The Omega Speedmaster was launched in 1957 as part of a trio of professional tool watches alongside the Seamaster 300 and the Railmaster. The idea came from Pierre Moinat, head of Omega's creative department, while the case was designed by Claude Baillod, and the first reference CK2915 was conceived for racing drivers, engineers and sportsmen. Its defining innovation was placing the tachymeter scale on the bezel rather than the dial, making elapsed-speed readings far easier; combined with Broad Arrow hands, a 39mm steel case and the robust column-wheel caliber 321, it set the template for every Speedmaster to follow.
The watch's destiny changed in space. In October 1962 astronaut Wally Schirra wore his own CK2998 on the Mercury Sigma 7 flight, the first Omega in space. NASA later ran a blind tender, buying watches anonymously from a Houston jeweller and subjecting them to brutal heat, vacuum, shock and vibration tests. Only the Speedmaster reference 105.003 survived, and on 1 March 1965 it was certified flight-qualified for all manned space missions. That reference, nicknamed the Ed White, was the last straight-lug Speedmaster with the caliber 321 and was worn during America's first spacewalk on Gemini 4 in June 1965.
The Speedmaster's most famous moment came on 20 July 1969, when a reference 105.012 on Buzz Aldrin's wrist became the first watch worn on the Moon during Apollo 11. The 105.012 was the first reference with the crown-guarded asymmetric case. In 1968 Omega had introduced the cam-switched caliber 861 with the reference 145.022, the model whose caseback carries the celebrated Flight-qualified by NASA for all manned space missions engraving. The Speedmaster's tool-watch reliability proved itself again on Apollo 13 in 1970, when astronauts used it to time a critical engine burn, earning Omega NASA's Silver Snoopy Award.
The Moonwatch endured for decades on the caliber 861 and its successor the caliber 1861, found in the long-running reference 311.30.42.30.01.005 with its Hesalite crystal. In 2021 Omega comprehensively updated the line with reference 310.30.42.50.01.001, fitting the Co-Axial Master Chronometer caliber 3861, METAS-certified and antimagnetic to 15,000 gauss, while preserving the asymmetric case, stepped dial and dot-over-ninety bezel of the watches worn on the Moon.
Collectors prize the Speedmaster for its unbroken NASA heritage, its hand-wound mechanical purity and a value spread that runs from the accessible modern Moonwatch to seven-figure pre-Moon CK2915 examples. Produced only from 1957 to 1959, the first reference CK2915 remains the most sought-after and most valuable of all Speedmasters. Bedesten Watches has sold authentic Omega Speedmasters in Istanbul since 1999. For the current Hesalite and sapphire Moonwatch Professional and pre-Moon references, visit our Suadiye store in Kadikoy or message us on WhatsApp +90 532 327 88 26 for current stock and prices on request.