Flown Speedmaster at auction - bracelet and end links

Hello all,

There’s a flown Speedmaster coming up for auction in Switzerland, it astronaut’s Gennady Padalka, who according to the auction details holds the record for most cumulative days spent at space.

The watch comes with a lot of papers and a certificate from Omega’s headquarters and to top it all a cool spacesuit glove.

What caught my attention is the strap and the endlinks who look like something I haven’t seen before, they’re square and straight and unnumbered and I really like how it all looks, has anyone ever seen one of these set and knows where to find one?

Below auction pictures:




Thanks all for any help!

They are very cool. I was able to obtain an unflown set a few years ago. The end links were custom milled by Roscosmos to accommodate the elastic strap. They are no longer used.

Thanks a lot,

Another impossible item added to my collection wishlist

Agreed with you there TLIGuy.

I have a background in aerospace engineering.
These are machined specifically to accommodate the overlength strap (for obvious reasons), and for safety reasons. They are hand made and are not identical. These are also typical for flight accreditation and safety requirements, noting that they are machined from solid stock. These are likely of Russian origin given that they are not identical, and flight restriction and certification standards are quite different between that of NASA and Roscosmos.
Invariably, these end-links would have had to have undergone a certification process, to be allowed to fly. A similar example certification process for NASA can be found here (if anyone is interested).
Link is to an outdated resource but is relevant to the timeframe of the watch: https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayCA.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PD_8730_002C_&page_name=main

End-Link Material
It is hard to say just from the images that these are stainless steel, titanium or in fact aluminium. There are signs in the photos of pitting corrosion consistent with aluminium however, if they were to have been made from aluminium then they certainly would have been anodized which I don't see any evidence of. Again certification requirements would need to be met, and at a bet, I'd safely say these are manufactured from simple good old stainless steel.

To be honest, from a 'watch value' perspective, despite the provenance of actual spaceflight, I don't see this watch achieving dizzy heights on price (no pun intended), but I could be wrong there, just my 2-cents for what it's worth.

If anyone else has some experience on these specific end-links, then please dial in (again no pun intended), it'd be great to hear.

Nice story! Here is more :
https://hairspring.com/finds/space-eva-worn-omega-speedmaster-from-gennady-padalka/

Estimate is 120-180k usd btw