Omega Speedmaster Reduced MARUI edition | Designer Panda

every watch collection needs a speed master that's what they'll tell you well if you believe them which one do you get and also who's they [Music] hey guys my name is max and welcome to retrowatch on this channel we look at interesting watches and we listen to the stories that they tell so today i'm going to be reviewing a special edition omega speedmaster the backstory is years ago when i embarked on this watch collecting journey myself i was told like a lot of people to just go out and buy a speedmaster professional the moonwatch so i did that unfortunately after wearing it for a couple of months and much to my dismay i just wasn't connecting with it you see i'm sort of a tall lanky guy and on my six and a quarter inch wrist the moonwatch was just a little bit clunky but i wasn't ready to give up on my speedmaster dreams just yet so i started to do more research and i found out that there's many different models and case sizes out there and so i eventually stumbled upon this piece and it was really a case of love at first sight so let's take a look [Music] [Music] the speedmaster automatic is the smaller cousin to the speedmaster professional leading some to call it the reduced it was produced from 1988 to 2009 the reduced was a favorite in japan and today's example is called the maori edition omega collaborated with a department store based in tokyo to produce 2000 limited pieces back in the late 90s the speedmaster is a chronograph which is a mechanical stopwatch what's special about this one is the dial the creamy white background gives way to matte black subdials and watch enthusiasts lovingly name this layout the panda [Music] now let's talk about some of the specifications the reference number for this watch is 3510.21 it has a case diameter of 39 millimeters which is three millimeters smaller than its larger cousin the lug width is 18 millimeters and it has a very manageable lug to lug distance of 44 millimeters looking at the watch from the side it has a thickness of just 12 millimeters making it one of the thinnest speedmasters ever made you can see the distinct profile of the bezel inside is housed the omega caliber 1140 1143 and 3220 depending on the year that the watch was produced looking at the back of the watch we see the famous omega hippocampus logo on a snap-on case back giving this wash just a 30 meter water resistance so how did a racing chronograph introduced in 1957 get so inexorably connected with the nasa space program for that we'll have to go back to the depth of the cold war when the united states and russia were locked in a race to get to space the russians got off to an early lead launching sputnik in 1957 the first artificial satellite this was followed in 1961 by russian cosmonaut yuri gagarin the first man to orbit the earth in response president kennedy issued the following challenge we choose to go to the moon we choose to go to the moon we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard to be sure we are behind and we'll be behind for some time in manned flight but we do not intend to stay behind and in this decade we shall make up and move ahead [Applause] and so the race was on riding atop the saturn v rocket which stands as high as a 36 story building but with the computing power less than that of the original iphone american astronauts made successive sorties deeper and deeper into the cosmos the speedmaster a favorite amongst the crews beat out a number of other watch brands in a battery of nasa device tests to become the official watch qualified for space flight finally in 1969 the apollo 11 crew became the first humans to step foot onto the lunar surface buzz aldrin being a watch guy wore his speedmaster on a velcro strap outside of his spacesuit and the united states had won the space race was over taking a look at the watches side by side we see the size difference whereas the moonwatch looks like an instrument right out of the cockpit the reduce has more of a nod toward fashion this theme continues onto the bracelet where the reduce has smaller links that make it conform better on the wrist the moonwatch true to its origins has a movement that lacks hacking and automatic winding additionally you'll notice that the sub-dials on the reduced are spaced further from the center of the watch and the crown is slightly offset from the chrono pushers by reaching the moon the us effectively leapfrogged russia in the space race the apollo missions faded into the pages of history leaving us just these small trinkets to wear on our wrists as reminders of man's greatest adventure the speedmaster reduce does have his chair of criticisms first the maori addition being a limited run is hard to find and many on the market are actually regular reduced with swapped omega service dials there is no visual difference but make sure you don't overpay thinking it's the genuine article [Music] some nitpickers will complain that the reduced is not a real speedmaster because it is too big of a departure from the moonwatch i suggest we don't wear watches to appease people on the internet lastly this is a 20 year old watch and so it misses some modern day features for example the clasp is friction fitted and not super secure the water resistance is downright abysmal and the crystal is plastic or what omega likes to call hesolite if you are looking for a newer rendition of the reduced that addresses some of these concerns i would suggest checking out the reference number 3539.50 well guys i hope you're able to find the speedmaster that's right for you now i am no watch expert just a collector who wants to share some of his interesting watches with the community so if you enjoyed that video please hit the subscribe button below that's the best way to not miss future ones you can also follow me on instagram at retrowatch channel so until next

Channel: WatchCrunch

Views: 32,148

Keywords: mechanical watches, asian watch guy, luxury watches, watch stories, nasa, apollo 13, kennedy speech, space race, cold war, rolex, speedy, tuesday, Panda, 3510.50, 3510.21

Id: SavhARgD-tI

Length: 9min 4sec (544 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 29 2020