Questions about original Speedmasters tested by NASA, eg, what happened to them, etc..

SpeedyPhill · Feb 12, 2026

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SpeedyPhill · Mar 19, 2025

60 years ago... March 20, 1965, Gemini III ready...
By the end of February 1965, NASA testing of chronographs was completed and we see the Omega Speedmaster on the wrists of the Gemini III prime & backup crews!As no Omega Speedmaster chronographs were delivered until April 23 of that year, NASA had distributed the Speedmasters used for testing to astronauts Virgil Grissom & John Young, who during the mission, both wore a battery-powered tuning-fork Accutron Astronaut GMT pilot watch and a manual winding 321 Omega Speedmaster 105.003-63 = March 23, 1965.
Backup Walter...

SpeedyPhill · May 1, 2026

50 years ago... on this date, NASA Speedmasters to NASM!
On April 27, 1976 the National Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. received 60 out of 97 Omega Speedmaster chronographs delivered to NASA. Then and now, these Omega watches were considered a collection with significant artefact value!
Between April 1965 and December 1968, NASA received five deliveries of Omega Speedmaster chronographs, totalling 97 wrist watches. Taking the NASA tests survival Speedmaster in our count, the total becomes 100 Omega Speedmaster chronographs.
Between 1965 and 1975, 71 (2 of NASA tests included) of these 100, were used in actual spaceflight missions (23 different 105.003, 38 different 105.012 and 10 different 145.012).
MoonwatchUniverse celebrates this 50th anniversary with a full disclosure of the information available revealing the minute details of how NASA worked with the Omega Speedmaster chronographs, giving a pair to NASA Directors, indicating certain NASA numbers to half-a-dozen Speedies exclusively to be used in altitude chamber testing and preparing specific Speedies well in advance of upcoming spaceflight missions.
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