Omega: Speedmaster
A few years before astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon in 1969, two NASA officials went shopping in Houston for chronograph watches that could withstand the extremes of temperature in space. Only the Speedmaster passed the rigorous tests and was worn by Aldrin when he stepped onto the surface of the moon. A year later, on Apollo XIII, the Speedmaster excelled itself. After an explosion on the service module damaged the power supply, the crew had to shut down all power circuits and move into the lunar module. Commander James Lovell used his Speedmaster to time the firing of the rockets that ensured safe re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere for the spaceship. The Speedmaster earned the name Moonwatch and its inscription, ‘The first and only watch to be worn on the moon’ is that rarest of things: an advertising truth.
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