SKU: 24572
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WHAT WE LOVE:
In 2007, fifty years after the Speedmaster was first introduced as a racing and sports chronograph in 1957, Omega released two anniversary editions to mark the occasion. The more exclusive was limited to 1,957 pieces and carried an entirely different movement. This one — the ref. 311.30.42.30.01.001, known universally in the Speedmaster collector community as the "Patch" — is limited to 5,957 pieces, its allocation number itself a nod to the model's founding year, and it is the version most collectors consider the more wearable and more immediately compelling of the two.
The "Patch" designation refers to the dial's distinguishing detail: at 12 o'clock, in place of the standard Omega logo, sits a gold-printed hippocampus seahorse — the same seahorse emblem that Omega used on the casebacks of their 1950s and 1960s watches — alongside "1957 Anniversary" text. Below the Speedmaster logo, the Omega name and wording appear in red rather than the standard white printing. These are precisely calibrated dial changes: enough to make the watch immediately identifiable as the anniversary edition, not enough to alter the fundamental composition that has made the Moonwatch one of the most recognisable watch dials ever produced.
The standard production Moonwatch of this era used hesalite — the acrylic crystal original to the NASA-specification watches — and while many collectors prefer hesalite for its period-correct authenticity, the anniversary edition's domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating offers scratch resistance that makes this an easier watch to wear daily without the constant awareness of the crystal's vulnerability. The caseback is individually numbered from the edition of 5,957, and came with a special Speedmaster presentation box and a certificate signed by Stephen Urquhart, Omega's CEO at the time — making a complete box and papers set a properly documented example of a historically significant Speedmaster release.
WHAT'S INSIDE:
The 311.30.42.30.01.005 is powered by Omega's Calibre 1861 — an 18-jewel manual-wind column-wheel chronograph movement derived from the Lemania 1873 base calibre, beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour with a 48-hour power reserve. The Calibre 1861 is the direct descendant of the Calibre 321 that flew on the earliest Speedmaster missions, and its successor the Calibre 861, which accompanied the Apollo 11 crew to the Moon.
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