Omega first manufactured the Omega Speedmaster Professional in 1959 which was basically a chronograph that measured elapsed time in seconds, minutes and hours. However, that same factory made watch packed such a punch, i.e. it had such a sturdy built, that it would be the only watch to not only pass NASA’s rigorous testing and end up being the first watch on moon but also be the only NASA certified watch for space missions.

In the initial days of the race to the moon, the astronauts that had the privilege and great fortunes of being in space did not carry any official wristwatch. The watch that they would wear on their manned space flights was completely at their discretion and choice. In 1962 however, NASA began a search for a chronograph that would act as not only the official watch but also act complementary to the spacecrafts’ on board timing devices for its Mercury and Apollo missions.

NASA, in its search for the wristwatch that would be worn by the Gemini and Apollo astronauts, purchased watches (chronographs) of various brands, over the counter from a jewelry store (Corrigan’s) in order to evaluate them. Among these watches was the Omega Speedmaster.

NASA then subjected these watches to extreme conditions that mimicked those of space and even beyond those hostile conditions. For example, the Omega Speedmaster was subjected to forces of up to 12 g, was tested in vacuum conditions, was subject to wide ranging vibrations and subject to varying temperatures for varying time frames. In the end, it was the Omega Speedmaster that stood the real test of time and was the only watch to survive all these tests and remained largely within 5 seconds per day rate. Naturally, NASA chose and certified the Omega Speedmaster as the official chronograph for the space program in 1965; after a rigorous testing phase of around three years.

It was on March 23 1965 that Gus Grissom and John Young became the first astronauts to wear the officially certified Omega Speedmasters on the Gemini 3 mission; it was part of the standard equipments issued to astronauts. A year after that, an Omega Speedmaster took the title of the first spacewalk watch when it was strapped on Ed White’s G4C space suit as he took America’s first spacewalk; the reference number of that Speedmaster was 105.003. Omega Speedmasters were used for all of the Gemini missions from then on till the end of the Gemini Program in 1966. This would firmly establish the connection between Speedmasters and space exploration. After Gemini 4, Omega began using the appellation – Professional, with its Speedmasters for reinforcing its association with the astronauts.

Given its reliability and performance, the Omega Speedmaster once again became the preferred choice of NASA for the Apollo missions. During this time, Omega updated the Speedmaster Professional to 145.012. For the historic moon landing and the ‘giant step for mankind’ it was the Omega Speedmaster Professional which was the timekeeper for the time spent on the lunar surface (over 2 hours), strapped on the hand of Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin. Neil Armstrong’s Speedmaster Professional was left inside the module as the on board time keeping instrument had failed. The Omega Speedmaster Professional then became ‘the first and only watch on moon’ and also came to be known as the Omega Speedmaster Professional Moon Watch.

It was Jack Swigert’s Speedmaster Professional that was used to precisely deploy the 14 second mid course correction 7 burn which was instrumental in the crew’s safe return. As a token of their recognition of the watch’s outstanding performance and reliability the astronauts of the Apollo 13 awarded Omega with the Snoopy Award. For some of the Apollo missions, NASA issued more than one watch per astronaut for timekeeping and other uses from then on.

Thus was the journey’s of the first watch on moon and the journey’s of these time (keeping) machines have put down their name in history where they have been frozen timeless, contrary to their job of measuring elapsed time. There was hardly any doubt left as to why NASA endorsed this fine piece of machinery called the Omega Speedmaster Professional  for its space missions. There is none, even today.