I've said often enough that the Speedmaster Professional operates by stealth. You can see one a million times and it barely registers on your radar. And then, you happen to glimpse a picture of one on the web, or you see somebody walk past you in the street wearing one and it suddenly hits you all at once just how cool this watch is.
At least, that's how it happened to me. I always knew of the classic status of this watch, about the NASA link, etc. But I just always admired the fact that it remained pretty much unchanged since the mid-Sixties. For me, that was the allure of this watch. I always thought I would get one for myself someday.
But, because it had been around for so long, I wasn't in any great rush to buy one.
Then, back in my watch selling days, our store had a very good year and we were given the option to choose a watch to a certain value. I nearly went for a TAG Heuer Carrera, but I quickly came to my senses;
"What watch do you keep saying you're gonna buy, but have yet to get around to doing so?", I asked myself.
I opted for the Speedmaster Pro, even though I had to throw in some of my own money because it was a little beyond the value allotted to me.
I got the watch and wore it on and off for about a month. Yes, it did feel slightly anti-climactic when I first got it. Then one morning, I was putting it on my wrist and the morning light hit it at a particular angle and I instantly realised why this watch has the status that it does.
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It's not a watch for everybody. I used to get customers in the store who would ask;
"I want the watch that went to the moon."
I would take them over to the Omega display case, grab the watch and give them a rundown;
"Okay, this is it. Now, the glass is Hesalite rather than sapphire, which means that it can tend to scratch a little easier and a hard knock from the wrong angle will break it. However, Polywatch will remove most scratches, and replacing a broken Hesalite crystal will be considerably cheaper than replacing a sapphire crystal.
The water-resistance is 50 metres, good enough for splashes of water, but I don't recommend swimming with this watch on for any length of time.
It has no date, but you can use the chrono hand as a date pointer for the first 31 minute markers on the dial. Takes a couple of weeks to get used to.
And finally, it's a hand-wound watch, not an automatic. You will need to wind it."
This information would usually scare off six or seven out of ten customers. The ones who hadn't done a little research on the watch. The remaining three or four customers would purchase the watch.
There are aspects of this watch that are considered antique technology by some folks. But this watch isn't designed for them.
It's a classic chronograph any way you look at it.