Time and space are converging at RR Auctions’ 659-lot Space Exploration sale in the form of two luxurious 18K gold Omega Speedmasters originally presented to two legends of America’s Apollo Program. The timepieces, each an example of the highly coveted Omega Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” Reference BA 145.022, belonged to Apollo 14 moonwalker Edgar Mitchell and Apollo 12 Command Module Pilot Richard Gordon.
Omega produced a special limited edition of 1,014 Moon watches to commemorate the Apollo 11 moon landing, the first 28 were reserved exclusively for the President, Vice President, and the astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. All feature a caseback engraved with the clever quote, “To mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time.”
Gordon’s watch is an example of the earliest presentations. Numbered “20” in the exclusive series, it was intended to be given to the pilot at a November 1969 gala dinner hosted by Omega. However, as the Apollo 12 crew had only just returned from their mission, they were still in quarantine, so Gordon didn’t receive his watch until a later date.
The caseback of this timepiece reads: “Astronaut Richard R. Gordon, Gemini 11 – Apollo 12.” The watch is accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from Gordon himself, who notes an error in the initial engraving where an “R” was used for his middle initial instead of “F.”
The “1002”-numberd watch belonging to Mitchell, an Apollo 14 Lunar Module Pilot and sixth man to walk on the moon, touches a different part of America’s moon exploration story. Since he had not yet flown to space during the initial 1969 presentation, he and the crews of Apollo 14-17 were later presented with a second, smaller block of watches (numbers 1001-1008) in 1972-73.
The back of Mitchell’s timepiece is engraved: “Astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14,” and features the same exclusive astronaut-only quote. The watch comes with a letter of authenticity from his daughter, Karlyn Mitchell.
Both chronographs are built from 18K yellow gold, featuring a solid gold dial (“Or Massif”) with onyx hour markers, and a striking burgundy red aluminum bezel. They house the famous Lemania-based chronograph caliber 861, the movement that powered the Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” for decades.
The auction of these gold Speedmasters follows the record-breaking sale of Neil Armstrong’s example of the same model, which blew past initial bids of around $200,000 to sell for over $2 million in early 2025. The buyer of Mitchell and Gordon’s watches likely won’t have to pay such an astronomical amount, as both are hovering at around $60,000 with just a a couple days left before auction close.
