![]() ![]() Underpinning the model's relevance to motor racing is the tachymeter bezel, most frequently used for measuring the speed of an object over a known distance. This technology was refined and miniaturized by the time the first model in this collection was released in 1957 as part of Omega's trio of 'Professional' watches, alongside the similarly famous Seamaster, and the less-often discussed, antimagnetic Railmaster.Ĭonceived as a sports chronograph, space travel was not even part of the conversation when development began. The Speedmaster's origins stretch all the way back to the very first wrist-worn chronographs produced by Omega during the 1920s and '30s in preparation for Omega's role as the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games. ![]() For that reason, it is an absolute classic and a model of which the industry and its fans show no signs of tiring. There is enough history and nuance within the lineage that it is possible to build a collection around nothing but this family (and spend a lifetime tweaking your line-up). But beyond this, the model is also a cult phenomenon, inspiring rabid groups of collectors throughout the industry to obsess over the tiniest details in the model’s development and production. Firstly, it is unquestionably one of the industry’s most recognizable models, with a classic NASA-certified Omega Speedmaster Professional being one of a handful of watches you might expect someone from outside the industry to identify correctly. Most have duly departed (with the curious Speedmaster Reduced leaving the collection in 2009), but variety still exists within this supremely popular family, with many current models being made from space-age materials that had never even been mentioned in the context of watchmaking when Apollo XI took the Speedy on the trip of a lifetime. Since those high-flying days of 1969, several renditions have been brought out in an attempt to diversify and reinvigorate a collection that needed neither diversification nor reinvigoration. The "Moonwatch" (a humble Speedmaster Professional) forms the basis of most modern models' design. Just as Rolex's position as the market-leading sports watch was confirmed with the creation of a truly water-resistant case in 1926, so too was the model forever blessed the moment Buzz Aldrin's foot hit the surface of the moon (Armstrong, although in possession of a Speedmaster, elected to leave his behind, making Aldrin the first man to wear a watch on the moon). And being the first to do something - by luck or design – is always a great way to write your name into the watchmaking history books. You don't get that kind of respect without earning it. Icons on pedestals as high as the one occupied by the Speedmaster usually require a little boost from history to reach such status. Generations of watchmakers have come and gone, but the Speedmaster, which made its debut in 1957, remains an ever-present superstar as this flight qualified timepiece is spotted on celebrities, space missions, and more. ![]() The fewer things to fail or go wrong, the better.Reaching the level of visibility that the Omega Speedmaster collection now enjoys does not happen overnight. It's a philosophy that’s prevalent at the racetrack: Remove all unnecessary weight and superfluous systems. ![]() I'm being slightly facetious here, but there's certainly some merit to subtracting functions instead of adding them. For those 10 seconds or less, I'm free." The chronograph is the only function that's needed to time those 10 seconds. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. I think Dominic Toretto from The Fast and the Furious films hints at the sort of spiritual clarity that can be experienced from the pursuit of motorsport when he proclaims to a young Brian Spilner, "I live my life a quarter mile at a time. There's a date window at 6 o’clock that I could do without. You read the elapsed time like you would read the standard time. Combining these two measurements keeps it neat and compact, but it can be slightly frustrating to decipher if you're accustomed to scanning a typical triple-register layout. Running seconds still appears at 9 o'clock, but elapsed hours and minutes now appear on a single register at the 3 o'clock position. This cleans up the dial and creates a bit of welcome negative space, but I am partial to the triple-register layout used in every Racing model until this one. Due to the inclusion of the Caliber 9900, which we'll get into in a bit, the Master Racing Chronometer uses a two-register design with a date window at six. ![]()
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