Omega Speedmaster Professional Owner Review : Completed, timeless and iconic

The Moonwatch has always been in my sights, and Omega's over-the-top marketing of the Moon landing is undoubtedly a factor in this quest, as I am deeply touched by this extraordinary human adventure orchestrated by NASA. Nevertheless, in my opinion, it's a very beautiful watch that, in its Moonwatch version, has remained faithful to the original design while retaining a retro look that I particularly appreciate. After many years of researching online, poring over the Moonwatch Only reference book, and visiting my AD or Omega boutiques, time passes, and I'm determined to find a piece from 1967... Yes, I have gray hair. But, despite my great motivation, a 145.022-67 in very good condition, barely polished, and coherent, was out of my budget... I could have fallen back on a more accessible model, a more recent 145.022, or even a 3590.50, but that would have been a compromise that offended my rigid Cartesian side, caused by the inconsistency between the railway markings and the frequency of the 861 movements that replaced the 321 in 1968. Let me explain: with the 321's frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour, the 5 divisions per second were justified, as they correspond to a fifth of a second, and the hand aligned perfectly with the lines when the chronograph stopped. On the other hand, keeping this timer, even though the caliber 861 oscillates at 21,600 vibrations per hour, makes the timer misaligned with the hand, as the movement of the chronograph hand is broken down into six movements. When, in 2021, Omega released the latest version of the Moonwatch equipped with the 3861 movement, it retained its 3 Hz frequency, but the track became consistent, with three lines per second. When the chronograph was stopped, the hand then either landed on an index or right between two. For an instrument that displays the word "professional" on its dial, this was the least I could do. However, the now excessive price put me off, and I didn't take the plunge: I decided to wait. A bad decision, apparently, given the price increases that followed... The flood of reviews and comments on this 3861 is flooding the networks, with Omega promoting it as an inspiration for the ST 105.012 models, dating back to 1967. I then delved back into the book Moonwatch Only to verify all this, and I gradually realized that many details also matched the famous 145.022-67, and I thought I might have found the model that combines the best of both worlds. The sweep seconds hand, the step dial, the applied logo, the consistency of the railway track with the movement, the tachymeter scale faithful to the 1967 model... I'm leaning toward the sapphire crystal and the transparent caseback, not that the latter is essential for me, but I have the annoying habit of wearing my watches and scratching them, especially on the crystal. A twist in history? I don't see it that way, because I think that if sapphire had existed at the time instead of mineral glass, NASA would probably have considered it strong enough to avoid the risk of debris being emitted in the event of an impact. Today, most ESA astronauts wear an X33 Skywalker with a sapphire crystal... With a little patience, I finally found a new one at a very good price from a professional, and here it is on my wrist. The steel bracelet is very comfortable, largely due to its flexibility, but also due to the width of only 16 mm at the buckle, which also gives the watch a retro look that I love.