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A gold wristwatch created to celebrate the first moon landing, awarded to the first person to wear the same chronograph in space, sold for $1.9 million. This makes it the most owned watch ever owned by an astronaut.
The auction hammer fell Thursday evening (Oct. 20) at $1,525,563 for Wally Schirra’s Apollo 11 remembrance. (Opens in a new tab) Omega Speedmaster Professional When fees are included The watch was sold at a price. $1,906,953.75 This is part of an online sales focused on space exploration hosted by RR Auction. (Opens in a new tab) of New Hampshire The bidder was not specified.
The sale exceeded the amount paid in 2015 for the only privately owned watch worn on the lunar surface. The prototype Bulova chronograph used by Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott sold for $1.625 million (including buyer’s premium) at RR Auctions.
Listed Schirra commemorative watches come complete with all original parts. Except for the rubber gaskets and burgundy bezel that were replaced directly from the Omega factory in Bienne, Switzerland. The lot also includes a Speedmaster box made for the anniversary edition watch after. and the black bezel Wally Schirra received after losing his original burgundy watch.
Also included is a collection of documents from the Omega Museum and a letter of authenticity written by Schirra’s wife Jo confirming that the watch is part of her late husband’s collection (Schirra died in 2007. (Opens in a new tab) At age 84 due to complications from abdominal cancer, Jo Schirra died at 91 in 2015.)
‘Tribute to the astronauts’
On July 20, 1969, the Omega Speedmaster became the first watch worn on the moon. Together with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the first moon for mankind (Neil Armstrong, commander of the mission, left the Speedmaster in the lunar module to act as a backup for a broken timer).
four months later At a gala dinner in honor of the achievements of the Apollo 11 astronauts, Omega celebrated its role in the mission by presenting its three crew members and 20 NASA astronauts a wearable 18K gold version of the watch. The Moon. (The chronographs used by astronauts on their missions are property of NASA and were later transferred to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.)
Each gold watch is engraved with the name of the astronaut and his mission on the back cover. just like a phrase “To mark the conquest of human space with time. Over time, on time.”
“My husband was one of the astronauts who attended that night and as a result he received the eighth clock. [26] A gold watch given to the first astronauts to receive these rare watches,” Jo Chira wrote in her attribution letter. “The first figure given to Wally in his honor for being one of the ‘Original Seven’ Mercury astronauts.”
Schirra is the first astronaut to wear an Omega Speedmaster. (Opens in a new tab) He went into space buying it for himself for the 1962 Mercury mission. He later wore the NASA-issued Speedmaster as he became the only astronaut to launch on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
After the Apollo 11 gala, Omega gifted 10 other astronauts along with their gold Speedmasters for a total of 36 astronaut-owned parts. The first Speedmasters to be made of gold. (Opens in a new tab).
sales soar
Schirra’s gold Speedmaster is the second watch from the same series to be released this year. in june Parts given to Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins as a gift 19 sold for $765,000, including buyer’s premium.
in comparison The watch featured on Apollo 12 moonwalker Alan Bean (No. 26) sold for just over $50,000, including a premium at Bonhams New York in 2015.
Schirra’s watch was auctioned by space collector and “Space Dealers” co-star Larry McGlynn (Netflix), who bought the watch directly from the Schirra family after the astronaut’s death. with a value of nearly $2 million. It is currently the 4th most expensive space memorabilia sold publicly.
Increasing the watch’s ranking to the third place on the list The “most paid” is Neil Armstrong’s personal Apollo 11 gold medal, which flew with him to the moon, created by Robbins Company in 1969 and proposed by Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas 50 years later. Come on, the coin sells for $2,055,000.
Second place was the airplane jacket that Buzz Aldrin wore. (Opens in a new tab) When not wearing a spacesuit during the Apollo 11 mission with Aldrin’s badge, Apollo 11 mission patch, NASA logo and American flag. The garment sold for $2,772,500 at Sotheby’s in July.
The most money ever spent on a piece of space history was $2,882,500 paid for the Soviet-era Vostok 3KA-2 spacecraft, the capsule flew three weeks before the world’s first human spaceflight in 1961 carrying a dummy. Astronaut and dog enter Earth orbit A Russian businessman bought Vostok from Sotheby’s New York with the intention of returning it to the country of origin.
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