Speedmaster Apollo Program Commemorative 'Alan Bean'

Here, technical significance meets the human drama of space exploration. In the wake of the first Moon landing, Omega created its first solid 18k gold Speedmaster to commemorate the achievement, and the initial 30 examples were reserved for a singular group: President Nixon, Vice President Agnew, and the astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Each of these presentation pieces carried a special engraving on the caseback, "to mark man's conquest of space with time, through time, on time." They were never sold to the public, and they sit at the very apex of space-watch collecting.

This watch belongs to that rarefied group, given to astronaut Alan Bean, lunar module pilot of Apollo 12 and the fourth human to walk on the Moon. Bean received No. 26 of the first 30. Provenance of this order is exceptionally scarce, and the market has responded accordingly: a comparable astronaut-issued gold Speedmaster stands among the most valuable examples of the model ever sold at auction. This example is further distinguished by a later engraving commemorating Bean's command of the second crewed Skylab mission in 1973.

Beyond the historical weight, the watch is a handsome object in its own right — reference BA 145.022, powered by the Caliber 861, with a solid gold dial, onyx hour markers, and the distinctive burgundy bezel that sets the gold examples apart from the steel Moonwatch. It is, in every sense, a blue-chip piece: a watch whose value rests not on rarity of production alone but on a direct and documented connection to human spaceflight.