The Omega Speedmaster: A Complete Collector’s Guide

Omega was one of the most respected and admired watchmakers on the planet when the Speedmaster debuted in 1957. Motorsports were all the rage, and this was Omega’s new flagship racing watch. It even introduced a new innovation: the very first watch to feature an external bezel that showcased a tachymeter scale for the chronograph. Combined with the large case and dial size, this made for an extremely legible watch that was easy to use behind the wheel while still looking great when not at the track.

Almost a decade later the Speedmaster took its first real step toward becoming a legend. In 1965, NASA named the Speedmaster as the only officially qualified wristwatch for manned space missions and extravehicular activity in space. It was rigorously tested against many other chronographs before winning out to become the official astronaut’s watch. Four years later it was on the wrists of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they landed on the Moon, forever cementing the Speedy’s reputation as the Moonwatch. Gold examples were given to US presidents and astronauts as trophies, advertisements were seen in Time and Life magazines and the Speedy officially became a sensation.

By this time, the watch had already evolved from its original form, with a different case and a refined bezel, taking on the official name Speedmaster Professional. It would continue to change subtly over the ensuing decades while always remaining a constant in the Omega catalogue. Other Speedmasters were also introduced, including the Mark II and Mark III, various iterations that combined the familiar chronograph complication with calendar functions and eventually some hybrid digital/analog models designed specifically for NASA. Many of those more exotic Speedmasters are beloved by collectors, but they are almost their own categories of watches, with the Speedy Pro standing on its own as the core icon in Omega’s portfolio.

In recent years, Omega has embraced the collector community and its love of all things Speedmaster Professional. From vintage reissues that match the originals down to each screw to new colorways for old archetypes, Omega continues to iterate on the Speedmaster Professional, offering new things to enjoy and new perspectives on a watch that many people feel they already know quite well. Even the basic Speedmaster today is available in a few different versions, depending on how vintage-adjacent the customer would like it to be.

The Speedmaster is that rare watch that has both changed with the times and retained the ideas and design language that made it famous in the first place. It’s easy to enjoy while also offering countless opportunities to collectors looking for more, with extensive scholarship and history coming along with it. It’s a watch that you can connect with the first time you see it, but then spend the rest of your life learning about without ever exhausting the possibilities.

With all of the history and the subtle changes Omega has made over the years, the Speedmaster is a watch that rewards homework. Knowing what to look for can be the difference between finding something extraordinary or undervalued and accidentally stumbling into a watch you’d rather have passed altogether. The details are everything, but luckily there are a few simple things you can look for to get you most of the way there.

The biggest design change to the Speedmaster happened relatively early in its history. The first generations of Speedmasters, including the vaunted CK2915 and CK2998, along with the iconic Ed White reference 105.003, all feature cases with straight lugs that have no bevels. These aptly-named straight lug Speedmasters are the original design and are a favorite of collectors today. Because they were made before the frenzy caused by the lunar landing, they were also made in much smaller quantities than later examples and are thus rarer in general.

In 1964, Omega decided to try something new, introducing a broader case with thicker lugs that are sometimes called twisted lugs or lyre lugs. They feature a wide bevel that rotates from the lugs’ tips to meet the side of the case band. This gives the watch a lot of presence on the wrist, with a bolder look and feel. This is the case style that came to define the Speedmaster, and was used by the Apollo 11 astronauts – meaning it’s the style in the history books. This is also when the watch was given the name Speedmaster Professional. Omega has continued to use twisted-lug cases for these watches ever since.

The original Speedmasters utilized one of the most famous chronograph movements ever produced: the Omega Caliber 321. Introduced in 1946, this was Omega’s first-ever chronograph movement to use a column wheel for more precise starting/stopping. The movement was derived from the Lemania 2310 (Lemania was purchased by Omega’s parent company in the early 1930s), and the brand used it in various chronographs before it found its most famous home in the Speedmaster in 1957. It is a world-class movement and one of the most technically sound to appear in a sports watch during this era.

However, the Caliber 321 was both expensive to produce and for customers to maintain, because it required a highly skilled watchmaker. In 1969 Omega retired the 321 in favor of the new Caliber 861, which was essentially a simplified version of its predecessor without the column wheel (it uses a shuttle/cam system instead). The Caliber 861 is still a fantastic movement, although more technically minded collectors do tend to prefer the Caliber 321, all things being equal.

Omega continued to iterate on the Caliber 861, introducing the updated Caliber 1861 in 1996 and the Caliber 3861 in 2019, among others. The Caliber 321 was reintroduced in 2019, although only available in small quantities of limited-edition models.

If you are looking at a Speedmaster’s movement, there are two easy giveaways that distinguish a 321 from an 816. Looking at the watches with the pushers and crown on the left, the column wheel is easily spotted just off-center at the bottom of the movement. It is a round wheel with eight notches. Likewise, just above this is a gold Y-shaped bridge with two jewels at the tips. If you are able to spot these, you are looking at a Caliber 321. Otherwise, you are looking at a Caliber 861 or one of its descendants.

Even if you can’t open up the caseback of a watch, there are a few traits to look for when examining a Speedmaster.

First is the Omega logo at 12-o’clock. The original models featured applied logos, with a small silver-colored Ω affixed to the dial. This remained the case until the introduction of the reference 145.022 with the Caliber 861 movement, when Omega switched to a printed logo, which appears in white just like the adjacent Speedmaster Professional signature. Omega kept the printed logo for the next few decades, only reintroducing the applied logo for main line Speedmaster Professional watches in 2021 (and, even then, only for the models with the sapphire crystals).

What matters most here though is making sure that the dial you’re seeing matches the reference and generation of any given watch – an incorrect logo can be an easy giveaway that you’re looking at a watch that’s been tampered with.

Another early generational change was the move from Alpha-style to stick-style hands (and the brief appearance of a broad arrow hour hand in the very first Speedy). This change came before the move to twisted lug cases, 861 movements and printed logos, first appearing in 1965 in the reference 105.003, known as the Ed White. Other than the sportier hands, the 105.003 looks very much like its predecessors.

Given the collectability of these early Speedmasters and their rarity, it’s important to make sure a watch has the correct hands before adding it to your collection. Luckily, once you get past the earliest references, there’s not much to worry about. And even better, one advantage of buying a Speedmaster at Sotheby’s is the watch specialists who comb over every detail to ensure a watch is authentic and correct.

The Omega Speedmaster is one of those watches where, if you don’t look closely, you’d be forgiven for mistaking a brand new watch for one that is decades old. The basic design has stayed relatively consistent as small technical changes have helped the watch evolve over the years. These are the most important references and types of Speedmasters that you should know if you’re looking to add one to your collection.

The first generation of straight-lug Speedmasters lasted roughly from the model’s introduction in 1957 through 1968 when they were officially discontinued and only the Speedmaster Professional was available.

This can be seen in the CK2998, which was produced in eight different sub variations between 1959-63. The most notable differences have to do with the bezel (whether its units are given in base 1,000 or not), and the most collectible CK2998s feature a lollipop chronograph hand. Many of the other differences come down to minutiae of the dial printing, but all CK2998 models feature a black-aluminum bezel and either Alpha or straight hands that feel more like the typical Speedmaster than what you’ll find on the earlier CK2915. It’s also worth noting, it was 2998 that was the first Speedmaster worn into space, by Wally Schirra in 1962 – a fact that was later commemorated by Omega with a special edition. In some circles, it’s thought that Schirra’s wearing of the Speedmaster is what led to it being considered by Omega in the first place. His watch now sits in the Omega Museum, where you can still see it to this day.

The final straight-lug Speedmaster is the reference 105.003, which was introduced in 1964 and produced until the end of the decade. It’s often referred to simply as the Ed White, after the famous astronaut who wore on his 1965 space walk (or EVA) that appeared on the cover of Time magazine. This is also the Speedmaster reference worn by Eugene Cernan and other astronauts of the era, giving it a strong connection to the Gemini and Apollo missions.

This is where things become a bit more complicated. Omega often produced multiple versions of the Speedmaster at the same time, so dates overlap and aren’t always the best way to identify what you’re looking at. In 1964, Omega released the reference 105.012, which added the word Professional underneath the signature at 12-o’clock, as well as the now-iconic 42mm twisted-lug case to the Speedy’s architecture. The classic look is completed by straight hands and black aluminum bezels. Importantly, these watches also still house the original Caliber 321 movement – one of the most respected chronograph movements of all time and the foundation on which the Speedmaster was built.

The Speedy Pro would continue to evolve over the 1960s, with additional references like the reference 145.012 joining the mix in 1967. These later references are mostly similar to the 105.012, with small changes to things like the pushers and dial details. This generation of Speedmaster is the one worn by the Apollo astronauts, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they became the first men to walk on the moon. They’re an ideal mix of instantly-recognizable design, undeniable history and supreme wearability.

Arguably the single biggest change to the Speedmaster came around 1968 when Omega introduced the reference 145.022, which saw the Speedmaster sunset the Caliber 321 movement for the new Caliber 861. The movements are largely the same, with one major difference: the Caliber 321 uses a column-wheel for activating the chronograph, while the Caliber 861 uses a cam-and-lever system instead. The latter is less expensive to produce and easier to service, and is thought to have been implemented in order to help Omega scale up production in the wake of the Speedy’s explosion in popularity after the moon landing. The Caliber 861 is still a fantastic, reliable movement, but many collectors place a significant premium on models equipped with the Caliber 321.

The reference 145.022 was the longest-produced reference in the history of the Speedmaster Professional. Omega continued to make them up until 1988 with relatively few changes over the years. The most notable change within this reference came early in its history, sometime around 1969, with the transition from an applied-metal Ω on the dial to a printed one. Again, this doesn’t change the technical capabilities of the watch, but generally collectors have a strong preference for the applied logo, making those pieces more desirable (and typically more expensive).

The next jump in the Speedmaster’s evolution came in 1996 with the introduction of the reference 3570.50. This is the first Speedmaster that we might call neo-vintage, and it offers yet another update in the form of the Caliber 1861, which is technically identical to its predecessor but has upgraded finishing. Many uncoated and copper-coated components received a rhodium plating, giving the movement a brighter, cleaner look.

At the time this was introduced, the Speedmaster still came with a solid caseback, so it would only be seen by watchmakers, but with the later addition of sapphire casebacks, Omega gave the movement another face lift with the Caliber 1863, which added some finer finishing like Côtes de Genève and circular graining to the mix.

Today, there are a number of different families of Speedmasters in Omega’s catalogue. These include the Speedmaster ’57 (an homage to the original), the Dark Side of the Moon (utilizing colored ceramic cases and other exotic materials), a whole host of vintage-inspired Heritage Speedmasters and, of course, the Moonwatch Professional collection, which is the current descendant of the main Speedy lineage.

The current generation of Moonwatches utilize the Caliber 3861, which represents the biggest technical leap in the Speedmaster’s history. Introduced in 2019 in the limited edition Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Speedmaster, the Caliber 3861 uses a Co-Axial escapement, hacking seconds, a longer power reserve, magnetic resistance and a METAS Master Chronometer certification. It is a cutting-edge chronograph in every sense, and makes contemporary Speedmasters an excellent balance of old-school design and new-school mechanics.

The standard Speedmaster today comes in two versions: the reference 310.30.42.50.01.001 and the reference 310.30.42.50.01.002. The former features a vintage-style Hesalite (acrylic) crystal and a solid caseback, while the latter is referred to collectors as a sapphire sandwich, meaning it has sapphire crystals on both sides of the watch. There are also versions available in gold and two-tone configurations, not to mention all of the other limited editions and commemorative references, too.