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Lot Essay
Accompanied by an OMEGA Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch on 8 June 1970 and confirming the present watch was given to astronaut Ron Evans by OMEGA as a gift, bearing No. 1007. Furthermore delivered with an extremely rare OMEGA crater box.
Further accompanied by a signed Letter from Jan Evans (Mrs. Ron Evans) stating: “I certify that the gold Omega Speedmaster watch offered with this letter, serial number 1007, is the one presented to my husband Ron Evans, CMP Apollo 17, by the Omega watch company. It has been with our family since the flight of Apollo 17, December 1972.”
As a commemorative gesture to a number of NASA astronauts following the immensely successful Apollo 11 mission, OMEGA produced a special limited edition wristwatch with a solid 18k gold dial, case, and bracelet. The watches are only produced in 1,014 examples, where 26, numbered 3 to 28, were offered at an astronaut banquet in Houston on November 25 1969. The appreciation dinner was attended by astronauts that were on duty at the time, and three watches were awarded posthumously to the crew of Apollo 1. Solely for the astronauts' special timepieces, the casebacks were engraved: to mark man’s conquest of space and time, through time, on time, with the name of the astronaut and his mission. The present watch is engraved number 1007 and features this important caseback, made especially for Ron Evans to commemorate his efforts on the Apollo 13 mission. Watches such as this and numbered 1001 to 1008 were presented in 1972 and 1973 to those astronauts who had not yet accomplished a space conquest in 1969, namely missions 14 to 17.
Watches with the number 1 and 2 were also made with personalized case backs, although these unique examples were made only for the President and Vice-President of the United States at the time, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. These watches now reside in the Omega Museum, located in Bienne, Switzerland. The remaining examples were produced and available for the general public with a different engraving on the caseback (see lot 14 and lot 21).
This attractive gold Speedmaster with its burgundy colored bezel is delivered with a rare box which depicts the lunar surface. Very few of these boxes seem to have survived, making this watch and its accompanying presentation box a superb collectable timepiece.
An example of all three casebacks made in this series are illustrated described in OMEGA, A Journey Through Time by Marco Richon, 2007, p. 605.
Further accompanied by a signed Letter from Jan Evans (Mrs. Ron Evans) stating: “I certify that the gold Omega Speedmaster watch offered with this letter, serial number 1007, is the one presented to my husband Ron Evans, CMP Apollo 17, by the Omega watch company. It has been with our family since the flight of Apollo 17, December 1972.”
As a commemorative gesture to a number of NASA astronauts following the immensely successful Apollo 11 mission, OMEGA produced a special limited edition wristwatch with a solid 18k gold dial, case, and bracelet. The watches are only produced in 1,014 examples, where 26, numbered 3 to 28, were offered at an astronaut banquet in Houston on November 25 1969. The appreciation dinner was attended by astronauts that were on duty at the time, and three watches were awarded posthumously to the crew of Apollo 1. Solely for the astronauts' special timepieces, the casebacks were engraved: to mark man’s conquest of space and time, through time, on time, with the name of the astronaut and his mission. The present watch is engraved number 1007 and features this important caseback, made especially for Ron Evans to commemorate his efforts on the Apollo 13 mission. Watches such as this and numbered 1001 to 1008 were presented in 1972 and 1973 to those astronauts who had not yet accomplished a space conquest in 1969, namely missions 14 to 17.
Watches with the number 1 and 2 were also made with personalized case backs, although these unique examples were made only for the President and Vice-President of the United States at the time, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. These watches now reside in the Omega Museum, located in Bienne, Switzerland. The remaining examples were produced and available for the general public with a different engraving on the caseback (see lot 14 and lot 21).
This attractive gold Speedmaster with its burgundy colored bezel is delivered with a rare box which depicts the lunar surface. Very few of these boxes seem to have survived, making this watch and its accompanying presentation box a superb collectable timepiece.
An example of all three casebacks made in this series are illustrated described in OMEGA, A Journey Through Time by Marco Richon, 2007, p. 605.