BA 145.022-69 Omega Speedmaster

There is little in all of vintage chronographs which has as much history and value in one overlooked place as the BA 145.022-69. Better known as the first gold Speedmaster, it intersects with actual space history much more significantly than just about anything else post moon landing. The pale gold dial, onyx indices, ‘OM’ Swiss signature in place of T (for Or Massif, the French for solid gold), DON burgundy bezel, and slightly crude caseback engraving have more soul than any other reference I can think of with an 861. These are the celebration of the space race won, a victory lap by Omega.

We all know the Apollo XI story, Omega barely let anyone forget it. What you may not know is that to commemorate the moon landing, the US government hosted a dinner with President Nixon, the Apollo 11 astronauts, and astronauts who had built toward Apollo XI in prior missions. All were presented with a BA 145.022, the first-ever gold version of the Professional Moonwatch that had seen the Apollo XI crew to the moon. This original gold Speedy was a numbered run of 1014 examples. In series, numbers 1 and 2 went to President Nixon and VP Agnew respectively. 3-28 went to NASA astronauts, 29-32 went to Swiss friends & family, and 33-1000 were offered to the public. Interesting, 1001-1008 went to Apollo 14 & 17 crews, with 1009-1014 going to ‘other personalities’ (no one knows). The President’s and VP’s watches were refused per US law and currently reside in the Omega museum—lame, right? It’s a sort of luxurious trophy-tool-watch, taking the chronograph that helped land man on the moon and giving it deserved nobility. 

This is a latter production model, 5XX, and it’s a wild value between 50-75k as most of these sit today. Consider there are 1,014 of these; there are far more yellow gold Daytonas, and that any gold Daytona will be worth at least double. It’s a different story in the personally-engraved true astronaut pieces, but then only worth as much as PN. The BA 145.022 is Moonwatch made opulent and, when vintage without rainbows or chimes as we see now, that’s as attractive as Moonwatch gets.

This example has a fantastic case and bracelet. The engravings are deep with all enameling still present. The dial shows no damage, beautifully preserved. The fact that these don’t have any tritium makes them just that little bit more timeless, less susceptible to age. Can't see the crystal mark. Thankfully, the bezel is right. These bezels are totally irreplaceable, this one looks great. It comes as watch only from a well-regarded Hong Kong retailer.