Photo: RR Auction
The fact that this timepiece exists in the first place is more like a mistake that may have saved one of Apollo 15’s lunar missions in 1971. It was only after the NASA-provided Omega watch broke that commander of the mission Dave Scott decided to wear his back-up, thus taking his team safely back to the spacecraft.
Life is filled with coincidences, ironies, and surprising happy endings, and this one-of-a-kind timepiece has a little bit of them all. The Boston-based RR Auction estimated it to sell for between $750,000 and $1 million, but the outcome took everyone by surprise the other day, as the final bidding stopped at $1,625,000. That’s about the same money you’d drop to get a brand new Ferrari LaFerrari with most of the options and personalization included, but considering the watch's history, it’s safe to assume it’s worth the cash.
We’ll remind you that it’s not just the brand that makes this a precious collectible. Not that the New York-based Bulova timepiece maker is not as exclusive as they get. They’ve been around since 1875 and are the first company to have standardized production of watches. Perhaps, the manufacturing quality is what made the difference back in 1971, when Captain Scott used it instead of what NASA regularly provides its astronauts with.
When the wristwatch went under the hammer, it came with a detailed five-page letter that accompanied the sale. In said letter, the 83-year-old astronaut explained how the counting of each second can be vital, making a functional timepiece critical. “Among the decisions I made, the monitoring of time was perhaps most important.”
As we were telling you folks before the auction, all NASA astronauts would wear the Agency’s specially designed watches, namely Omega Speedmaster. However, Scott was allowed to bring a second ticker with him after the mission’s captain asked for permission.
Whether it was a bad feeling or just a mere coincidence, his decision turned out to be wise, considering that when returning from one of the missions’ moonwalks, Scott realized the wristwatch’s face popped off. When Apollo 15 crew’s captain understood what happened, he replaced it with the Bulova chronograph. Not only did the wristwatch function flawlessly until the mission ended but it is still working today.
We’ll remind you that it’s not just the brand that makes this a precious collectible. Not that the New York-based Bulova timepiece maker is not as exclusive as they get. They’ve been around since 1875 and are the first company to have standardized production of watches. Perhaps, the manufacturing quality is what made the difference back in 1971, when Captain Scott used it instead of what NASA regularly provides its astronauts with.
When the wristwatch went under the hammer, it came with a detailed five-page letter that accompanied the sale. In said letter, the 83-year-old astronaut explained how the counting of each second can be vital, making a functional timepiece critical. “Among the decisions I made, the monitoring of time was perhaps most important.”
As we were telling you folks before the auction, all NASA astronauts would wear the Agency’s specially designed watches, namely Omega Speedmaster. However, Scott was allowed to bring a second ticker with him after the mission’s captain asked for permission.
Whether it was a bad feeling or just a mere coincidence, his decision turned out to be wise, considering that when returning from one of the missions’ moonwalks, Scott realized the wristwatch’s face popped off. When Apollo 15 crew’s captain understood what happened, he replaced it with the Bulova chronograph. Not only did the wristwatch function flawlessly until the mission ended but it is still working today.
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