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- Apollo 13 Legend Swigert's Speedy Goes To Auction To Break All Records, The Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series 38mm Collection Reviewed, Vacheron Constantin Will Put A Louvre Masterpiece On Your Wrist And Hublot Releases A Summer Version Of The Big Bang Unico In Sky Blue Ceramic
Apollo 13 Legend Swigert's Speedy Goes To Auction To Break All Records, The Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series 38mm Collection Reviewed, Vacheron Constantin Will Put A Louvre Masterpiece On Your Wrist And Hublot Releases A Summer Version Of The Big Bang Unico In Sky Blue Ceramic
While it is not the watch he used to time the crucial 14 second burn to save Apollo 13, it was owned by the most famous Speedy user of all time
Vuk Radic
May 10, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 17 minutes
Hey friends, looks like we’re back in another watch news slump. But don’t worry, It’s About Time has your back covered and always digs something up!
In this issue:
Apollo 13 Legend Jack Swigert’s Omega Speedmaster Goes To Auction
Vacheron Constantin Will Put A Louvre Masterpiece On Your Wrist
You Will Love This Chiming Enamel Dial MeisterSinger
Hublot Releases A Summer Version Of The Big Bang Unico In Sky Blue Ceramic
And… invite your friends to win a Seiko Alpinist
Today’s reading time: 6 minutes and 19 seconds
Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
All you have to do is click the button below and have five of your friends subscribe. Both you and one of your friends will be eligible to win one of the watches
We only have two conditions when entering this giveaway - invite 5 of your friends to subscribe and live somewhere were you can buy the Alpinist, so we can get this for you and ship it to your address. That’s it!
👂What’s new
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At 55 hours, 54 minutes and 53 seconds of flight, the astronauts of Apollo 13 heard a pretty large bang and they felt a jolt as the spacecrafts thrusters activated to keep them on course. 26 seconds later, command module pilot Jack Swigert got on the radio and said: "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here”. A couple of seconds later mission commander Jim Lovell repeated the message and said the often misquoted: “Houston, we've had a problem.”
For the next fifty hours the crew of Apollo 13 struggled to keep the spacecraft alive long enough to make it back to earth by slingshotting around the Moon. It was a gruelling task made worse by the fact that the navigation computer had to be shut down to conserve power. To make it back, the astronauts had to navigate by using the earth as a reference point and by timing engine burns with their watches. The crucial burn came at 105:18:42 of the mission, when Swigert had to time a 14 second burn which will set them on their final course towards earth. During the mission, Swigert wore the Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012 and Rolex GMT-Master 1675 on board, but it was the Speedmaster’s chronograph that timed them to safety.
Now, Jack Swigert Omega Speedmaster is going to auction. Unfortunately, no, it’s not the actual watch that was used to time the burn. That one is owned by NASA and is currently in the National Air And Space Musem, but were that ever to come to auction, I imagine it would have to be one of the most expensive watches ever sold. What is coming to auction is the 18K gold Speedmaster Professional BA145.022-69 which was given to NASA astronauts as a token of appreciation.
In total, Omega produced 1,014 of these gold Speedmaster Professional BA145.022-69 watches. It was not a limited edition but a numbered edition, and the watches were engraved with a number on the case back. Omega presented #1 and #2 to President Nixon and Vice President Agnew, who both declined them (astronaut Schmitt also declined his gift). It’s of interest that certain astronauts’ watches, including those of Apollo 13’s Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, did not have an engraved number.
This watch comes to auction from the family, unlike other Tribute to Astronauts watches which are usually in the hands of dealers. This gave Sotheby’s a unique chance to talk to family members about the watch and the best story comes from Swigert’s nephew who recals his uncle daily wearing the GMT-Master which ended up pretty worn and scuffed up, claiming that the Omega was too precious for a daily wear. This is why this particular Tribute to Astronauts is in pristine, practically unworn, condition.
Sotheby’s estimate of Jack Swigert’s gold Speedmaster is set to US$120,000–180,000. Gus Grissom’s gold Speedmaster sold a week or two ago for $375,000, Michael Collins’s Speedy fetched $765,000, and Apollo 7’s Wally Schirra’s Speedmaster BA145.022-69 fetched $1.9 million in 2022. Yes, Schirra was a true legend. He was one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury and commanded Apollo 7, the first crewed flight of the Apollo program. But Swigert is not only a much better known name, having been played by Kevin Bacon in the Apollo 13 movie, he also used a Speedmaster to time a burn that saved the astronauts lives. It has to sell for seven figures, and I’m inclined to say it will sell for more than Schirra’s watch. But can it become the most expensive Speedmaster in history or will that crazy 1957 Speedy that sold for $3.4 million keep its title?
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In 2019, Vacheron Constantin partnered up with Le Louvre in Paris. A year later they announced the Bid for the Louvre charity, which offered offered the opportunity for a buyer to customize a watch featuring one of the museum collection’s artworks on its dial – with the proceeds of the auction bid going to the museum’s solidarity projects.
The unique piece created for this auction has now finally been unveiled - the enamel dial of the Vacheron is a reproduction of the La Lutte pour l’Etendard de la Bataille d’Anghiari by Peter Paul Rubens. About 20 shades of brown, grey-brown, sepia-brown and cream-brown were used, each of which required a dedicated firing. This unique piece comes in a 40mm pink gold case, engraved with the motto Cerca Trova (he who seeks finds). Its 22K oscillating weight is engraved with a reproduction of the Louvre eastern façade.
Le Louvre and Vacheron are now taking their collaboration a step further now by introducing A Masterpiece On Your Wrist program which now allows Vacheron Constantin customers to create unique-piece watches reproducing artworks from the Museum collections.
This is not the first time you could get any artwork on your watch, or even the second if you count the Bid for the Louvre. In 2022, Vacheron introduced the Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations collection, a quartet of limited-edition watches inspired by masterpieces from the Louvre. But now you are no longer limited in what Vacheron or Louvre think would look best on a watch. You get to chose your favorite artwork. The experience will be accompanied by a private tour of the Louvre and of the Vacheron Constantin Manufacture.
The price for this program has not been publicly announced but it seems to be of the sort - if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
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When you reduce the essence of a watch - timekeeping - to it’s bare bones and decide to display time with just one hand, like MeisterSinger is perfecting, you use what’s left over - styles, complications, colors and materials - to their absolute maximum. Now, MeisterSinger is updating one of their most impressive watches, the Bell Hora, with a limited edition handcrafted white enamel dial.
The exterior of the Bell Hora hasn’t changed for this Enamel edition, so you still get a fairly large watch - 43mm in diameter and 12.95mm in height. Why would a watch with only one hand need so much vertical space, you ask? Well, to house the chiming mechanism, of course. The crown can be pulled out to adjust the time and is paired with a push-piece to deactivate the striking function. Pull it out and a coloured ring appears, indicating the chiming function has been disabled and the watch is in silent mode. Push it back in again, and you’re audibly reminded of the passing of every hour. The rather narrow bezel gives way to the dial as much as possible.
The special edition dial is which is crafted using traditional hot enamelling techniques. Glass and oxide powders are dusted by hand onto a base and baked in a kiln at various temperatures and durations, to create a uniform layer. The result is a very rich, semi-gloss white surface with a subtle orange-peal texture. Under the dial is the MS Bell movement, which uses a Sellita SW200 as a base with an in-house hour-strike module on top. The hammer and gong system is nestled between the dial and movement.
The watch comes on a brown leather strap with an embossed alligator scale pattern and it’s limited to just 50 pieces. Yours for EUR 5,990.
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Hublog Big Bang watches are big, beefy, expensive and often made fun of in the watch world for being exactly those things. But watches are not about who is right. They are about what you like. And if you like it, buy it. If you like the Hublot Big Bang, you will surely like the Big Bang Unico, their in-house chronograph, in a Sky Blue ceramic case and matching rubber strap.
It’s 42mm wide, 14.5mm thick and has an openworked dial that continues the the light blue and white colour scheme while offering a partial view of the mechanics. The running seconds counter is placed at 9 o’clock, and the silver-framed disc at 3 o’clock with a sky blue interior houses the 60-minute chronograph register. Inside is Hublot’s HUB1280 Unico manufacture automatic integrated flyback chronograph calibre with column wheel.
Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Sky Blue is a limited edition of 200 pieces. It comes with two straps: a structured strap in light blue rubber with a white lining and titanium deployant clasp and a second in white calfskin with Velcro fastening. The price is quite high at EUR 24,900.
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Le Rhöne was founded 10 years ago by Loïc Florentin and Timo Rajakoski and to celebrate this, the brand has released a double retrograde perpetual calendar tourbillon to celebrate this anniversary. Its movement is the result of an original joint engineering project that brought together two of the best high-end movement specialists, Agenhor and Le Cercle des Horlogers. Renowned watch designer Eric Giroud was solicited for the looks of the model.
This anniversary watch is presented in the Horology collection. It’s a strange watch. It measures 45mm in size, which would make it huge, especially considering its shape. Then the upper parts of the case, such as the bezel, the two cover plates, and the caseback are executed in super heavy platinum, but the case sides are done in titanium.
Regulated by a one-minute flying tourbillon, the base calibre is made by Le Cercle des Horlogers and drives a perpetual calendar designed and made by Agenhor. This allows the creation of a unique layout for the midnight blue opaline dial. The day and date are retrograde indications. A discreet opening shows the month at 12 o’clock. Last, the propeller shape flying tourbillon beats at 6 o’clock.
The Le Rhone Horology Tourbillon QP Retrograde comes on an alligator leather strap with a titanium folding buckle. It is released in a limited edition of 10 pieces. The price is set at CHF 148,500.
🫳On hand
Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon
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⚙️Watch Worthy
A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like
Dial colors tend to come in waves of popularity in the current luxury watch market, and so-called “salmon” dials are currently some of the trendiest offerings among enthusiasts. In practice, there’s a broad spectrum of definitions for what constitutes a salmon dial, ranging from deep pink to pale orange, rose gold, and copper. As one might expect from such a loosely defined color, salmon dials can give off a wide range of impressions from classical to contemporary, and from dressy to sporting. Very rarely, however, do dials of this kind actually feel casual and relaxed
⏲️Wait a minute
A bunch of links that might or might not have something to do with watches. One thing’s for sure - they’re interesting
“An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole”. Now tell me this isn’t an all time great title for an article. And this is it’s subtitle: “The story of an accidentally pioneering expedition”
In 1982, seven Chicago-area residents were killed after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. Three decades later, the principal players in that drama recount the frantic efforts to solve the crime — and the search for the perpetrator that continues to this day.
“My father never got to tell his story at the war crimes trials at Nuremberg—it’s taken decades for the truth to come out”. Today’s reading pics are all a bit heavy… But they’re worth reading.
👀Watch this
One video you have to watch today
I don’t usually link to the same YouTube channel twice in a row, but Watchfinder & Co does such great work… Like their latest video on Rolex prices and whether they will continue dropping
💵Pre-loved precision
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Everybody needs a green faced watch in their life. That’s why we have a new giveaway - it’s the Seiko SPB121J1, aka the Seiko Alpinist in a wonderful shade of green. In fact, we’re giving away two of them!
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