Apollo 17 Omega Speedmaster to star in sale at Christie's

An Omega Speedmaster watch flown to the Moon aboard the Apollo 17 mission (1972) will auction at Christie's on December 15.

The exceptional piece belonged to Captain Ron Evans and is expected to sell for around $50,000-100,000.

Omega Speedmaster watch
 Ron Evans wore the Omega Speedmaster during a spacewalk

Evans wore the watch on board the spacecraft during a heat flow experiment and during a one hour spacewalk.  

The lot is accompanied by a letter of provenance from Evans' wife that reads: "I certify that the stainless steel OMEGA Speedmaster watch and the small black metal piece that are offered with this letter were flown to the Moon and used by my husband Ron Evans on Apollo 17, December 1972.

"At the conclusion of the flight Ron etched on the reverse of the watch: 'FLOWN IN C.S.M. TO THE MOON' and 'APOLLO 17' and his signature. On the edge of the watch he etched: 'HEAT FLOW EXPR' and '6-19 DEC 1972'."

A new record for a flown watch was set in October, when a Bulova Chronograph carried on to the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission sold for $1.6m at RR Auction.

While the present lot never made it on to the Moon's surface, it is the only flown NASA Speedmaster ever to come to auction. Most are considered property of the US government.

This could see the watch sell for substantially higher than its estimate.

Click here to take a look at all our space memorabilia for sale.

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