@Jetspeed
There're several factors:
1. Rolex was a popular pilot watch, photos show Charles Yeager, Frank Borman and wearing a Rolex watch during their test pilot training at Edwards AFB. After graduating from class 60C, and ARPS in April 1963, Collins was selected in NASA group 3 "The Fourteen" (18 October 1963).
He must have treated himself as by April 1964 Collins wore a Rolex Turn-O-Graph 6202, the famous pilot watch which became avaialble to the US Air Force "Thunderbirds" in 1956, celebrating they became supersonic flying the North American Super Sabre F-100C.
(Photo: NASA)
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2. Initially, astronauts trained wearing their personal watch and in July 1965, the Gemini VII crew was announced with Michael Collins as backup astronaut.
NASA only acquired the first batch of Omega Speedmaster wrist chronographs in April 1965, and the 17 Speedmaster 105.003-63 were barely enough to distribute to each NASA astronaut in training, especially as NASA pre-reserved certain watches for an upcoming spaceflight mission.
In March 1966, Young & Collins were announced as prime crew for the Gemini XI mission, and we see Collins training with a NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster April 1966 onwards.
During the July 1966 mission, Collins wore the Speedmaster underneath the space suit, and by August 1966 he had already returned it back to NASA as astronauts were asked to do so ASAP.
In this August 1966 interview, Young still wearing a Speedmaster with Collins back to the Rolex 6202
(Photos: NASA/UPI)
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After some crew switching, Collins ended up as CMP for the Apollo 11 mission, and even during the training, during which he mostly trained alone, he often wore his personal Rolex 6202.
Fun fact, on
April 14, 1969, during the training in the three seat gondola centrifuge run at MSC Houston TX, Collins wore his Rolex 6202 but the same day the crew was asked to make the official WSS - White Space Suit individual portraits and crew photos. So in those photos, Collins was the only astronaut to wear a wrist watch!
(Photos: NASA)
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In 2022 the Gold Omega Speedmaster "Apollo 11 tribute" BA145.022-69 n° 19 was auctioned during Heritage Auctions’ Fine Timepieces and fetched US $ 765000.
This Gold watch was in superb condition as Collins probably never wore it.
Thusfar I have found photos of 24 astronauts of the 32 astronaut recepients actually wearing their Gold Apollo 11 tribute Speedmaster, and Collins is not among them. During Apollo 11 reunions, photos show Armstrong and Aldrin often wore the Gold Speedmaster, but Collins his Rolex 6202.
(photo: UPI)
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Also in later life, Collins wore the Rolex 6202 to at least 1974, so for a decade, but more often his Gold Day-Date before going to "more common" wrist watches. He had a taste for smaller pieces...
(Photos: NASA)
