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Omega info on the 2019 Platinum 321 Speedmaster - lunar meteorite

SpeedyPhill
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It looks like Omega has given the information about the exact type of lunar meteorite used in their 2019 re-edition of the 321 movement as the Platinum 321... Platinum actually a special alloy that uses Gold.
Our question was to know which exact lunar meteorite, scientifically classified as Stone-Achondrite, was used for the slices in the subdials. Well the answer is Dar-Al-Gani 400
All meteorites, Stone or Iron or Stone-Iron, are named after the place where they fell on Earth...
Dar-Al-Gani 400 is a well-known lunar meteorite of which 1425 grams was recovered in Libya (Libyan Sahara - Al Jufrah in March 1998).
Meteorite fiche a LPI: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=5948
 
T
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Here is the poor man's version with the Da-Al-Gani 400 lunar meteorite sub-dial.

IMG_5003.jpeg
 
gee_cee
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1.4kg? That's not a very big rock. As I understood it the platinum 321 was a limited production rather than true limited edition. I recall reading somewhere there's a high % of breakage making meteorite dials, so I imagine there's a fair amount of wastage involved. My guess would be they've bought up a number of lunar meteorites. Wonder how much one's worth?!
 
SpeedyPhill
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Indeed, specific Dar-Al-Gani 400 is classified as a lunar breccia meteorite... with only 1425 grams found in the meteorite strewn field in the Libyan desert in March 1998 ( BTW the late Muammar Gaddafi was a meteorite collector ).
Not to be confused with other meteorites found in the Libyan desert... North West Africa is a great place to find meteorites (named NWA-number)
Although the slices for the subdials are very thin, Omega must have got a very nice & substantial piece of Dar-Al-Gani 400 !
When found, a little 1cm scale cube is put next to a meteorite, showing its orientation in the field ( Top, North West, East ), and photographed before picking it up
.
Lunar Dar Al Gani.jpg
 
gee_cee
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SpeedyPhill SpeedyPhill
Indeed, specific Dar-Al-Gani 400 is classified as a lunar breccia meteorite... with only 1425 grams found in the meteorite strewn field in the Libyan desert in March 1998 ( BTW the late Muammar Gaddafi was a meteorite collector ).
Not to be confused with other meteorites found in the Libyan desert... North West Africa is a great place to find meteorites (named NWA-number)
Although the slices for the subdials are very thin, Omega must have got a very nice & substantial piece of Dar-Al-Gani 400 !
When found, a little 1cm scale cube is put next to a meteorite, showing its orientation in the field ( Top, North West, East ), and photographed before picking it up

Ah, so it's not a single piece of rock, but many smaller fragments? Or it's been cut down..?
 
SpeedyPhill
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Indeed, there're usually a few major pieces found in proximity of each other... from there on, meteorite hunters determine the strewn field
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strewn_field
📖
Meteoritics is an interesting science field and simplified there're only 3 categories: Stone ... Iron... and Stone-Iron meteorites
For those interested in the history of meteoritics I can recommend these books:
.
History_Meteoritics_Key_Meteorite_Collections.jpg Meteorite Men.jpg
 
SpeedyPhill
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As far as I know, Omega produced 3 Speedmaster chronographs with " meteorite " dial:
2010 = Apollo-Soyuz 35th Speedmaster (1975 pieces with Gibeon Iron meteorite dial - 26000 kg found in Windhoek Namibia in 1836)
2016 = Gray Side of the Moon Co-Axial Speedmaster ( also with Gibeon Iron meteorite dial - 26000 kg found in Windhoek Namibia in 1836)
2019 = 321 Platinum Speedmaster ( subdials made of Dar-Al-Gani 400 stone-achondrite lunar meteorite - 1425 grams Libyan desert in 1998)
...
did I miss one 😕
 
SpeedyPhill
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There's also a tiny bit of Moon meteorite on the caseback of the Gold 50 years Apollo 11 Speedmaster... but I have no idea which lunar meteorite was used for these Moonshine 18K Gold 50th Apollo 11 Limited Edition Speedies ( 1014 pieces produced in 2019 ).
By The Way, the first Lunar meteorites on Earth were only classified as such in the year 1982, after geologists compared NWA-series meteorites with reference material from the Moon, brought back by the six Apollo lunar landing missions, which brought back 382 kilograms Moon rocks...
It seems, so far, we have merely 200 kilograms of Lunar meteorites identified on Earth...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lunar_meteorites
 
queriver
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A report on the Fratello website about the NYC Speedy Tuesday event that launched the Platinum 321 last year included some photos I'm copying below. Whether they were genuine or replica pieces of lunar meteorite I'm unable to tell. I didn't attend the event but hopefully somebody who did can jump in and enlighten us.
https://www.fratellowatches.com/new-york-city-speedy-tuesday-event-report/

The photo below might be of a genuine piece of meteorite on the left, thin slices off it in the middle and finished subdials on the right. You can make out the size of the piece by scaling off the subdials. Clearly the slices are very thin and they seem to hold together OK. -
190917-Speedy-Tuesday-NYC.067 - Copy.jpg


This one shows what appears to be a piece of meteorite on the right but, given its size and how exposed it is to being carried off, it's most likely a replica -
190917-Speedy-Tuesday-NYC.078 - Copy.jpg


A partial view of what might be a replica on the far right edge, or it may be the same as the one above. Again looks to be too easy to pilfer to be genuine I suspect. -
190917-Speedy-Tuesday-NYC.080 - Copy.jpg
 
SpeedyPhill
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Meteorites that (brick) size are mostly Iron (e.g. Campo del Cielo) or Stone chondrites (e.g. Chergach)
Lunar & Mars meteorites are Stone-Achondrites...
The largest lunar meteorites were found on the South-Pole, easily spotted in the snow, collected by the US Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET) :
note size against the 1 cm reference cube
.
lunar.jpg
 
Boony
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Would be great to find out what meteor is in the 50th anniversary moonshine... if any of you guys find out, do please share.
 
hansmaulwurf
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Here a picture of the piece in my Apollo 11 50th Anni Moonshine ...

upload_2020-5-1_11-18-5.png


No Idea which meteorite this was taken from … would be interesting!

BR
Hans
 
Boony
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hansmaulwurf hansmaulwurf
Here a picture of the piece in my Apollo 11 50th Anni Moonshine ...

upload_2020-5-1_11-18-5.png


No Idea which meteorite this was taken from … would be interesting!

BR
Hans

And mine!

988E31CA-2F35-4333-B608-B10722F3AB6F.jpeg
 
queriver
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Boony Boony
Would be great to find out what meteor is in the 50th anniversary moonshine... if any of you guys find out, do please share.
hansmaulwurf hansmaulwurf
Here a picture of the piece in my Apollo 11 50th Anni Moonshine ...

upload_2020-5-1_11-18-5.png


No Idea which meteorite this was taken from … would be interesting!

BR
Hans
50th Moonshine's also got a sliver of lunar meteorite. I don't know whether from the same meteorite as the 321 but it looks the same (e.g. the veining and colours.)
 
queriver
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This recent WatchAdvisor video with Gregory Kissling, Omega's Head of Product Development, discusses the lunar meteorite used in the platinum 321 Speedmaster.
 
MTROIS
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queriver queriver
This recent WatchAdvisor video with Gregory Kissling, Omega's Head of Product Development, discusses the lunar meteorite used in the platinum 321 Speedmaster.
...I must admit that I had not fully appreciated all the details going into this watch before watching this video!!
Thank you for sharing. 👍
 
Chubsmaster
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queriver queriver
This recent WatchAdvisor video with Gregory Kissling, Omega's Head of Product Development, discusses the lunar meteorite used in the platinum 321 Speedmaster.

Very nice! I own this very special Speedmater. I learned a lot about it, thank you for sharing!
 
A
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These are quite rare and don't come often for sale. Only seen a couple the last 12 months or so.
 
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