OMEGAMANIA

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Apr 15, 2007

LOT 242

?MIR WATCH?

Omega, ?Speedmaster Professional MIR?, No. 3, movement No. 48307904, Ref. 345.0052.035. Made in a limited edition of 7 examples in gold. Exceptionally rare, fine and important, water-resistant, 18K yellow gold gentleman's wristwatch with round button chronograph, 12-hour and 30-minute registers, tachometer, black bezel and 18K yellowgold Omega bracelet with concealed deployant clasp. Accompanied by a fitted box, flight certificate, video, pen and fitted aluminium flight case.This watch is sold with a Certificate of Authenticity and a 2-year Omega guarantee.

C. Three-body, polished and brushed, lyre lugs, integral crown and pusher guard, screwed-down case back engraved ?365 DAYS ON BOARD SPACE STATION MIR, JULY 1993-JULY1994, THE FIRSTWATCH WORN ON THE MOON?, embossed logo, tachometer graduation to 500 UPH on the bezel. D. Black with applied gold baton indexes and luminous dots, outer minute and fifth second divisions, subsidiary dials for the seconds, 12-hour and 30-minute registers. Luminous gold ?baton? hands. M. Cal. 863, gilt, 17 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, shock-absorber, self-compensating flat balance-spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 42 mm. Thickness 14.5mm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 1

As new
Dial: 1-01

As new

HANDS Original

Notes

The MIR Watches This series of 35 watches spent 365 days on the MIR space station from July 1993 through July 1994. The characteristics of the 35 watches is as follows: - Ref. ST 145.0022.105.1: Steel with leather bracelet, 10 examples - Ref. ST 345.0022.105: Steel with steel bracelet, 18 examples - Ref. BA 145.0052.035A: Gold with leather bracelet, 5 examples - Ref. BA 345. 0052.035: Gold with gold bracelet, 2 examples This series of watches were sold to the public in 1995 to mark the Atlantis-MIR Russo-American rendez-vous from June 29 to July 3, 1995, this being only the second joint Russo-American space venture. The watches were taken to the Mir space station to determine the long-term effect of zero gravity on a watch?s movement. After one year in space, the watches were returned to Omega and were all found to be functioning perfectly. This series of watches has therefore spent more time in space than any other watch. This, along with the fact that this watch is one of only two pieces of this reference, ensures that the present lot is not only one of the rarest Omega watches ever produced, but also a unique opportunity for a collector to obtain a watch that has been in space. Mir was a Soviet (and later Russian) orbital station. It was man's first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space. Through a number of collaborations, it was made internationally accessible to the cosmonauts and astronauts of many different countries. Mir was assembled in orbit by successively connecting several modules, each launched separately from February 19, 1986 to 1996. Except for two short periods, Mir was continuously occupied until August 1999. The journey of the 15-year-old Russian space station ended on March 23, 2001, as Mir re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and fell into the South Pacific Ocean. This watch is illustrated in Marco Richon's book page 624.