Legendary Watch with Proud and Unique History

All of the Omega Speedmaster Professional models are beautiful watches with a legendary history and phenomenal following. They have been arguably among the most popular watches ever made by Omega since the original "Speedmaster" debut in 1957. The current Speedmaster Professionals come in multiple versions, but are for the most part little changed in its over 50 year life. This watch has a distinct face, which differentiates it from the other Speedmaster Professionals.

Why are the Speedmaster Professionals amazing?

During the 1960's space race with the Soviets, NASA did not have the time to announce an open competition from all interested watch companies to design a watch suitable for space travel. This would have required bids from different manufacturers with the eventual award of a government contract. NASA engineers in plain clothes went to downtown Houston and entered various high end stores and purchased high-end (i.e. expensive) manual wind wristwatches from 10 different brands, such as Omega, Rolex, etc. This was all done in secrecy and none of the watch manufacturers, such as Omega, were aware of this. NASA subjected the watches to grueling tests of temperature extremes, shocks, humidity, extreme pressure changes, etc. All of the watches malfunctioned and could not finish all of the tests except for one, the Omega Speedmaster.

NASA began to equip their astronauts in 1962 for the Gemini missions with a Speedmaster attached by a strap to the OUTSIDE of the astronauts' suits. Omega executives saw NASA's photos of the astronauts and realized that they were using their watches. This was quickly confirmed with a phone call to NASA. NASA then quickly announced that the Omega Speedmaster was the official watch to be used on their space missions. Realize that this was all done without Omega's awareness.

Bulova, an American watchmaker, pressured congressmen who pressured NASA to allow for an open competition to include Bulova. NASA then allowed watchmakers to submit watches for evaluation. Once again, the Omega Speedmaster Professional was the only watch that passed all of NASA's tests! Believe it or not, through constant pressure from Bulova, NASA again had to hold an open competition a third time in 1978, and AGAIN, the Omega Speedmaster was found to be the only acceptable watch. This is the stuff of legends!

What attributes do all of the current versions of the Speedmaster Pro (3570.50, 3573.50, 3576.50, etc) have?

1. Beautiful clear dial with luminous markers
2. Chronograph (timer)
3. 42.5 mm case size (good IMHO for wrists 6" and above)
4. Classic looks from the original 1957 design (except for some special editions, including this particular version of the watch)
5. Wonderful manual wind mechanism with proven history of reliability
6. Water resistance of 50m or 167 feet (this is acceptable for "normal" use, but is certainly not intended to be a diver's watch)


You should NOT buy any of these Speedmaster Pro models if you will be wanting to use this as a diving watch. Get a Seamaster 300M or Planet Ocean for that need.

As for its time keeping accuracy, most owners don't mind it all. If you are very concerned with accuracy, then a mechanical watch, even if it is COSC certified, is probably not the right type of watch for you. A quartz watch will be significantly more accurate. I have heard that people's experiences for the Speedmaster Pros range from -/+ of 0/0 -5/+15. It is not a certified chronometer by the COSC. This watch only needs to be wound every 1 or 2 days and its time adjusted about once every 1 or 2 weeks.

If you end up for some unexpected reason to not like the watch, realize that this watch has a phenomenally high resale value and is very easy to sell on various online auction sites.