Hello everyone, I turned 26 a few days ago. On many levels, particularly on a professional front, the 25th year of my life was very special. To commemorate the same and to carry a part of it for the rest of the years to come, I did something special. I bought myself an Omega Speedmaster Professional. Specs - Hesalite casing & 3861 Calibre.
A picture first, some background and my initial review thereafter.
Background - Some of you may already know from my Foxhound (VW Ameo) review that I am deeply passionate about aviation, space, cars and pretty much anything else involving engineering and technology. So after buying my first apartment a couple years ago, I had some money saved up. I was either going to spend it foreclosing a part of my home loan or to obtain a Private Pilot's License (
PPL). I had already bought myself a Tissot PRC last year and was pretty content with it.
With whatever little research I could do in my free time, which is hard to come by for lawyers, I narrowed down few flying schools near Noida, UP. Despite my best efforts, I was not able to reach out to a flying school who was enthusiastic enough to answer my queries and accommodate me on the weekends for PPL. Around the same time, my brother was at an advance stage of buying an Omega Seamaster for his 30th birthday. With both of our birthdays approaching soon, he asked me, "Why don't you buy a good watch too?" Immediately, I responded with, "I've already bought myself a good one. I just got the Tissot PRC 200". Few weeks went by and the flying school at Aligarh, U.P. I was in talks stopped responding and I got busy with work.
One fine day in late December'21, my brother's Seamaster was delivered. I saw it and thought, man what a watch. After a sleepless night or two and, against all sound financial sense, I decided that I am going to buy a watch.
Alternatives considered -
- Rolex Submariner -
Big Pro - Is a Rolex - They tend to hold value well
Big Con - Availability - AD candidly advised me that the only way to get it now is to risk buying it in Dubai and wear back.
- Breitling Avenger - Eliminated due to the huge crown size. Won't suit my wrist. Also, depreciation.
- Oris Pro Pilot X -
Big Pro - Beautiful skeleton watch with an immaculate movement. Big Con - Is pricey for an Oris and depreciation.
Around this time, I ran into the Omega Speedmaster (
Speedy). Immediately, I realised that this is the watch for me. Hell, this might be the only watch for me.
A little bit about the Speedy -
The Speedy was introduced in 1957. It was made as a sport and racing chronograph with Omega wanting to build on its rich heritage of being the official timekeeper for the Olympic games. It was the first watch to boast an outer tachymeter. Fast forward to 1965, pursuant to rigorous tests carried out by the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (
NASA), the Speedy was declared as the first watch & only watch (back then) qualified for space flight operations and space exploration. In fact, this is something I read everyday after winding my watch -
Here's a list of the tests which the Speedy withstood -
- High temperature: 48 hours at a temperature of 160°F (71°C) followed by 30 minutes at 200°F (93°C).
- Low temperature: 4 hours at a temperature of 0°F (-18°C).
- Temperature-Pressure: 15 cycles of heating to 160°F (71°C) for 45 minutes, followed by cooling to 0°F (-18°C) for 45 minutes at 10−6 atm.
- Relative humidity: 240 hours at temperatures varying between 68°F and 160°F (20°C and 71°C) in a relative humidity of at least 95%.
- Oxygen atmosphere: 48 hours in an atmosphere of 100% oxygen at a pressure of 0.35 atm.
- Shock: Six shocks of 40 G, each 11 milliseconds in duration, in six different directions.
- Acceleration: From 1 G to 7.25 G within 333 seconds, along an axis parallel to the longitudinal spacecraft axis.
- Decompression: 90 minutes in a vacuum of 10-6 atm at a temperature of 160°F (71°C) and 30 minutes at 200°F (93°C).
- High pressure: 1.6 atm for a minimum period of one hour.
- Vibration: Three cycles of 30 minutes of vibration varying from 5 to 2000 Hz.
- Acoustic noise: 130 DB over a frequency range of 40 to 10,000 Hz, duration 30 minutes.
Even before being qualified in 1965 officially, a Speedy each were privately purchased by the crew of Mercury-Atlas 8 and worn in space on October 3, 1962. Subsequently, after being operationalised by NASA for all manned space missions, the
Speedy scripted history by being the only watch worn on the Moon i.e., on the wrist of Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 space mission.
Being flight qualified, Speedy was also worn during the Apollo 13 space mission where it played a critical role. Apollo 13 space mission involved drilling of two 3 metre holes, testing of a seismometer and measurement of solar origin protons & electrons on the Moon. However, Apollo 13 never made it to the lunar surface. When the spacecraft reached lunar environment, several problems occurred which called for an immediate return. After fixing the lunar module with whatever was available, the crew started their journey back. This journey back required precision calculation for timing the burns factoring in lunar attraction. The Speedy was instrumental in timing the ignition of rockets to shorten the estimated length of return to earth and to decrease the speed and raise the flight path angle for re-entry into the atmosphere of Earth. Accuracy was critical as any mistake in timing would have led to an incorrect entry angle and potential disaster. As we all know, the crew of Apollo 13 made it back safely. This also led to Speedy being awarded the Silver Snoopy award by NASA. Yup, because Snoopy is also an astronaut and a master aviator.
Well, what can I say, I was sold. An amalgam of my love for space, flight and speed. I'll leave you all with a few pictures I've taken over the past few days.
One on my birthday with a Partagas D4 and Suntory Toki-
How it looks from a far -
Few more wrist shots -
The perfect Speedy-Sunset shot -
From my yearly Republic Day drive. Also, saw a blue Porsche 911 on the expressway that day flanked by a BMW M5 and a Merc I couldn't figure out quickly. Secretly hoped they were BHPians -

P.S. Ignore the fuel warning sign. I tanked up immediately after.
As you can see, the lume is brilliant. Overall, the readability is amazing. Afterall, till date, it is the only watch qualified for EVA - Extravehicular Activity -
