The Curious Case of the Alaska Project Sales History

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Man remember those Apollo 11 40th anniversary watches where Omega made way, way too many (7,969) and they were getting dumped at Costco, ebay, grey market dealers were like “yea we’re good, we’re already got more of those damned things that we can sell”.

People are actually starting to charge a premium for those now but when they were new you couldn’t get rid of them fast enough.

The sleeper I’ve been calling for ages now is the Apollo 17 2012 LE, 311.30.42.30.99.002. The silver dial watch everyone hates but yet is so unique among Speedys and only 1972 of them produced. You couldn’t get rid of these either, nobody wanted them. They’re going to be a future Tintin / Gemini 4.

No way is that going to be a future classic. Its ugly, it looks like something you get out of one of those grab machines. The Nautilus, the Alaska project, the milguass, they were not popular because they were ahead of their time but each of them has a coherent design. That apollo is just cheap and nasty looking.
 
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Man remember those Apollo 11 40th anniversary watches where Omega made way, way too many (7,969) and they were getting dumped at Costco, ebay, grey market dealers were like “yea we’re good, we’re already got more of those damned things that we can sell”.

People are actually starting to charge a premium for those now but when they were new you couldn’t get rid of them fast enough.

The sleeper I’ve been calling for ages now is the Apollo 17 2012 LE, 311.30.42.30.99.002. The silver dial watch everyone hates but yet is so unique among Speedys and only 1972 of them produced. You couldn’t get rid of these either, nobody wanted them. They’re going to be a future Tintin / Gemini 4.

TinTin was also being sold at Costco at one point. They bought a bunch of them from a grey market dealer in Europe, sold a few and then got sued by Omega for infringing copyright starting in 2004. The legal case went on for years, Omega ended up finally dropping the case in 2015. Haven't yet seen a single Omega in any Canadian Costco yet.

Link to Wikipedia for anyone interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco_Wholesale_Corp._v._Omega,_S._A.

Another article explaining the whole fiasco https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/5515/Omega-admits-defeat-in-Costco-watch-battle
 
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@gyromiterob
👎
Well it was a superb presentation and great Speedmaster & outer case combo but in 2008 Omega still didn't know about this... and its possible use during the December 19, 1977 and July 29, 1978 spacewalks while testing the new Russian Orlan spacesuits onboard the Salyut-6 space station...
Someone informed Hodinkee and then Omega about the ex-Alaska II Speedmaster with red outer cases chronographs being used by the Russians... and Omega confirmed that the Russians ordered these special Speedmaster chronographs by fax in early 1977 !!!
😁
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@gyromiterob
...and its possible use during the December 19, 1977 and July 29, 1978 spacewalks while testing the new Russian Orlan spacesuits onboard the Salyut-6 space station...

This is super-cool! I've never heard this before. Thanks for posting!