SKU: 24543
Quantity selected exceeds current stock
WHAT WE LOVE:
On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore Omega Speedmaster Professionals during the Apollo 11 lunar landing — and the watches on their wrists were this reference, or its immediate predecessor, the 145.022-68. No other watch in production today, and very few in history, can make a claim of that kind with documentary evidence behind it. The 145.022-69 was the Speedmaster at the moment of its greatest achievement, and finding an example from 1969 is as close as the collector market comes to holding a piece of that history.
What makes this specific reference so important to understand correctly is its position in the Speedmaster's own technical history. The 145.022 was the first Speedmaster reference to carry the Calibre 861 — the movement that replaced the legendary Calibre 321 that had accompanied the earliest Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, and that remains the direct ancestor of the Calibre 3861 in today's modern Moonwatch. Examples produced before the Apollo 11 landing in July 1969 carry a pre-Moon seahorse caseback which is evident in this example.
Accompanying the watch is a "DON" bezel — the aluminium tachymeter insert with a small dot above the 90 marker, a detail that Speedmaster specialists examine specifically when dating examples of this reference. Along with this is an Omega 1116 bracelet, note that this does not have endlinks. On a leather strap, this reads as a collector's watch worn the way its original owners would have worn it.
WHAT'S INSIDE:
The 145.022-69 is powered by the Omega Calibre 861 — a 17-jewel manual-wind column-wheel chronograph movement beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour, introduced in 1968 to replace the Calibre 321 that had served the Speedmaster through its NASA qualification years. The Calibre 861 was a significant engineering development: a new lever escapement replacing the 321's lateral clutch, and a simplified column-wheel architecture that improved long-term reliability and ease of service while maintaining the essential character of the chronograph.
FIVEFORTYFIVE SIX MONTHS WARRANTY
