Omega’s still riding that rocket

FOR SIX DECADES, the Omega Speedmaster has arguably been the most famous chronograph in the world, selected by Nasa astronauts and even worn on the moon.
In 1957 the CK 2915 – the first Speedmaster – was also the world’s first chronograph wristwatch in the world with a tachymeter scale on the bezel. Powered by the manual-wound Calibre 321, defined by the graceful lines of its symmetrical case and displaying the time with a “Broad Arrow” hour-hand, the Speedmaster became an instant best-seller.
On the 60th anniversary of the Speedmaster’s release, brand ambassador George Clooney, a space enthusiast, reflects on why the watch was able to go where it did. 
While he’s played an astronaut in more than one movie, few people know how deeply Clooney feels about space exploration. He was eight years old when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon. Like most children of his generation, astronauts were his heroes and going into space was his dream.
“It was the most exciting time to be a kid,” Clooney says. “We knew all the astronauts’ names. We even ate the food they ate. On one family vacation we drove through Neil Armstrong’s hometown – just because we wanted to drive through his hometown. The astronauts were that big a deal to us.”
In 1961 US President John Kennedy set a bold challenge for the American people. “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” 
Clooney recalls that the challenge felt almost impossible at the time, but it did create a new level of optimism reflected in everything that was happening around him.

“In just 60 years we’d gone from inventing cars to talking about landing a man on the moon. It felt like the ultimate in optimism, the ultimate in forward thinking. It made us feel like anything could be done.”
When Apollo 11 touched down on the moon on July 20, 1969, and Kennedy’s challenge was answered, the young Clooney watched from his suburban backyard. Standing with his father, looking up at the moon, he felt a special connection with his heroes as they took their first steps into a new world. Like the astronauts they were straining to see, Clooney’s father also wore an Omega.
In fact, Clooney still has that same watch today. When Clooney Sr heard that his son was working with Omega, he presented him with his old Omega as a gift. 
“He brought it down from the attic, 20 years after putting it away, and he wound it and it started running again. It was a special moment. I grew up seeing that watch on his arm.
“Omega was absolutely part of the space programme when I was growing up. Omega was about precision time and it seemed like the space programme was a natural progression.”
What he didn’t know then, however, was that the Speedmaster was originally envisioned for a completely different purpose. As the name suggests, it was built for speed and, when first released 60 years ago, it was intended not for rocket ships but for racing cars.
Upon release, the Speedmaster was an instant hit with professional drivers. Its rugged construction meant it could withstand intense vibrations and shocks while keeping perfect time. 
And, thanks to the tachymetric scale on its bezel, drivers could time their laps more easily than ever before. It was the first watch with these features, and at the time, revolutionised the design, durability and functionality of wristwatches.
Ultimately, it was these two features that would make the Speedmaster so suitable for space exploration, and would lead to its place on the wrist of every astronaut in the Apollo programme from 1965 onwards.
It was in 1964 that Nasa began hunting for a chronograph to use on its manned space missions. It chose watches from different brands and put them through the same tests used for every piece of hardware intended for space. Only one watch survived the extreme temperatures, vibrations, hard shocks and unforgiving vacuums of the testing process – the Omega Speedmaster.
Today, six decades on, the Speedmaster is still qualified for all manned space missions and is a permanent piece of equipment on the International Space Station. In testament to the forward-thinking design of the original, the Moonwatch made now is essentially the same as the one released by Omega in the pre-space age.
For Clooney, this makes the Speedmaster a true classic, like a vintage wine. 
“Some things are classic, and when they’re classic, you will always want them. You’d be really upset if they changed. We want modern technology – like our cellphones – but there’s something about having certain classic things that if they changed it would break your heart.”
On the inside, the calibre is also unmodified, and manufacturing the Moonwatch remains a complex exercise, as it has always been. It takes 14 months to prepare all the separate component parts prior to assembly, and 80 manual operations are needed to assemble the base plate alone. As when it was first released, the human hand is an essential part of the process.
It is ironic that the Omega Speedmaster has required no modification, considering that the Nasa space programme can be credited with technical innovations spanning from mobile telecommunications to SMS messaging, and from solar panels to water purification. 
As Clooney says, the Speedmaster might well be the true definition of a classic – a design that need never be altered.