This photo was taken at Spacefest VII 2016 in Tucson Arizona. I paid for Gene Cernan Apollo 17 "Last Man on the Moon" to sign my Omega Speedmaster 40th Anniversary watch box. I then asked him to wear the watch and he said he would hold it. I was so happy that he agreed to hold the watch. Very blessed and humbled.
Gene Cernan told me that this was the ugliest watch that Omega made because it was too hard to read the dial. He then said that it was the best watch Omega made because it had the Apollo 17 patch design by Robert McCall, had a chunk of silver for the dial, and was done for Gene Cernan "Last Man on the Moon". Pretty awesome.
Spacefest is a huge astronaut convention with astronauts, astronomers, space artists, speakers, and everyone else that is part of all things space related.

 

I met Gene in Arizona back in 1999. He signed my Speedmaster box and Mission Series Booklet and his book for me. He will be missed.

 

Is it just me or does Gene look pretty grumpy in that picture?

 

Gene was a little tired. He had quite a few people in line waiting to get his autograph. He had lots of energy during the entire weekend of this Spacefest.

 

Put yourself in his boots ... and see how grumpy you would be!

 

He charged a huge price for his autograph and inscription. People would and did pay for his autograph. He also had hip surgery over the years and used a cane when walking around the event. He was wonderful and full of energy. He was cracking jokes and making people laugh.

 

He charged quite a lot for his autograph and inscription. These guys charge for their autographs and make well over $100,000 for the weekend.

 

That's quite the haul for signing swag.

 

I hear you. We all work for our money. Sometimes we are grumpy about it. I know I sure can be at times ... doesn’t mean I don’t crack jokes and make people laugh at other times (one of the things my colleagues like about having me around) ....

 

One of the cool things about going to Spacefest is to see what kind of stuff people bring to get signed. Some people bring in stuff signed by astronauts who died back in the 1960's like Gus Grissom, Ed White, and others. Then you have flown in space items that some of the astronauts may or may not sign. I have seen a few limited edition Speedmaster boxes signed by the astronauts like Buzz Aldrin, Dave Scott, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and others. These are extremely rare because first, you have to get the rare watch like a Silver Snoopy and second, you have to go to an event where the astronauts like Jim Lovell and Fred Haise are there to then pay them to sign the box. It is very awesome.

 

Sometimes, Buzz Aldrin would make $100,000 in one day when he would go to Autographica in England and sign for the day.
When Apollo 16 Moonwalker John Young retired from NASA, he could sign autographs for a fee. When working for NASA, you can only sign your NASA photo and nothing else. Therefore people sent in the regular stuff that John could sign at his first private signing and he made over $300,000 for 3 days and signed about 500 items.

 

Gene was a great guy to be around. It was very sad to hear that he had died this past January. Many of the pioneer astronauts have died this past year. John Glenn died last December, Gene Cernan in January, Paul Weitz and Dick Gordon died in the past few months. I can remember over the years when Gene did not charge much for his autograph and you could really get a lot of stuff signed. Still Gene Cernan is Gene Cernan.