Wally Schirra’s gold Omega Speedmaster at RR Auction

Auctions · · by Christian Bissener


Caseback of Wally Schirra’s gold Omega Speedmaster engraved with his name and missions

RR Auction offered a Speedmaster 145.022-69 with exceptional provenance: the watch of astronaut Wally Schirra, number 08 in the series. It is an 18k gold Speedmaster Professional, the 1969 Apollo 11 commemorative model, and the caseback is engraved with his name, the missions Mercury 8, Gemini 6 and Apollo 7, and the line “to mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time”.

In my eyes it is an extraordinary watch with a superb history. Vintage Speedmasters in general still fly under the radar and do not yet have the attention they deserve. Number 19, once owned by Michael Collins, sold at Heritage Auctions on 1 June 2022 for $765,000.

Wally Schirra’s gold Speedmaster on a black display stand
The gold Speedmaster Professional

The lot page at RR Auction has the full description.