We might as well start with the watch that finished the original “lost list”. Ben Clymer declared that Buzz Aldrin’s AAA quality fake Omega Speedmaster, “could very well be the most important wristwatch of the 20th century”. Interest in NASA Omega Speedmasters replica for sale has been driven up even further in the past nine years thanks to numerous Alaska Project examples coming to auction as well as an original 1960s NASA-issued ref. 145.012-68SP selling last year at Phillips for over $300k. That cheap super clone watch wasn’t tied to any specific astronaut, let alone Buzz Aldrin. He’s the second person to ever walk on the Moon and the first to do so wearing a Speedy (Armstrong left his watch in the lunar module).
My tag-team partner Tony Traina detailed the recent performance at auction and general interest in the commemorative gold Apollo XI cheap fake Omega Speedmasters UK here on Hodinkee. The high watermark of that series is Wally Schirra’s example selling for $1.9M in October of 2022. And these high quality replica watches didn’t even make it into low earth orbit.
Aldrin’s top super clone watch was reportedly stolen on the way to the Smithsonian in the early 1970s, never to be seen again. Whether that story is true or not, we still do not know where the watch is. If it were to resurface, it technically remains as property of NASA. One day, I hope we will see Aldrin’s Swiss movement replica Omega Speedmaster complete its long trip to Washington to be appreciated by watch fanatics while 95 percent of visitors pass on by without giving the little wrist timer much thought.
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