Lot 1

It is a great privilege to share with you a collection of OMEGA timepieces that are rich in historical significance as well as innovation and style.The OMEGA Speedmaster is perhaps the most iconic chronograph in the world. When it was first created in 1957, it would have been hard to imagine the incredible journey ahead. Yet here we are, almost six decades later, looking back at a remarkable past that includes adventures both on Earth and beyond.This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first spacewalk by the United States of America. In fact, 1965 was also the year that the Speedmaster was flight-qualified for all NASA missions, the same watch that accompanied the American crew outside the spacecraft. Therefore, in this very special auction, we celebrate the watch’s detailed history, punctuated by the timepieces that have helped shape our brand.The story of human flight and space exploration is intrinsically linked to the OMEGA Speedmaster. From the first footsteps on the Moon to the continued discovery of our universe, no other watch can claim to have such a pioneering spirit. With this in mind, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the revealing insight into the creations, modifications and world-changing moments of the OMEGA Speedmaster, and perhaps discover a timepiece that you can cherish.Stephen UrquhartPresident of OMEGAChristie’s is thrilled to be able to host OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50: From A Spacewalk To Today, a thematic auction dedicated to the iconic Omega Speedmaster, the original sports chronograph. This auction comprises 50 lots in honor of the anniversary of the famous Gemini IV spacewalk by astronaut Edward White in 1965.Upon its introduction in 1957, the Speedmaster defined this new category and was years ahead of the competition. Originally designed for use by race car drivers, the Omega designers never anticipated that the watch would be destined to become a watch used by astronauts and cosmonauts during some of mankind’s greatest achievements. That a watch designed over half a century ago is still used by astronauts and cosmonauts on missions, is a testament to its timeless design and quality. Other sport chronographs have undergone dramatic transformations, but the Speedmaster endures.Today, the Speedmaster is for many people the “grail watch” - the watch they hope to be able to obtain one day. It is one of the most recognizable watches in the world, known far outside the circle of watch collectors, and also one of the more attainable luxury mechanical watches. In this auction, there are Speedmasters that can be considered “grail watches” for novice to advanced collectors.OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50 celebrates the diversity of the Speedmaster. While this catalogue could have easily stretched into hundreds of lots, we chose to narrow down the selection to 50 lots, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Ed White’s spacewalk. Our auction features no-nonsense references of the 1950s and 1960s, more radical design approaches from the 1970s and 1980s, prototype “ALASKA Project” watches, limited editions celebrating space missions and the Olympic Games, and, appropriately, watches that have flown and been used in space.We believe there is something for everyone in this catalogue and we hope that it leads people to a new appreciation for the Speedmaster. In addition, we hope that OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50 will attract new bidders to Christie’s, from younger generations familiar with the the popular #SpeedyTuesday posts on Instagram to those that remember paging through a 1965 issue of LIFE Magazine and seeing vivid photographs of Ed White majestically floating in space with a Speedmaster wrapped around the arm of his space suit.How fitting, then, that a watch that is so much a part of American history will have a thematic auction in New York, the first thematic auction for Christie’s Watch Department in the United States and the first auction ever dedicated to the Speedmaster. We hope you will join us on December 15 for OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50. The stage is set for one memorable and epic #SpeedyTuesday.John ReardonInternational Head of WatchesThe OMEGA MuseumA visit to the OMEGA Museum, located just opposite OMEGA’s headquarters, is a virtual voyage through time that includes some of the most famous and iconic watches from the brand’s long history. The collection not only includes the watchmaker’s bench where Louis Brandt started his business in 1848, the genesis of what would become OMEGA as we now know it, but also watches that have been to the Moon and back with Apollo astronauts, as well as the watches of kings, queens, presidents, explorers and visionaries. The objects and watches displayed in the Museum mark some of the most memorable moments of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.The OMEGA Museum, which originally opened in December of 1983, is the oldest museum dedicated to a single watch brand. OMEGA’s history is vividly recreated with displays presenting all the brand’s most important stories. In relation to the world of sport, visitors can examine the equipment OMEGA has developed and used in its timekeeping role at the Olympic Games since 1932. The brand has also been closely involved in NASA’s manned space programme for more than 45 years and OMEGA Speedmasters were worn on all six lunar landings. The Museum exhibit highlighting the role of the Speedmaster in space features four watches that were worn on or near the Moon.The Seamaster has been James Bond’s watch of choice since 1995 and one display in the Museum is dedicated to OMEGAs worn in the wildly successful 007 films and in other popular movies. Other timepieces on display have been long time favourites of visitors to the OMEGA Museum, including the wristwatch worn by John F. Kennedy at his inauguration when he became 35th President of theUnited States.Importantly, the OMEGA Museum plays an active role in comprehensive brand research. With collaborations, such as those with the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution, all parts of the OMEGA DNA are studied and brought to life. The Museum Complex is also home to the OMEGA Archives that document the entire history of the brand since its beginning in the nineteenth century.THE OMEGA SPEEDMASTER AND THE WORLD OF SPACE EXPLORATIONThe source of many a myth and legend, the OMEGA Speedmaster has been the choice of astronauts and space agencies for half a century. This “common” object has become one of the most famous watches in the world and has been associated with some of humankind's greatest adventures in space, earning it the name “The Moonwatch”.Upon its release, the Speedmaster instantly changed the face of the chronograph wristwatch. Originally introduced as part of the Seamaster line, this chronograph was the first to have the timing scale on the bezel, a world premiere that secured the Speedmaster's position not only as the most iconic chronograph ever created, but also the most famous. The Speedmaster was originally designed as part of a project that aimed to introduce a "professional" line of OMEGA watches. The brief given to OMEGA's design team was to create a sturdy, high-precision waterproof watch that was reliable, readable and easy to use. The result of this original briefing was a prototype which was ready at the end of 1956 and shown to the public in 1957. A few years later, a group of American astronauts privately chose the Speedmaster as their mission watch because of its great legibility and quality, a choice that led to NASA's much-storied qualification procedure. The watch's characteristics have come to define the Speedmaster and the entire "sports chronograph” genus, which was born following its launch.OMEGA's history with space exploration began sometime in 1962 when a group of astronauts including Walter "Wally" Schirra and Leroy Gordon “Gordo” Cooper privately purchased their very first flight-watches: the second generation Speedmaster model with the reference CK2998. These privately-owned chronographs were to be used on the upcoming Mercury program flights. And indeed, the very first Speedmaster to fly on a space mission was Schirra's own CK2998 during the Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7) mission. Two and a half years later and after a series of what can only be described as radical, extreme and exceptionally brutal tests, the choice of the Mercury astronauts became the choice of NASA. It was at the end of the Mercury program that the astronauts approached the Operations Director, Deke Slayton, and asked to be issued with a watch for use during training and eventually flight. This request was met with enthusiasm and as every piece of equipment from the Mercury program was being re-evaluated and re-designed for the upcoming Gemini and Apollo programs, the timing could not have been better. NASA had just employed a large group of engineers to test, select and certify equipment to be used by the astronauts. On the 21st of September 1964, Slayton issued an internal memo stating the need for a “highly durable and accurate chronograph to be used by Gemini and Apollo flight crews”. This memo landed on the desk of engineer James Ragan, who was no newcomer to finding equipment for hostile environments. He had been the engineer responsible for testing equipment for the U.S. Navy's “SEA LAB” program. Eight days later a “Request for Quotations” for wrist chronographs was sent out to different manufacturers. OMEGA's copy of the Request was received by its U.S. affiliate in New York. Of the brands contacted, only four responded and James Ragan asked each to supply three watches. The tests which ensued were designed literally to test the watches to destruction. The watches were subjected to temperatures ranging from 71° to 93° centigrade over a two-day period, after which they were frozen to -18° centigrade. They were placed in a vacuumed chamber heated to 93° centigrade, and then subjected to a test where they were heated to 70° centigrade and then immediately frozen to -18° centigrade – not once but fifteen times in rapid succession! When this had been completed, it was time to subject the watches to 40 g shocks in six different directions, then submit them to high and low pressures, an atmosphere of 93% humidity, a highly corrosive 100% oxygen environment and noise to 130 decibels. Finally, they were vibrated with average accelerations of 8.8 g. In the end only one watch had survived: the Speedmaster. After each test the watch would settle to an average rate that was within the NASA imposed limits of five seconds per day during normal use. As a result of the testing, the “Speedmaster” reference ST105.003 was declared “Flight Qualified for all Manned Space Missions” on the 1st of March 1965. Just three weeks later, on the 23rd of March, the Speedmaster went into space officially for the first time on the wrists of Virgil “Gus” Grissom and John Young during their Gemini III mission. The only modification to the watches was the addition of a long Velcro strap that replaced the standard steel bracelet, which could not be worn over the space suit. Later that year Edward White wore his Speedmaster on America's first spacewalk, during the Gemini IV mission. Another four years passed and the Americans were preparing for the first lunar landing. The crew had been selected and the decision was made that Neil Armstrong would be the first man to walk on the lunar surface. NASA had, by this point, adopted the most recent version of the Speedmaster, the ST105.012 and ST145.012, for the Apollo program; however, as NASA still had quite a few ST105.003 in stock out of the original procurement, this model was also routinely issued to the astronauts. On the 21st of July 1969 at 2:56 GMT, Neil Armstrong stepped off the "Eagle" to become the first human to stand on another world. Roughly fifteen minutes later Buzz Aldrin joined him on the Moon's surface and thus, during the legendary Apollo 11 mission, the Speedmaster Professional became the first watch to be worn on the Moon. The next great moment for the Speedmaster in space came in 1970 with the Apollo 13 mission, when the watch was used to time the critical engine burns needed to ensure that the re-entry trajectory of the heavily damaged craft were correct. The smallest error would have meant that the capsule would either have bounced off of or burnt up in the Earth’s atmosphere on re-entry. For The Speedmaster Professional's role in the safe re-entry, the astronauts gave OMEGA the coveted Silver Snoopy Award accompanied with its certificate bearing the inscription "Manned Flight Awareness Award", the highest distinction given by NASA and its astronauts to private individuals or companies in appreciation for important services rendered for the American space program. At the same time, and under the cover of the codename "ALASKA Project", OMEGA was working on a secret project to create the perfect space watch. The first chronograph created for the Alaska Project was the first watch in history with a polished titanium case. OMEGA would go on to produce further prototypes, all of which were proposed to NASA in a project that would span many years. By 1972, the remaining flights to the Moon, Apollo missions 18 through 22, had been cancelled and NASA had no use for the Alaska Project's prototypes so the project was temporarily terminated, though remarkable progress had been made. On the 17th of December 1972 at 21:33.24 GMT, Apollo 17 landed on the Moon and Eugene “Gene” Cernan, with a Speedmaster on the wrist, became the last man to leave a footprint on its surface. Around the same time, OMEGA began work on a new secret project. Titled "ALASKA II", the project involved several studies and prototypes. In fact "ALASKA" was OMEGA’s chosen code-name for everything that involved NASA, and was always deemed top-secret. One of the “ALASKA II” prototypes was almost a direct continuation of the original ALASKA Project of 1969, only this time it was closely related to the Speedmaster Professional and involved less changes. The second part of "ALASKA II" involved producing a special watch with a tuning fork movement for NASA’s ETC (Earth Terrain Camera) during the Skylab missions. After excessive discussions, research and exchange of specifications and plans, work was successfully finished to the required specifications (again including vibration and temperature tests). The completed timing devices, powered by the caliber 1250, were shipped to the USA in November 1973. NASA used the newly provided clocks within the Earth Terrain Camera on Skylab. In fact, in all of the ETC's official photographs published during the missions, the OMEGA logo is visible on the clock as it was superimposed on each picture. The next step in the story would come the following year when the Apollo-Soyuz mission was being planned. It marked the first time that the American and Soviet space agencies would work together and in many ways, it signaled the end of the "space race" and was arguably the beginning of the end of the Cold War. It was at this point that OMEGA discovered that some of the cosmonauts were using a different model – the OMEGA Flightmaster – on their wrists. To meet with the stringent needs for their common mission, the cosmonauts adopted the Speedmaster for the mission, thus ensuring that both American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts used the very same chronographs. On the flight there were a total of ten official watches used, all of which were Speedmasters. Further to the official count, Lieutenant General Thomas "Tom" P. Stafford wore the 18k yellow gold Speedmaster Deluxe he had received after the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. All the other watches worn by the astronauts were the standard NASA issue watches equipped with the classic 321 caliber while all the cosmonauts wore the newer Speedmaster reference ST145.022 equipped with the 861 caliber.From this point onwards the cosmonauts wore Speedmaster chronographs as their officially issued watch, including the missions to the Salyut Space Station. A notable exception was cosmonaut Vladimir Djanibekov, who in 1978 wore his personally-owned Speedmaster "125" during the Salyut 6 mission. The next step in the Speedmaster's journey came in 1978 with the launch of the Space Shuttle program. Long before the Speedmaster Professional again beat the competition and became newly recertified by NASA for Space Shuttle use, OMEGA had already commenced work that would lead to excessive prototyping and the suggestion of several different models for NASA. Again, this was in part thanks to the secret "ALASKA" projects. The studies of these different proposals eventually led to the Speedmaster's recertification, and were all put together under a project code-named "ALASKA III". While always keeping the venerable Speedmaster in the race, OMEGA had also worked on proposals based on both the tuning fork chronograph movement (caliber 1255) as well as an automatic chronograph movement (cal. 1045). These prototypes were delivered to NASA in 1978 but, as with the original first "ALASKA" project in the early 1970s, the Speedmaster Professional remained NASA's official choice and flight qualified for all manned space flights. The first 56 Speedmaster chronographs for Space Shuttle use were delivered to NASA in late 1978. In its continuous quest for improvement in 1979 OMEGA created a new prototype in the context of the Alaska Project. Called "ALASKA IV”, it was based on the Speedmaster Professional Quartz reference ST186.0004 equipped with a caliber 1621 movement. In order to avoid the need for a light bulb in a pressurized environment, OMEGA technicians developed a system called "BETA Light". It consisted of two flat tritium stripes located behind the LCD screen that helped to illuminate the display. A total of twenty prototypes were produced and twelve examples were selected to be sent directly to several NASA astronauts who tested the watch during their Space Shuttle training. Ultimately, once again, NASA did not to adopt the watch and stayed true to its highly reliable and proven manual-wound Speedmaster chronographs.The Speedmaster's foray into the digital domain during the 1980s enabled OMEGA to propose yet another prototype: a multi-screen LCD chronograph code-named "Project Condor". While this, too, was later abandoned, images of astronauts wearing the watch on the Space Shuttle still exist.At the end of the 1980s came the launch of the Mir space station and again the Speedmaster was the choice of the cosmonauts. By this time OMEGA had established a close relationship with Russian Space Program and arranged to have two series of Speedmasters sent to the space station to test the long-term effects of microgravity on the oils and springs in the watches. The first time was from December 1990 through March 1991 for a total of 90 days and then later in July of 1993 for one year. On both occasions the watches were found to be in perfect working order when they were returned and inspected, at which point they received a basic service and were sold to the general public.At the end of 1995 the decision was taken within the astronaut community that there was a need for an updated purpose-designed astronauts' watch. This was the genesis of what would become the Speedmaster X-33. After two years of extensive testing by astronauts, cosmonauts and elite military pilots, the watch was shown to the public via a live broadcast from the MIR space station through Houston's Mission Control. Incredibly, this watch has a titanium case and multi-function movement reminiscent of the ideas proposed by OMEGA with the "ALASKA I", "ALASKA IV" and "Condor" series of prototypes.Today the Speedmaster Professional and X-33 are still regular visitors to the International Space Station and after accompanying the American astronauts in all of their manned space programs and the Russian cosmonauts since 1973, the Speedmaster Professional remains the only watch certified by NASA for use on an "EVA" (Extra Vehicular Activity). In fact no other piece of equipment – let alone a watch – can claim to have been used during the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Soyuz, Salyut, Space Shuttle, Mir and International Space Station programs. Though affectionately known as the “Moonwatch”, one thing is clear: the Speedmaster Professional is, without doubt, the ultimate space watch.Mr. Riccardo Bernard, born in Italy in 1957, was only 12 years old when following on television the Apollo XI moon landing in 1969. "Space exploration was the most amazing thing in my child life, following the first space flights, the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space program. After working in the airline industry for two major European airlines, I moved to the automotive industry as a distributor of Ferrari and Porsche cars in Finland. My passion for watches related to space exploration in particular the OMEGA Speedmaster started in 1990. Since then, over 25 years, I have travelled and searched for rare space-related watches and memorabilia. The collection, put together in a quarter of a century, has been a lifetime achievement."Mr. Bernard is the primary consignor for OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50. He has consigned lots 1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, 28, 29, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48, 49, and 50.

Omega. A Rare Box of Various Wristwatch Case Openers

Signed Omega, Br. O. 87 669, Manufactured in 1965

Details

Omega. A Rare Box of Various Wristwatch Case Openers
Signed Omega, Br. O. 87 669, Manufactured in 1965
A red vintage box including various sized watch tools for removing case backs.
8.5 inches length, 4.5 inches width, 1 inch height

Provenance

From the Private Collection of Riccardo Bernard

Lot Essay

The various tools available in this lot were able to open any OMEGA references available at the time of production, not only limited to the Speedmaster series.

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