Let me tell you about the coolest watch I’ve tried on this year. It was one of those commemorative gold “Apollo XI” Omega Speedmaster replica watches for sale, the ones Omega gifted to astronauts to celebrate the successful lunar landing of Apollo XI. This particular example had been given to Michael Collins, the astronaut who stayed back and flew the command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took that “one small step” onto the Moon.
Collins’ AAA UK fake Omega Speedmaster watches ended up selling for $765,000 in June, which, I believe, makes it the second most expensive Speedmaster ever, after that chocolatey Speedy that Phillips sold for $3.4 million about a year ago. But as luck and interplanetary travel would have it, another gold Apollo XI Speedmaster (ref. BA 145.022) is up for auction right now, this one gifted to astronaut Wally Schirra. If I had to bet, I’d guess Schirra’s Speedmaster is about to hit a similarly astronomical number.
You might know the story, but in case not: Omega gifted these gold Speedies at a fancy gala shortly after the successful Apollo XI mission. The first couple went to then-President and Vice President Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew (who couldn’t accept them), while the next 28 numbered watches went to mission astronauts. In total, 1,014 of these best Omega Speedmaster replica watches were made, with most of the rest offered for commercial sale; it makes these first examples gifted to astronauts the most special.
By the time he was gifted the high quality Omega copy watches, Schirra was already an established badass, the first (and only) astronaut to go to space three times (being the only astronaut to fly in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs). Schirra was gifted commemorative Speedmaster No. 8 in recognition of his first spaceflight on the Mercury-Atlas 8 mission. On the caseback, it’s personally engraved “Astronaut Walter M. Schirra, Mercury 8—Gemini 6—Apollo 7,” along with the kind of corny phrase you’ll find on all of these commemorative Speedies: “To mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time.”
Early this week – October 3 – actually marked the 60th anniversary of Schirra’s Mercury-Atlas 8 mission. If you’re into luxury Omega Speedmaster replica watches, you already know what that flight is famous for: Schirra had an Omega Speedmaster ref. CK2998 on his wrist, making it the “First Omega in Space.”
At the time, the Speedmaster wasn’t yet qualified for spaceflight by NASA – it was just Schirra’s personal watch, as he’d also explain in an interview with collector Chuck Maddox years later. With that Omega connection already in place, the commemorative gold cheap Omega Speedmaster fake watches was a nice bookend for Schirra’s career as an astronaut: He’d made his third and final visit to space a year earlier aboard Apollo 7, and he’d go on to serve as a TV anchor for subsequent Apollo missions.
Schirra the Pioneer
Lucky for us, Schirra’s gold Speedy is being consigned by world-class space historian and collector Larry McGlynn, who developed a long friendship with Schirra.
“NASA sent Wally in when things needed to be fixed,” McGlynn told me over the phone. As just one example: Schirra was called on to pilot that Apollo 7 mission a year after the fire that killed all three astronauts on Apollo 1. After Schirra died in 2007, his widow eventually contacted McGlynn to see if he’d be interested in buying the perfect Omega super clone watches. He was, and he bought it.
When talking about Wally, McGlynn kept using one word: pioneer. He was a Naval Academy graduate; a World War II vet; he flew 90 combat missions in the Korean War; he became a test pilot. A true “jet jockey,” as McGlynn put it.
“He was a pioneer. Wally was funny and he had a sense of humor, but he was also serious about what he did.”
Just A Big Gold Watch
This brings me back to trying on Collins’ Apollo XI Speedmaster earlier this year. Sure, it was cool just because it’s a big-ass gold watch, and those are always cool. I don’t get too sentimental about other peoples’ Swiss movements replica Omega watches, but something about snapping on Collins’ watch felt different than anything I’ve put on recently. This wasn’t a watch that went to space or anything – it was just a trophy watch, really – but still. It wasn’t a prop or some movie star’s watch, just a trophy from a guy who happened to earn it by going to space three freaking times.
I guess that history, or maybe just that big-ass gold watch, weighed on me – the weight of expectations and all that. After reading more about Schirra, looking at old photos, and talking to McGlynn, I know I’d have the same feeling if I put on Schirra’s 1:1 Omega Speedmaster fake watches.
As for Schirra’s Speedmaster: McGlynn had it cleaned by Omega and he was able to obtain one of the last original ’69 burgundy bezels directly from Omega (Schirra lost the original bezel years ago), but it’s otherwise original. The listing at RR Auction even has a few photos of Schirra wearing the watch over the years; McGlynn, too, said he had memories of Wally wearing the gold Speedmaster. Many of the astronauts viewed these China replica Omega Speedmaster watches, gold as they were, as just watches, and wore them quite a bit – we love to hear it.
I’ve enjoyed reading about Schirra these past few days and talking to McGlynn about his old buddy, so here’s one more story of how Schirra used his chronograph onboard, also from that interview with Chuck Maddox: “The real key was pre-setting them to T plus 20 seconds,” Schirra said. “Before we got into the spacecraft, before we tied up everything, we’d advance the stopwatch to 20 seconds. And then after liftoff, they’d say ‘Standby – Mark!’ and then you’d start the watch again because you were too busy with hands on switches to start the watch [at liftoff].”
I hope whoever wins Schirra’s best quality replica Omega Speedmaster watches, once in awhile sets the chronograph to 20 seconds, a little wink to how Schirra would use his Speedmaster during take-off. No matter what, at least they’ll get a big gold watch, and that’s always cool.