If you’re thinking about this one - https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5945140 - it was flown around the moon but did not end up on the moon - https://www.christies.com/features/Flown-to-the-moon-A-unique-Omega-Speedmaster-6784-1.aspx.
Coming up... Blue Origin NS-18 sub-orbital spaceflight mission... carrying James Tiberius Kirk (actor William Shatner aged 90 years strong!)
dial seconds track has only 3 divisions between each🤨
But the 3861 also has the same intermediate mark approach as the FOIS.
With the cal.321 having 5 beats per second and a dial with four intermediate marks, the chrono hand lands on a dial mark with each beat.
Later calibers went to 6 beats per sec, meaning the traditional dial design of 4 intermediate marks didn’t line up too elegantly with the chrono hand beats: the chrono-secondhand would only hit on the full second indices, and none of the intermediate indices.
This inelegance was sometimes, like on the FOIS, “fixed” by placing only two intermediate marks on the dial because this allowed the 6 beat/sec chrono hand to at least land on a dial mark every other beat.
The new cal.3861 retains same frequency as cal.1861, beating still at 6 times per second; and for the first time in a regular production mainline speedy the dial design now “comes standard” with 2 (rather than 4) intermediate marks.
So, both the FOIS you pictured and the new 3861 only have 2 intermediate marks.
The FOIS/3861 dial design with only two intermediate marks still “counts” all 6 beats, insofar as the chrono hand stops between marks for every other beat.
So as between a 321 5 beat/sec with 4 intermediate marks or a later 6 beat/sec caliber with 2 intermediate marks, it’s not really about function or “use,” but instead design.
Conversely, it could be argued that a 6 beat/sec caliber on a dial design with 4 intermediate marks was - if nothing else - an OCD nightmare 😁
The best image of " commercial spaceflight " : actor William Shatner (Star Trek Captain Kirk) & Blue Origin NS-18 ... October 2021
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Coming up... Blue Origin NS-18 sub-orbital spaceflight mission... carrying James Tiberius Kirk (actor William Shatner aged 90 years strong!)
Blue Origin vice-president flight director & engineer for Human Flight Certification Review, Audrey Powers and Dr Chris Boshuizen, founder of Planet Labs, already seem to wear the new Omega Speedmaster 3861 chronograph in the official Blue Origin New Shepard 18 crew photo.
(Photo: Blue Origin)
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Marketing goes a long way... these 3861 will turn up onboard the ISS ☕
Coming late to this discussion, but I'll add my 2 cents (literally) anyway. My Apollo 11 50th Anniversary would appear to qualify as a Moonwatch even though it has never been on a spaceflight. But my Speedmaster Racing with 9900 automatic movement, despite a similar dial appearance would not qualify as a Moonwatch. Why? Because Omega doesn't even include the word "Moon" anywhere on this watch. Nothing on the dial, nothing on the movement or rear bezel, not even anything on the strap (I've got an after-market Genteel Handmade on it now anyway). I'm not all that hung up on the moon, I just like both watches for what each is.
Ah - but Omega begs to differ...as do I....
https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch-professional/product
Your anniversary piece has sapphire glass so it would not be qualified for EVA
