Wednesday, June 27, 2018

OMEGA – SPEEDMASTER Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 Black Ceramic Edition


OMEGASPEEDMASTER Moonwatch Chronograph "Dark Side of the Moon" Apollo 8 Black Ceramic Limited Edition

THE SPEEDMASTER 
"DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" 
APOLLO 8

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In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew became the first humans to ever see the dark side of the moon. 50 years later, OMEGA has produced this incredible chronograph in tribute to that mission.

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As well as having a skeletonised dial, this collectable watch is remarkable for its specially decorated version of the famous Moonwatch calibre 1861.


THE MOON ON YOUR WRIST
Celebrating 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission

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Presented on a perforated black leather strap with yellow rubber through the middle, this Speedmaster’s unique design remains true to Apollo 8’s pioneering spirit. The entire watch is produced in sleek black ceramic and the dial has been expertly skeletonised to reveal a blackened movement inside. Most impressively, the movement has been laser-ablated to produce realistic imagery of the lunar surface.

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Apollo 8 orbited the moon 10 times over 20 hours during its mission. A major human achievement.”

The Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to the moon, entering lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1968. Astronauts Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.

THE COLOURS

The chronograph hands are varnished yellow, while the watch's tachymeter scale and crown are filled with white Super-LumiNova. The Speedmaster and Tachymetre words also appear in yellow.

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The dial-side of this watch is a light shade with a landscape full of craters to represent our view of the moon’s surface from Earth.

THE CASE

The watch is in a black ceramic case measuring 44.25 mm in diameter, Omega has again embraced its popular “Dark Side of the Moon” innovation, producing the entire watch in black zirconium oxide ceramic.

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The dial-side is a somewhat lighter shade almost graphite grey to represent our view of the moon’s surface from Earth, the chronograph hands are varnished yellow, while the tachymeter scale and crown are filled with superluminova.

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THE CASEBACK

Around the transparent caseback, the words "WE'LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE" reference Jim Lovell’s final words spoken to ground control just before Apollo 8 travelled to the far side of the moon.

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The caseback delves into the dark side of the moon that only astronauts get to see. It’s also a perfect view of the Calibre 1869 inside.

“The Calibre 1869 is a specially decorated version of OMEGA’s famous Calibre 1861.

Click, to see the large size. BIG FOTO

Click, to see the large size. BIG FOTO


For 34 minutes there would be no way of knowing what happened. During that time the 247-second LOI (lunar orbit insertion) burn would take place that would slow down the spacecraft from 5758 to 3643 mph to enable it to latch on to the Moon’s field of gravity and go into orbit.

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If the SPS engine failed, Apollo 8 would whip around the Moon and head back for Earth on a free-return trajectory (á la Apollo 13); during one critical half minute if the engine went out the spacecraft would be sent crashing into the Moon.

Available in stores from September 2018, the watch will cost $ 9,750 USD

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Links to more details.
omegaforums.net
speedmaster101.com
chronomaddox.com
www.speedywatches.com

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Model Speedmaster Moonwatch Chronograph
"Dark Side of the Moon" Apollo 8
Black ceramic on leather strap
Ref. 311.92.44.30.01.001
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www.NASA.gov
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