Christianch, a seasoned collector, shares his unexpected acquisition of the OMEGA Speedmaster Moonwatch Apollo 17 45th Anniversary in Yellow Gold. This article delves into his personal journey with this distinctive reference, highlighting its unique design elements and why it stands out in the vast Speedmaster lineage. His insights offer a fresh perspective on a watch that, despite its limited production, often flies under the radar of many collectors.
A few days ago I visited the Omega boutique just to try something but I ended up finding a watch that I have seen already at Basel World 2017 (the year just before Omega announced that it will no longer be part of it, and the rest is history) the OMEGA Speedmaster Moonwatch 🌝 Apollo 17 XVII 45th Annivesary in Yellow Gold
At 42mm x 14mm thickness the proportion work very well on my wrist like pretty mcuh all the Omega Speedmasters 42mm
Here we can see the display at Basel World. As you can see in the description "Maximising innovation, OMEGA has used an exclusive electroforming process to create the gold representation of the God Apollo and the moon on the 9 o'clock subdial." and indeed the gold accents inside the ceramic dial are very special. Not for everyone or Speedmasters ultra purists but for me it works very well!
The display said 72 pieces and I was very keen on getting one. It was then increased to 272 and I had other incoming but...I still love this watch and by chance I found it at my local boutique!
I think this is the first Anniversary speedmaster to use this "racing style" seconds markers. Another quirk unique to this edition. I also don't recall any other Speedmaster anniversary with a ceramic dial.
According to Omega the backcase is in white gold with some yellow gold applied on the top of it " Each caseback features a mission patch and is engraved with "45th ANNIVERSARY", "Limited Edition" and "a tribute to Gene Cernan". For the gold model, the central 18K white gold medallion uses an electroforming process to add the 18K yellow gold details."
Since I already own the steel version (with the same ceramic blue dial but no gold apollo/moon) I feel that I had the great opportunity to complete a "mini collection". I love this watch as it is pretty special, gold but not too flashy with the brown strap. The blue ceramic + yellow and brown creates a very armonic combination. The deployant clasp is gold is *very comfortable* (the one of the hublot almost killed me so I thought ot mention this 🤣)
How do you like it ?
Thanks for reading!
Christian
