2021 Omega Speedmaster | Moonwatch | History of the Speedmaster | Speedmaster and NASA

as followers of this channel will know i've been anticipating and telling you about the replacement speedmaster professional the moonwatch since march last year well it's finally here so let's look into the details now this is a long one around 30 minutes so go take a comfort break grab a cup of tea and settle in i'm andy and welcome to the english watch [Music] please check out my previous videos on the speedmaster professional it's great to get a retrospective view on the old stuff and see what predictions i got right and which ones i got wrong please also don't forget to subscribe if you like this content now i'll leave an affiliate link in the description of these videos for any tools and equipment i've used in the production now i do get a small commission that really helps the channel grow so really appreciate your support my main reference is the moonwatch only book you know there's no better reference for a speedy fan i'll also place some timestamps in the description and it'll take you through the evolution of the speedmaster professional from its inception in 1964. but if you just want to see my thoughts on the watch yeah you can jump to that section also now if anyone is doubting the credentials of the speedmaster's flight qualified status or its continued use in evas in the vacuum of space take a look at these russian cosmonauts from november 2020 doing an eva around the iss the speedmaster is still there being used as a genuine tool watch it's now only used on the one-piece russian all-in-sea eagle spacesuit and capable of nine hours of spacewalks yes it's still there just not with nasa okay on the history lesson now pay [Music] a attention run of his manhoods [Music] so the omega speedmaster professional was originally launched back in 1964 with model reference st 105.012 this was the model that was chosen by nasa for the apollo missions and the inspiration for the new 2021k style the professional was an upgrade from the st-10503 that served on the gemini missions and that was reimagined by omega last year with the ed white and included the historic 3-2-1 movement a movement that can trace its origins back to 1941 with the lamania 27 chrono c-12 and used first in the speedmaster model back in 1957 now just as apollo 8 was making the first orbit around the moon back in 1968 amiga gave the speedmaster professional its first significant upgrade with the revised movement replacing the age in 3-2-1 with a more accurate and reliable movement known as 861 this was still true to the lemania base caliber but ditched what was a difficult to manufacture and unreliable column wheel for a more reliable cam operation for the chronograph and also an increase in the beat rate from 18 000 to 21 600 vibrations per hour for improved accuracy as we'll see in a minute this has a bearing on a design feature of the 2021 dial now there was a blink and you'll miss it update prior to the movement change with the removal of the second bezel on the case back now make a note of that one during this change point the chronograph seconds hand was also changed moving from a kite-shaped balance to the straight edge version we see today while shrinking and moving the tip marker back towards the dial center maybe something just subtle to inform that the watch had a new movement so back to 1968 and the model st 145.022 had a familiar face but now with a new movement man hadn't even stepped on the moon yet and we're already pretty divergent from what is perceived as the moon watch moving into 1969 we see a further change removing the applied amiga logo that was the narrow pinch style with the printed logo that was wider and more like the one we recognized today and one that has shaken the collective eternity to the core that little dot over 90 on tachymeter slip down the zero to about the two o'clock position as neil and buzz were celebrating their successful return from the moon with their now obsolete model 105.012 in 1971 and to commemorate the apollo moon landings and extend the life of this historical tour watch the nasa marketing team added the famous words the back of the case flight qualified by nasa for all manned space missions the first watch worn on the moon this was initially in what was known as the street writing format but was quickly changed to the medallion case back we see today and it reintroduced the amiga hippocampus emblem the case back remained unchanged for over 40 years until 2017 and the 50th anniversary introduced the big box and the words professional moonwatch i hope you're taking note of the important features there will be a test at the end mark my words so we get to 1974 the last big design changed the dial the removal of the step from the flat dial well it's not really flat but falls away from the outside rather than the previous step that bisected the minute markers and there it remained until 2021 with just a few nips and tucks here and there the most significant being a small upgrade in 1997 from the 861 movement to the now 1861 introducing rhodium plating and some bracelet refinements along the way so knowing all this what do you think about what omega have done for the 2021 model the replacement of a watch that in essence has not changed since 1974. well first let's look a little closer to home and the apollo 11 50th anniversary from 2019 on the still version we see the reintroduction of the st 105 012 narrow case the step dial used successfully with color contrast to accentuate the detail that kite shaped balance the chronograph hand and the larger further outboard loom marker the classic omega logo and text the darling crown a double bevel on the case back a flat link bracelet has fitted to the st-105012 and yes a dot over 90 on the tachymeter now wouldn't it have been nice to wrap all this nostalgia around a 3-2-1 movement but in this instance omega chose this watch to launch the new 3861 movement so with the apollo 11 we have a heritage piece something that celebrates the success of the moon landings in 1969 not an exact copy but something special for the enthusiasts who appreciate what all these features mean a watch that features the significant design cues we all know but adds to it some of omg's newest technology including the movement and the moonshine gold accents maybe as a celebration to one of the most complex machines ever created in the saturn v launch vehicle now as we saw earlier omic had the foresight back in 1971 to keep the speedmaster professional in the collection without change and use the moon landings association to their advantage and it's no surprise then that the new 2021 version is not a complete redesign in fact omega have been very canny with their development of the speedmaster brand over the years and played a little to the audience with some great and not so great special editions omega know there's a fan base out there and they engage with it unlike other brands we won't mention now you could argue that the porsche 911 despite its evolution still looks the same and it does well a little bit just as the rolex submariner is close to the model available at the time the speedmaster went to the moon but unlike the speedmaster the submariner has grown up got a job bought a shiny suit and a pair of shoes and enjoys his factory fresh 992. the omega on the other hand still knocks about in that classic 911 it's been restored it's got new tyres and the engines had a real good tune and upgrade now these analogies are of course nonsense but you know help us tell a story one that maybe helps the ordinary punter on the street who may not know the long history behind the speedmaster and why it's been frozen in time like captain america so what have we got then the old version was available in two flavors the traditional heslite plexiglas crystal with a solid medallion case back and 1861 movement that is seen as the moon watch to purists like me and it continues to see action in space although more likely on the arm of a russian cosmonaut now the use of the hesslite crystal gives it a vintage aesthetic as well as function as it won't shatter in zero g and also the sapphire sandwich this has a sapphire crystal on the front and back and has a decorated version of the 1861 movement on display caliber 1863. this is a great everyday choice with its additional refines and the view of that movement the box section sapphire crystal is expensive to replace and it does lose some of the visual aspects of their slight both of these came with steel bracelets and black crocodile straps and shared the same dial layout in the new lineup we still have the hestlite and sapphire sandwich derivatives but this time they're joined by a couple of boutique only gold models one in omega's set in the gold at nearly 30 000 pounds and one in something called canopus gold at nearly 40 000 pounds now this is a form of gold alloy from omega and named after the second brightest star in the sky a giant white star mainly visible to the southern hemisphere in the constellation of carina a star with a key navigational role over the centuries now gold is no stranger to the speedmaster range but these two are novelties that few of us will handle let alone own so we'll concentrate on the still and besides that's what he came here for right test light can be had with a canvas scrap similar to that on the silver snoopy 45th anniversary with the steel deployment buckle and the sapphire version with a grain leather strap in lieu of the crocodile leather fitted previously both steel versions are around a thousand pounds more than their equivalents but given the additional refinements has always been a steal at this price it's no surprise that omega have used this change point to align more with the competition i mean a brightly nappy timer and chronomat go for nearly 7 000 pounds so these are still great value watches now don't expect discounts anytime soon i do hear that amiga are starting to clamp down on this practice on particular models especially in stores with no other local omega competition we'll see how this gets on in the year or so when these are nearly in every shop window and there's something shiny to take the spotlight away all models are covered by emu's five-year warranty but it's unclear what the service interval for this new one will be now don't forget if you're enjoying this please leave a few comments and hit that subscribe button now it's no surprise that omega fitted this watch with a new coaxial master chronometer the george daniels coaxial escapement has been industrialized and refined over the years by amiga and is now a significant part of their dna manual wine chronographs remain popular with collectors and enthusiasts alike and this one has just got better omega re-engineered the caliber 1861 to incorporate the new escapement but along the way have also introduced a number of other refinements it's still manual wind the most significant being the introduction of a hack in seconds an additional complication in itself the power reserve has been raised a couple of hours to 50 the new caliber retains the 1861 beat rate of 21 600 vibrations per hour or about three hertz then comparing it to the outgoing movement the dual count is up to 26 from 18 as this is now a master chronometer we now benefit from the extreme anti-magnetism at 15 000 gauss effectively anti-magnetic thanks to that silicon balance spring we also get much more improved accuracy now mate are certified and regulated to run within naught to plus five seconds per day the old movement wasn't even cost certified but did run pretty well despite being only certified at minus one to plus 11 seconds per day this accuracy is in part helped by the addition of a free sprung balance as opposed to the old regulated balance this uses counterweights on the balance spring that vary the inertia to achieve the correct rate and are less susceptible to knocks and bangs but also more a challenge to the watchmaker this movement also finally sees the end of the durling break a controversial plastic part used in the closed case back version and as you can see from the image of this 861 movement there's plenty of dna left from that original lemani movement the case is the same as that used on the apollo 11 50th anniversary and the silver snoopy 50th anniversary it's inspired by the fourth generation model or st 105.012 the case is made from 316l stainless steel comes up at 42 millimeters in diameter has a lug to lug of 47 millimeters and thickness wise the headlight version is 13.58 and the sapphire slightly slimmer 13.18 millimeters now this still isn't an ideal swim watch with water resistance remaining at 50 meters now there does appear to be a slightly longer and squarer crown that hopefully will make winding this new movement a bit easier than the old one and this has helped by re-profiling of the pushes without having the watches in hand with a set of verniers it's difficult to say where all of the changes are the bezel stays an aluminium insert no move to ceramic as on the anniversary models this ensures the watch maintains the authentic look and keeps the price down the bezel is nestled within the steel retaining ring and is well protected from scratches and scuffs where the bezel does move on is that pesky dot moving back over that number 90 but also dot under 70 moving back to about the four o'clock position okay the case back now let's start with one aspect i got fundamentally wrong in the leaked images we saw a new text on the reverse of the hesslite model referring to flight qualified by nasa for all human space missions a change from the all manned space missions text well it's not strictly my fault but you know that's the price you pay for not using official material someone at amiga is clearly having a laugh or given how plausible this could have all been there was a change of heart at the last minute either way i think it was a deliberate leak just to get us all talking about the launch well it worked didn't it as with the snoopy and the apollo 11 the case gets back that second bevel and retains the overall design with the hippocampus at the center fortunately the lock text and alignment markers have not been carried forward the omega globe squeal has moved from the case back to the rear of one of the lugs to make room for the text unchanged since 1971 other than the addition of professional moonwatch in 2014 now has the words coaxial master chronometer added to account for the new movement fortunately omograph spared us from printing this on the dial also the main change is the addition of the text in this state refers to when the speedmaster albeit the st 105.003 was passed by nasa for use on the gemini missions and that was following a set of stringent tests that watches from other brands failed for me the addition of the date is not really necessary as a result is a very busy case back with omega having to shrink the font to fit it all in one other change i noticed is a move from high polish on the back of the case and lugs to a satin finish making any strap changing marks more visible the true length across the watch is longer than the look to look dimension on the old version due to the old bracelet design and this adds an additional three millimeters per side of a non-compliant bulk from the solid end link design the old version was introduced along with the 1861 movement in 1997 and updated along the way to add screws for links and a double deploy clasp now 80 millimeters wide rather than the traditional 15 millimeters this old style bracelet had the centre of rotation outboard of the lug giving it an overall length of 54 millimeters not only is the new case sure to lug to lug at 47 millimeters but with the hollow end link the entire centre of rotation is moved to the spring bar so this new watch sits around seven millimeters narrow across the wrist the hollow end link is common and already a feature of the apollo 11 and the ed white and i have it on both my planet ocean and tudor gmt the trade-off being the end link is loose to the bracelet when the spring bar is removed the other big and i'll say very welcome change is the increase in the taper to the pre-1997 design the lug width remains the same at 20 millimeters but the bracelet now tapers down to 15 millimeters at the clasp instead of 18 millimeters this gives it a much more classic fit and one missed for so long this one takes its cues from the pre-1997 variant that ran from 1989 but more importantly from 1968 to 1972 so was fitted to the speedmaster when men were on the moon however this was not the bracelet fitted to the st105012 as worn by buzzer neil that one had the flat link which is why the apollo 1150th has it this is a shame as i think the flat link would have been a bit better it looks great on the apollo and the ed white there's plenty out there with uncle seiko and forced the bound versions the original flat link have semi-elastic links that's why you'll see astronauts with jb champion mesh bands which were more secure the new bracelet is okay and i'm sure it'll be comfortable unlike the outgoing hair puller the headlight version is fully brushed with the sapphire having polished intermediate links to differentiate the new buckle looks nice but it's a shame omega unable to fit it with that on the fly adjuster as rolex have managed to do with that narrow clasp falling back on the two position holes the dial at first glance is very similar to the outgoing model all the elements are where they should be with the familiar layout i'm sure the uninitiated would struggle to spot the difference or describe why certain changes have been made and unlike the apollo 11 and snoopy there are no cartoons or anything new or unnecessary just simple logo brand and model the main design feature omega would draw the potential owner to its new reintroduction of a step dial not a big deal and will be interesting to see how obvious this is at arm's length the sub-registers between the chronograph second markers have been reduced from five to three to account for the beat rate from the old three two one eighteen thousand vibrations per hour to the movement that replaced it in 1968 at 21 600 vibrations per hour a change 50 years overdue otherwise the logo and text have been reprofiled not to the vintage design as with the apollo 11 but more to emphasize the speedmaster text the loom remains green super luminous but appears to be applied into pockets rather than smeared onto the minute registers as before all these elements need to be checked over closely with a loop once i get my hands on this watch it could be a long wait until the 50th anniversary in 2014 the speedmaster was handed over in the traditional small red box but in 2014 the big astronaut suitcase this wonderfully massive and well-equipped piece of theatre was included and had inside a jeweler's loop some spring bar tools and some spare straps the new version appears to use a smaller style similar box to the recently introduced snoopy 50th inside you get a nice removable travel pouch a cloth and i think that's about it no tools or straps it doesn't even get the loop inside the display cushion but let's face it after a day of fiddling with the bits you know it's going to storage so no deal breaker the box is still bespoke to the watch and a nice touch so we get to the summing up and the final thoughts now i was genuinely excited about this watch a watch that had its last update when amiga's favorite brand ambassador was running around as batman this was long overdue by 10 years or more despite fettling with the bracelet we saw from the first part that amiga were constantly updating this model from 1964 before freezing in time in 1974 but while omega was still selling this watch in good numbers and having success with the numerous limited editions a wide change focus was put into the 9000 series coaxial automatics and dark side ceramic watches and we didn't need to fiddle with this one maybe they were just waiting for the right anniversary but before that we needed to get the other anniversary models out of the way with the apollo missions and the snoopy so here we are in 2021 itself a 50th anniversary of the speedmaster it's 50 years since the flight qualified by nasa text was added coincidence maybe and not something that i've read about so maybe the omega marketing team who made such an important decision way back in 1971 actually missed a trick for me i think the changes are great not too much not too little bringing it back to vintage but with modern technology under the skin without making it a pastiche of something that once was i have no compulsion to trade up mine still looks the part and spends most of its time on a strap so the bracelet wouldn't really be a factor if i did i think my older hess light would sit quite nicely with the new sapphire version yes i can see that so this has been a bit of a journey i spent the last week thinking about this watch and developing my approach not wishing to rush and get something out well i hope you enjoyed it and the test as promised is just to kindly leave some comments at the end and to subscribe i'm bound to have made a few mistakes so please let me know anyway i'm andy this has been english watch take care and i'll see you soon bye for now

Channel: The English Watch

Views: 48,196

Keywords: speedmaster, new speedmaster, 2021 speedmaster, new moonwatch, omega speedmaster, moonwatch, buzz aldrin, neil armstrong, apollo 11, silver snoopy, snoopy watch, st105003, rolex submariner, theenglishwatch, barkandjack, moonwatch only, londonwatchcollector, speedmaster reduced, unboxing, watch review, hesalite, sapphire sandwich, speedy tuesday, astronauts, nasa, chronograph watch, st105012, ed white watch, calibre 321, calibre 861, calibre 1861, calibre 3861

Id: yf-XPEi9Qvc

Length: 22min 2sec (1322 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2021