Updated

Updated · revolutionwatch.com · Jul 24

Omega Speedmaster Caliber 3861 Wins 15,000-Gauss Master Chronometer Certification

Updated

Updated · revolutionwatch.com · Jul 24

Omega Speedmaster Caliber 3861 Wins 15,000-Gauss Master Chronometer Certification

Q: What happened to the dozens of original NASA Speedmasters that never made it to the museum?

Most of the original NASA Speedmasters did not disappear, but they also did not all end up in one museum case. Of roughly 97 NASA-delivered Speedmasters from 1965 to 1968—100 if the three qualification-test watches are included—55 were transferred by NASA to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in 1976. Nearly all of the space-flown examples were part of that handover. The rest were largely retained by NASA for operational use, especially astronaut training tied to the Space Shuttle era, until newer Speedmaster references entered service. By the late 1970s, NASA had begun receiving later models, including the 145.022-78, for continued mission use. Some watches were lost to theft after being loaned by the museum to exhibitions abroad. Reporting cited in the background material says six NASA-issued Speedmasters were stolen over the decades while on loan internationally. One, NASA number 34, a space-flown Apollo 7 watch, was recovered in 2017 after resurfacing online. Others remain missing. The most famous missing example is Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11-worn Speedmaster, which was lost during transfer from NASA to the Smithsonian and has never been recovered. Because it was NASA-issued, it remains U.S. government property. So the answer is that the “dozens” that never made it to the museum were split between continued NASA use, later dispersal through museum loans, and a small but significant number of unresolved losses and thefts.

3 articles · Updated · revolutionwatch.com · Jul 24

Omega’s Caliber 3861 is the first Speedmaster movement to gain Master Chronometer certification, adding a Co-Axial escapement, free-sprung balance, silicon hairspring and hacking seconds.
15,000 gauss is the certification’s key threshold: the movement and fully cased watch must keep running under magnetism, with daily accuracy held to 0 to +5 seconds.
The 3861 also replaces the Delrin chronograph brake used in later 861 and 1861 variants with an all-metal brake, extending a movement line that has powered Moonwatches for decades.
Since 2021, the 3861 has succeeded the 1861 in the standard Moonwatch, preserving the hand-wound architecture that traces back through the 861 to the original Caliber 321.
That upgrade modernizes the only wristwatch NASA still qualifies for spacewalks, linking the current Moonwatch to a lineage that began with the Speedmaster’s 1957 launch and Apollo-era service.