Neil Armstrong’s Gold Omega Speedmaster Could Become Yours

If you’re an Omega diehard, you better start rifling through the couch cushions, because you’re gonna need every spare penny: Neil Armstrong’s solid-gold Omega Speedmaster ref. BA145.022—one of just 28 pieces made for NASA astronauts and personnel—is coming under the hammer for the first time, with a tidy estimated sale price of $2 million. Presented by RR Auctions Live in Cambridge, MA, on April 17, the auction is sure to be a sensation. Expect bidding by interested private parties, super-collectors, and Omega itself.

The story goes something like this: Back in 1969, Omega produced the 28 Speedies in question and presented them to NASA astronauts at a gala dinner in Houston in November of that year. (President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew were offered two of the watches but had to decline the gift.) Each watch featured an inscribed caseback, with Armstrong’s reading thusly: “Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, to mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time, Gemini 8, Apollo 8, No. 17.” (The quip about being “on time”—especially given President Kennedy’s insistence that man make it to the Moon by the end of the 1960s—is particularly fun.)

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RR Auction

This is not, to be clear, one of the NASA-issued stainless steel Speedmasters that were worn on the Moon—or, in Armstrong’s case, left in the lunar module as a backup. (Buzz Aldrin’s watch was lost while in transit to NASA, and Armstrong’s is on display at the Smithsonian.) But the fact that this particular watch was given as a gift by Omega to the first man to walk on the Moon has the potential to add a serious premium over similar examples that have come under the hammer recently: Fellow astronaut Michael Collins’ watch hammered for $765,000 in 2022, and Walter “Wally” Schirra’s achieved $1.9 million that same year. Schirra was the first NASA astronaut to wear a Speedmaster in space, but Armstrong’s name and legend arguably eclipse this notable horological event.

Mark Armstrong, Neil’s son, noted that his father enjoyed wearing the watch on special occasions, and indeed it appears well loved, with a scratched bezel and a gouged caseback. Furthermore, part of the sale’s proceeds will be donated to causes important to Armstrong. It’s anyone’s guess as to whether the watch will achieve its estimate…or rocket past it into deep space.

A testament to the enterprising spirit of post-War America—and Switzerland, for that matter—Armstrong’s watch evokes strong feelings of pride for many, especially those who were lucky enough to hear him utter those now-famous words on television in the summer of 1969. Here’s hoping Omega raises its own paddle, for one is reminded of those famous words of Indiana Jones: “It belongs in a museum!”