How to Buy a Vintage Omega Speedmaster: An Expert Guide
This story is taken from Esquire's About Time newsletter, style director Johnny Davis’s straight-talking take on the wonderful world of watches. Sign up here
What's the greatest watch of all time?
The answer to that question is usually: Omega's Speedmaster.
The Nasa-endorsed chronograph typically edges out Rolex in surveys of industry experts, most recently one in the Robb Report, that last month deemed the Speedy its number one “object of desire for watch collectors all over the world".
When Esquire ran something similar in 2023, “The 50 Most Important Watches Ever”, assembled in no particular order with the expertise of Chris Hall and Timothy Barber, and later pulled to bits by Teddy Baldassarre on YouTube (hey, everyone’s entitled to their opinion!), here’s what we said about the Speedmaster:
“In the age of orbiting space stations, communications satellites and Mars rovers, there is something quaintly old-school about a mechanical watch being used in space. Computers may crash but, the thinking goes, a mechanical watch will continue to work in all conditions: high temperatures, below zero, low gravity and when all tech has shut down, in darkness.
“Omega's Speedmaster line was made with racing-car drivers, not astronauts, in mind. It was the first chronograph with a tachymeter scale on the bezel, to measure speed over distance. But the design caught the eye of Nasa astronauts Walter Schirra and Leroy Cooper.
“The story goes that the pair then lobbied Nasa operations director Deke Slayton to make the Speedmaster the official watch for use during training, and, ultimately, flying. In 1964 Slayton issued an internal memo stating the need for a “highly durable and accurate chronograph to be used by Gemini and Apollo flight crews”. Proposals were sent to 10 brands: Benrus, Elgin, Gruen Hamilton, Longines Wittnauer, Lucien Piccard, Mido, Omega and Rolex. Only four answered the call: Rolex, Longines Wittnauer, Hamilton and Omega — with Hamilton disqualifying itself by submitting a pocket watch. The remainder underwent extreme trials: 48 hours at 71°C, four hours at –18°C, 250 hours at 95 per cent humidity, temperature cycling in a vacuum, and so on.
“Nasa declared Speedmaster ‘Flight Qualified for All Manned Space Missions’ in March 1965. It went on to become the first watch worn on the moon — by Buzz Aldrin, in 1969 — and to play a crucial role in the Apollo 13’s re-entry to Earth in 1970, when it was used to time a crucial 14-second burn of fuel. (As seen in Tom Hanks’s 1995 film, Apollo 13.)
“It would be remiss of any company not to dine out on marketing gold like this, and Omega has certainly done so, issuing endless Moonwatch variants ever since. Happily, its product backs up the hype. 'Speedmasters have it all: great chronograph movements, an amazing case design, fantastic dial and hand aesthetics and an unbelievable history,' says vintage watch expert Eric Wind, of Wind Vintage."
With such a strong USP, not to say Omega's habit of regularly launching new editions, such as last year’s tasty white dial variant and vintage-y First Omega In Space, it’s no surprise there's a large market for vintage Speedys that's willing to pay a premium.
Or at least there was.
A 2021 controversy over a “Frankenwatch” Speedmaster that had been pieced together from parts of other watches, including some fake bits, and then sold at Phillips for more than $3m, led to a string of legal actions that dented confidence in the vintage market, to put it mildly.
But!
Writing on his Unpolished Substack – subscribe here! – former Hodinkee editor and watch newsletter OG Tony Traina predicted 2025 would be the year that the market for vintage Speedmaster blasted off into orbit once more.
Here’s what Tony said (the square brackets are mine),
“The market for vintage Speedmasters will rebound in 2025. Get this: In 2018, eight ref. 2915 “Broad Arrows” [earliest model with distinctive broad arrow-shaped hands, of which only around 3,500 are thought to exist] sold for more than $100k. Last year, the highest public result was $55k. We all know what happened [eg: the auction scandal that came in between]. But the Speedmaster can only stay down for so long. At least a couple of 2915s will sell for more than six figures this year, part of a broader comeback for the Speedmaster.”
Is he right?
When I checked back in with Eric Wind, he was more cautious about the big Speedy rebound.
But his enthusiasm for the model remained undimmed.
“It’s the crown jewel in the world of watches,” he said. “It was one of my first loves in vintage watches. And it’s arguably the most iconic vintage sports watch because of its role in the space program and saving astronauts’ lives on the Apollo 13."
He continued:
"Charlie [Dunne, senior watch specialist at Wind Vintage] and I were joking that the only thing worse for the Speedmaster market than a $3 million-plus ‘Frankenstein’ would be a unanimous consensus that the moon landings were fake. That might hurt the Speedmaster market more.”
For collecting purposes, the Speedy story can broadly be split into four eras:
🚀 Pre-moon Speedmasters (from 1957)
Models produced before the Apollo 11 moon landings in July 1969. Key features include the above-mentioned “broad arrow” hands, as seen on the ref. 2915, the very first Speedmaster, produced between 1957 and 1959; straight lugs (without crown guards); an absence of the “Professional” text on the dial, and the calibre 321 movement, something highly prized by collectors.
🚀 Moonwatch Professional (post-1965)
Speedmasters bearing the legend "Professional", after being selected for space missions by Nasa. After 1968 they come equipped with the calibre 861 movement.
🚀 Mark series (1969-1984)
Departures from the classic Speedmaster design. In 1969, the same year it sent its watch to the moon, Omega began experimenting with expanding the Speedmaster family, producing funky models known as the Mark II, Mark III, Mark IV and Mark V, before the idea petered out in the 1980s. These featured thicker, more angular cases, and often had automatic movements.
🚀 Racing and exotic dial variants
Speedmasters with colourful and unconventional dials, such as the racing dials with checkered minute tracks and bright red hands, introduced in the late 1960s, and the Mark II racing dial, a distinctive sub-category of the Speedmaster Mark series.
Then there’s also:
🪐 Limited editions and special releases
Including the Apollo 11 editions (starting in 1969, and recurring for anniversaries); the Silver Snoopy Award editions (honouring Nasa’s recognition of Omega) and Speedy Tuesday editions, produced in collaboration with the #SpeedyTuesday community.
🪐 Variations in the Professional calibres
Collectors have preferences for specific movements, eg: calibre 321 (used from 1957 to 1968); calibre 861 (used from 1968 to around 1996) and calibre 3861 (introduced in 2019, with Master Chronometer certification).
Since what Eric Wind and Wind Vintage don’t know about vintage Speedmasters isn’t worth knowing, I asked him more about the state of the market, and how to buy in 2025.
Look for great condition
“They’re not exactly rare watches, hundreds of thousands of them exist. They’ve been made since 1957. But finding examples in great condition is not easy. Particularly for those 1950s and 1960s models. Those bezels are pretty sensitive to chipping and scratches and fading.”
It’s hard to beat the first generation
“The ref. 2915-1 [first-gen Speedy with those broad arrow hands, a steel bezel, and likely a faded “tropical” dial] is still a holy grail watch. They’ve sold for than $3 million. But it’s hard to know exactly where the market on a great one is now. I’ve sold a really great ref. 2915-2 this past year for $59k, and probably at the peak, it could have been nearer $200k. So, they’ve definitely come down a lot. Buckowskis [auction house] in Sweden sold a great ref. 2915-1 for over $275k [the 2017 sale set a record for the reference]. I was the underbidder on that. I wouldn't go anywhere near that price today if I was bidding on that same watch. It was a great watch. But were a lot more buyers for them back then.”
The success of Swatch's plastic MoonSwatch might not have helped
“I’m not sure the MoonSwatch has done vintage Speedmasters any favours, because there’s just a lot of them out there. Unfortunately, I would say it’s almost become a bit uncool because it’s so ubiquitous. If they announced they were going to end production on those in a year or something, maybe that would help. But I don’t think they’re going to do that!”
Look out for “straight writing” examples
“The first Speedmaster models to reference being worn on the moon are called “straight writing” examples, because of the writing “The First Watch Worn On The Moon” horizontally engraved below the Omega logo [These were produced in the early 1970s]. Then they went on to engrave on the case back, “The First And Only Watch Worn On The Moon”. Which is funny because we know it wasn’t the only watch worn on the moon [Apollo 15’s Colonel Dave Scott wore a Bulova chronograph on the moon in 1971. It sold for $1.625m in 2015. Omega’s wording has since been updated.]
Lume is important
“The more original the watch is, the better. Unpolished cases are sought after much more by collectors than they were 10-15 years ago, when a light polish didn’t matter as much. Dials are still very important. People love it when the Speedmaster dial has the original lume – if it’s older than 1963 – and has a warm colour to it, a nice yellow-to-orange. Those are much easier [for us to sell] than a white-to-cream colour. There are a lot of Speedmasters that are re-lumed and have re-lumed hands, either because a dealer was trying to make it look more attractive, or because the original owner wanted fresh lume back in the day, and it was done during a service. That’s always like a huge value-killer. I would say it could hurt the value by 50 per cent if it’s re-lumed.”
Know your astronauts
“The first Speedmaster that went into space was a ref. 2998-61, with Wally Schirra [in 1962]. And then the ‘Ed White’ ref. 105.003-64 [so-called because the astronaut wore one during his 1965 spacewalk] which went with a number of astronauts. When Omega reissued the ‘Ed White’ with the new 321 movement [in 2020 it recreated that model with a modern movement] they based it on the actual watch that belonged to astronaut Gene Cernan. Around 1968 Omega switched to the 861 movement. It was a little less expensive to produce. Only one 861 went to space during the Apollo program, and it was for a science test – it was not worn by an astronaut. We sold that watch when I was at Christie’s in our Omega Speedmaster Auction [“Omega Speedmaster 50”] in 2015. It went for $245,000. Given the interest in these sort of space-worn watches – like the Rolex GMT that went for over $2m [worn by astronaut Edgar Mitchell in 1971 on Apollo 14, one of only two Apollo-flown Rolex watches ever sold at auction, it fetched $2.2m last year] – I would think that Speedmaster could be a $1m watch now. Because it’s the only real Apollo Speedmaster you can own without being in violation of the US Government [astronauts are required to return worn watches to Nasa after their missions, as they’re considered government property. The unworn “science-test” Speedy gets around this. The Rolex could be sold because it wasn’t issued by Nasa.] It’s never come back up for sale. It was kept by [Captain] Ron Evans [an astronaut on Apollo 17]. He was smart enough to hang onto it. That’s a really special watch.”
People are picky
“Everyone’s much, much pickier now than they were in the past. People want original crowns, original bezels. It used to be that people didn’t care about that as much. From the 1960s, the original crowns have a different Omega logo, where the bottom of the Ω Greek letter is very tight. The original bezels – called the 'dot over 90' bezel [a feature on the tachymeter scale referring to the specific position of the dot above the 90 marker] – on those 321 movement models, and some of the very earliest 861 movement models, those have sold as high as $5k to $6k, if they have [original] aluminum bezels. People even want the original crystals, if possible. They have a certain shape of the Omega logo in the centre. Original bracelets are also very expensive. On some of the earliest ref. 2915s, those bracelets alone can be $10,000. Some people just won’t buy unless it’s what we call a ‘full spec example’, where it’s got everything original, from the crown to the bezel to the hands. If it’s missing one piece of that, they won’t touch it.”
A word about radium
“There’s a lot more concern about radium, which was used on Speedmasters [to make the dials glow in the dark], from about 1957 to 1962. The potential health effects, and emitting [carcinogenic] radon gas. I have a lot of clients who will not buy a radium model. Or they’re very, very selective about it if they do. I think that’s something that’s made some of the 1960s watches more interesting to collectors, because they don't want those very early watches that had radium.”
The Mark II is very cool
“The ‘Mark’ Speedmasters are not what people think of in their mind’s eye, when they think of an Omega Speedmaster. But the people that own them generally love them – particularly if they’re on a nice bracelet that isn’t too stretched out. I like the Mark II with the exotic racing dial. That case shape is very cool, very 1970s-retro, and you get an incredible dial. I’ve sold them for $3,000 and under. It’s essentially the exact same dial that goes in the special racing dial Speedmasters [in more traditional cases] that can go for $75,000 and up. You’re saving over $70,000 just because of the case shape. They’re really great watches.”
Pre-moon Speedys are not smaller Speedys
“Pre-moon is such a big category. But one area to talk about is the straight lug models. They go from the ref. 2915s all the way through to the ‘Ed White’ models, the ref. 105.003-64. One of the fallacies is that these are smaller than the Professional models. Lots of people think that. They’re essentially identically-sized. They just have less metal on the case because they don’t have crown guards. The lugs are straighter, rather than having that “lyre” internal twist [“lyre lugs”, named for the shape of the musical instrument, are particularly associated with Omega watches]. But basically, from the top of the lug to the bottom of the lug, they’re pretty much identical. Those are always going to be at a premium because they came earlier and people like the story.”
The Professional is the one...
“I’ve owned a lot of Speedmasters over the years. And when I first got into it I thought, “Oh, I really want an ‘Ed White’”. And when I got one, it didn’t wear that well. I realised over time that I prefer the Professional cases. I think they’re more visually interesting. I like the case shape, the crown guards, and everything else. So, values aside, if you give me a great comparable example of the two, I would take a Professional case.”
…specifically this model ☝️
“It’s not unusual for people to want to own – and should own! – maybe a few different examples over the years. I’ve owned a lot of different Speedmasters that I’ve kept as personal watches, over the course of a decade. Before finally settling in on my favourite, which was actually the first reference of Speedmaster I bought. It was a ref. 105.012-66 with a CB [Centrale Boîtes, a Swiss casemaker] case. It’s from this kind-of random period. Huguenin Frères made all of the early Speedmaster cases. They made cases for a lot of different companies, including Universal Genève – you can see the same DNA in their ‘lyre’ lugs that they had with [Universal Genève’s] Polerouters. They were having production issues in 1966, so Omega went to another case manufacturer, Centrale Boîtes, that made cases for their Seamaster, and ordered some Speedmaster cases from them. It has this unusual bevel on the top of the lugs. People call them “twisted flat lugs”. It’s an interesting case, because it wears very big and adds this kind of additional architecture. It feels very, very different than the other cases. That’s my favourite.”
If you see a Speedmaster with an orange hand, it's not a mistake
“I had an 'Ultraman' with the orange seconds hand [the rare model appeared in the 1971 Japanese science fiction TV show The Return of Ultraman and is distinguished by a bright orange seconds hand]. Those are really cool. At first people thought those were aftermarket editions. People were buying them and taking those hands off, probably throwing them away, and putting on normal Speedmaster hands. And then it came out they were real, and then suddenly those watches went as high as $75,000.”
Remember: prices can go down, as well as up
“Just to show you the market, I bought that 'Ultraman' for $15,000 in 2018. By the end of 2018 I sold it for $75,000. I sold that exact watch again a few months ago for $35,000. So, it went from $15,000 to $75,000 to $35,000, in the course of six years. I wasn’t happy the guy lost so much money on it. But it’s the reality of the market.”
Omega should help with certification...
“It seems like Speedmaster prices should go up – they should be worth more again. But it will take more people talking about them, and more general strength from Omega to help make that happen. If they would restart their Extract from the Archives program [which provides detailed information about each watch, allowing collectors and clients to evaluate provenance], which they haven’t had in quite a while, that would be extremely helpful. That's almost a surefire way that prices would go up.”
...and engage with the collecting community some more
“They should have a collector event at the Omega headquarters, like Tag Heuer did. And maybe have an advisory panel of collectors like Universal Genève does [Wind attended the Tag Heuer event, and is on the advisory panel for Universal Genève, readying the dormant brand for relaunch in 2026] where these are cool people and there’ll be a lot of social media, where people talk about how much we love the Speedmaster. The Omega Museum should have exhibitions and events about the Speedmaster. They did an exhibition last year about the Seamaster Planet Ocean [at the Chelsea Factory in New York]. It’s not rocket science. It’s just trying to get interest out there.”
Really, buying vintage Speedmaster is like buying any other vintage watch
“The main storyline is always the same: condition, condition, condition.”
This story is taken from Esquire's About Time newsletter, style director Johnny Davis’s straight-talking take on the wonderful world of watches. Sign up here
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