Omega – NASA’s Only Moonwatch

This July marks the 40th anniversary of humankind’s greatest adventure to date. 40 years ago, a few men set out for the moon, and made it. To mark the significance of that achievement, astronaut Buzz Aldrin has been made an ambassador for Omega, the brand that made the Moonwatch.

Really, the scale of what those brave men accomplished cannot be overstated. Put yourself in their shoes. You’re sat on top of a giant missile filled with explosive fuel, and you’re strapped in and subjected to enormous G-forces as it ignites and shoots off into an environment no one can survive in. For astronauts, the only thing standing between them and certain death is the ability of the construction teams to do their job. Imagine putting your life into the hands of someone you hardly know; trusting your survival to the integrity of metal and glass.

For the manned missions to the moon, timing was, of course, vital. It was only natural that a high quality watch should be supplied to the astronauts, but the standard that the Omega Speedmaster was constructed to would have been beyond NASA’s expectations. So flawless was the design and assembly that no alterations had to be made to the watch before it went out into the cold vacuum of space. In the pursuit of supreme accuracy, this watch had, quite incidentally, become space-proof.

And although Neil Armstrong went down in history as the first man on the moon, it was Buzz Aldrin who was the first to wear a watch on the lunar surface. He has himself admitted that he ‘identified with it’, and didn’t want it to just sit in the Lunar Module as Neil’s had to, replacing the Module’s timer which had malfunctioned.

It would indeed have been a shame if that had happened. A watch is designed to be worn, and one that can withstand the stress and radiation that comes with space exploration deserves to prove what it is capable of. That is something the Omega Speedmaster does with ease, for NASA’s astronauts still wear the same models for modern Shuttle missions. And with humans planning a return to the Moon, a new generation of Moonwatches may soon be called to prove their mettle on the Lunar surface.

With the benefit of hindsight (not to mention today’s superior technology), it seems all the more incredible that men ever reached the moon, let alone so many times. The odds stacked against them fell away before a combination of courage, determination, and just a little luck. To look at the huge assembly of people, parts and technology that united a nation for a common goal is to look at something truly special. And the Omega watches that did their part still go on working today.