I posted this over in the Rolex forum but I thought there may be a little interest here as well since many of us have a bit of space geek in us. My interest and research is confined to a very small sliver of space occupied by the watches worn by astronauts beginning with Gemini 3 and ending with Apollo 17. During my research I have seen a few images of Jim Lovell wearing his Rolex GMT. None were great and none could be enhanced without serious distortion to get a good look a the GMT. The image below has been my favorite Lovell pictures with the crew of Apollo 8. They look ready for the task at hand and Lovell's pose with the bomber jacket wearing the shinny new GMT on his wrist has always been my favorite. Now....I Finally get a good look at the GMT that he has worn all these years. Tuesday I received my images from a signing he did where I had a piece signed. Included in the signing was a CD with images from the event. As I looked through the images I spotted the pictures I had been hoping to find over the past few years. What a great looking well worn GMT 1675. It also appears that the dial has a Naval Academy crest printed on it at the 9 o'clock position. If this watch could talk I bet it would tell some great stories.
Love that Apollo 8 crew picture. Haven't seen it before. Not so sure about your new avatar though. I don't think Apollo 8 gets enough credit for that great leap forward and actually being first around the moon. Looks like I missed another signing by Lovell . I've got a signed copy of Lost Moon but would love to get something with a more personal inscription and focussed more towards Apollo 8 (I was born in '68) than Apollo 13. I know you're also over on CollectSpace. I haven't quite got the hang of the culture over there. I'm a bit scared to resurrect old threads and 'showing off' your collection doesn't seem to be done with the same passion as here. Recently found out that my login doesn't work there any more and I haven't heard back from the mods yet. I'll have to chase that up.
I do post there on occasion and mostly in the Speedmaster thread. Like I said, I have been doing a bunch of research on the NASA Speedmasters while working on a project and there are some very knowledgable contacts there. I agree with you about older threads and posting collections at CS. I don't think Robert likes his site all clogged up with images. Even when I have posted an image usually it gets removed and linked to. It is still a great site and lots of fantastic information is shared there. Avatar??? Who doesn't love a 1968 transitional Speedmaster??
How much would that watch be worth, both as a standalone piece and then also taking into account who it is owned by?
Intrigued No doubt about that. Another reason to be grateful for the facility here at OF. And maybe it's time to start our own Space Collectables thread here. I'm sure there has to be a few others with more than a fleeting interest. Still prefer my transitionals with an Applied Metal Logo rather than Applied Fake Lashes.
Couple of notes: Some cool vintage sunglasses (American Optics). Also he is left handed wearing his watch on the right arm (he read the handbook). I only hope my GMT has that great patina over the years.
A friend of mine has a father who went through the Astronaut program but never flew. He's in his 80s now and I have many inquiries to see his watch box. Never been told "no" still waiting for "ok, c'mon down to Houston.
And Scott Carpenter wearing his Accutron Astronaut with coffin bracelet Eating a lunch of sandwich and Fritos with his daughter
I was just going to post that Does anyone else notice that???? That's not common on any Rolex GMT of that time period unless it was an exclusive production by Rolex. Anyone want to take a shot at clearing up the photo?
