Baselworld 2010: OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz 35th Anniversary Watch

Moon Watch. The Omega Speedmaster Professional was the watch NASA supplied each of the Apollo astronauts and it went to the moon. It is Omega's most iconic watch and has made in various iterations. Every year almost it seems, Omega releases a new limited edition of this watch, and Basel world 2010 is no different. This year Omega brings us the OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz 35th anniversary.

At the start, we have to say that a "35th" anniversary of something does not seem like something that would be celebrated... a 10th, 25th, 40th, 50th... yes, but a 35th? Omega seems to be pushing this commemorative edition thing a bit too far. Anyway, unto the watch.

OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz 35th Anniversary Watch. The OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Apollo-Soyuz 35th Anniversary Watch is functionally identical to the Omega Speedmaster Professional 3570.50.00 which has been manufactured by Omega for several decades now.

Omega provides us a history behind the making of this watch:

"July 15th, 1975 marked the beginning of an important chapter in space exploration. On that day the United States launched an Apollo rocket, referred to as the Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) Command Module and the Soviet Union sent Soyuz 19 into space.

Two days later a remarkable thing happened: the two spacecraft representing these former adversaries in the space race docked and the three astronauts and two cosmonauts met in the middle where they shook hands, exchanged gifts and spoke with each other as they orbited the Earth.

The ships remained docked for 44 hours after which they separated, and manoeuvred to use the Apollo to create an artificial solar eclipse which allowed the crew of the Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona. Another brief docking was made before the ships concluded their own journeys separately. The Soviets remained in space for five days altogether, the Americans for nine.

It was the first time that spacecraft built by different nations had docked and signalled an era of cooperation in space which would lead to the efforts to build a permanently occupied space station. The mission also marked the end of an era – it was the final flight of the Apollo spacecraft.

While the Apollo-Soyuz mission is best remembered for its political significance, it also resulted in some major technological achievements as neither of the spacecraft, which were completely different from each other, had been built for the purpose of docking.

The American crew was commanded by Thomas Stafford and included Vance Brand and the last of the original seven Mercury astronauts to make it into orbit, Donald K. “Deke” Slayton who had long been grounded due to a heart problem. The two-man Soviet crew included Valeri Kubasov and the first space walker, Alexei Leonov.

Both the Soyuz and Apollo crews were equipped with OMEGA Speedmaster X-33 wristwatches.

The ASTP Command Module splashed down on July 24th, 1975 after 217 hours, 30 minutes in space.

The Apollo era had landed. It would be six years before another American astronaut would fly in space aboard the reusable Space Shuttle. All of the Shuttle astronauts were equipped, of course, with OMEGA Speedmasters."

The most interesting thing about this watch is the meteorite dial, something Rolex has had on its Daytona Chronograph for some time and which many people like. We think, the meteorite dial in itself would be enough to generate interest in this watch, without having to pay for the premium cost of its limited edition status.

There are only 1975 of these watches. Last year Omega made 7969 of its 40th Anniversary Moonwatch. Omega, apparently does not think it will sell too many.

About Omega SA. The forerunner of Omega was founded 1848, by Louis Brandt. The name Omega was first used in 1894. It was used as the name of one of the Louis Brandt brother’s watch movement calibers.