The Omega Speedmaster is simply one of the most important and loved wristwatches ever made. It’s an icon of design with legendary exploits that include a rich history in motor racing and, most famously, was the first watch on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Not only has the Speedmaster been the official watch of NASA since 1965, it’s the only watch they’ve ever certified for EVA (that’s extravehicular activity, like spacewalks and moonwalks), which is to say it can handle just about anything your typical civilian day-to-day might throw its way.
The Speedmaster embodies the glory of motorsports, the ultimate adventure of space exploration, and also happens to be one of the best looking watches to come from the golden era of Swiss watch design. Even if you stripped away all of that history and the near universal respect the Speedy has within the watch world, it’s visually and functionally one of the most versatile watches ever made, and ranks high on the extremely short list of pieces that truly work as a do-it-all “one-watch-collection.”
This reference 3572.50 is an excellent example of the Omega Speedmaster “Moonwatch” and was made in the 1990s. This example appears to be unpolished and features a hesalite crystal and an open caseback, which shows off the precision inner workings of its manual-wind cal. 1863 movement. The dial is perfect and free of any blemishes, and the original tritium lume is still present on both the dial and handset, and has aged to a gorgeous cream color on the dial. The original “DN90” (which means Dot Next to 90) bezel shows virtually no wear. The watch comes on an original Omega Speedmaster 1499 bracelet in excellent condition with virtually no stretch, and comes with a “full set,” meaning its original Omega box and papers – making this unpolished example the ideal 3572.50 for the completist collector.