Each and every one of the astronauts who wrote a new page in the history of humanity in 1968 by orbiting the Moon for the first time aboard Apollo 8 was equipped with a precision instrument. It was the Omega Speedmaster, the watch that NASA relied on throughout the lunar program and that the manufacture elevated to iconic status with the launch of the Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 in 2018, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the mission.
Now the watchmaking firm pays a new tribute to history with a new version that returns to its launch platform to take up the original design and elevate it to an even higher stage of refinement with the relief of the Moon cut out by laser on the case. blackened plate and bridges. A sophisticated work that, like the Moon, reveals two different faces. The one on the dial shows the view of the lunar surface from Earth, while the one on the back of the watch represents the hidden side that only the astronauts were able to see.
The hand-wound caliber 3869 (certified as a Co-Axial Master Chronometer, giving the watch the highest level of precision, chronometric performance and resistance to magnetism in the Swiss watchmaking industry), features the color-varnished central chronograph seconds hand. yellow as well as a small seconds hand located at 9 o'clock, whose patent is pending.
Another peculiarity is the inscriptions on the bottom of the box, where there is no shortage of “We'll see you on the other side”, the words transmitted to the control center by the command module pilot Jim Lovell, just before Apollo 8 first disappeared toward the far side of the Moon and lost radio contact.
