendous experience as Fratellowatches and Omega really know how to put on an amazing show.

Thanks to everyone who made it happen and all of the great new acquaintances I was able to meet and I hope to see you guys again sometime soon

 

Wow, that hotel is some seriously impressive architecture.

 

Hotel is the ParkRoyal on Pickering and really amazing

 

By the sounds he did and handed it over to be used by I presume Jack. Jim Ragan mentioned that upon landing he specifically went up to them and asked which watch did you use knowing there would be some significance to it and Lovell said it was his as he knew for a fact that his was keeping excellent time, Ragan also knows exactly which NASA issue number that watch was and mentioned it though I can’t remember off the top of my head but I believe the session was recorded by the Fratello team.

 

Jim mentioned the number so if RJ publishes the recording it'll be in that, I can't remember which it was but I don't think it was #70, I seem to remember him saying 27/28/37/38 something lower but I could be wrong.