Omega Celebrates 60 Years of Speedmaster with #SpeedmasterFans

From astronauts to race car drivers to explorers to actors, many are the renowned individuals who have worn Omega’s iconic Speedmaster Chronograph throughout its 60 years of existence.

On April 3, to celebrate the timepiece’s anniversary, the Swiss luxury horologer launched a #SpeedmasterFans campaign that brings together some of the most notable figures on whose wrists a Speedmaster has shone.

To showcase the diversity of Speedmaster connoisseurs, the label undertakes a series of revealing portraits of chefs and fashion gurus and Hollywood stars and supermodels and athletes. Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio, German DJ Robin Schulz and Italian chef Massimo Bottura are only a few of the names, whose faces and Speedmasters now grace a dedicated section of the Omega website.

The label also invites owners of the timepiece from around the world to submit their own images on its website and use #SpeedmasterFans on social media.

The inaugural Speedmaster appeared in 1957 and took the distinction of also being the first chronograph wristwatch with a tachymeter scale on the bezel as opposed to the printed on the dial. This breakthrough feature was designed to facilitate time reading for car racers. The second Speedmaster came only two years later and on October 1962 was strapped to the wrist of Walter Schirra, one of only seven astronauts who embarked on the US Mercury program of launching men into space. In 1963, the watch was the only piece to obtain a NASA flight certification after rigorous testing – a feat that put the Speedmaster on the Gimini and Apollo missions.

A decade later, the first self-winding Speedmaster chronograph appeared, prompting Omega’s famed statement, “After six landings on the moon, there was only one thing we could teach the Speedmaster. To wind itself.” Afterwards came the first automated chronograph, a Speedmaster, to receive an official Chronometer Certification.
Today, Omega is commemorating these 60 years of innovation with two novelties – Speedmaster 38mm and Speedmaster Racing.

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