Speedy Tuesday – Omega Speedmaster 3594.50 Replica

It’s Speedy Tuesday! Admitted, I rarely discuss my own watches here. Once in a while I mention a purchase briefly, but I am not keen on addressing my personal collection of watches. For this Speedy Tuesday, I am making an exception as I was blown away by the many enthusiasts reading and responding to the write-up of our friend Christopher Beccan just a few weeks ago. This week I will talk about my Speedmaster 3594.50 – also known as Replica or Re-edition – that I got from my wife (and daughter) in 2013.

Omega Speedmaster 3594.50

As some of you know I became the proud father of a little daughter (Charlotte). To celebrate my first Father’s Day, which was not long after the birth of Charlotte, my wife decided to buy me a nice and ever lasting present. Officially a present from her and my daughter together, of course. My wife approached one of my friends, who is a Speedmaster collector and more or less knows what is in my current collection of watches. It seemed that he had this Omega Speedmaster 3594.50 re-edition twice in his collection, never worn. As our daughter was still very small and there was no way my wife would leave her alone, she asked another friend to fetch the watch for her. On that very first Father’s Day, my wife presented me this wonderful gift and I was (and still am) smitten by it.

I do have a share of ‘regular’ Speedmaster (Professional) watches ranging from 1967 to now, but this Broad Arrow version is definitely something different. The polished hands seem to catch and reflect sun light in a beautiful way, never making the face of the watch look dull. The dial features an applied logo as opposed to the white printed Omega logo and the wording ‘Professional’ is of course not on the dial. This watch was introduced in 1997 and was also part of the white Missions case packed with 22 limited edition Speedmaster Professional watches with NASA mission patches on the 9 o’clock subdial as well as one of these Speedmaster ’57 re-edition models. Oh, and a spare Lemania based caliber 1861 movement. I am not sure, but I think that by the end of 2003 these Speedmaster 3594.50 re-edition models were taken out of production. To be honest, I rarely see them and my guess is that they weren’t the best selling Speedmaster models at that time.

The Omega Speedmaster ’57 model was delivered before the upgrade of the bracelet and afterwards, so there are two different versions of those around. One is with the current Speedmaster bracelet (reference 1998) that measures both 20mm at the end as well as at the clasp. The previous model (reference 1498) tapered and lacked the push buttons on the clasp. Even though it also had these polished links in between the matt finished links, it was a bit more elegant than the current model in my opinion. I am not a fan of the Speedmaster bracelet that is being used on the current models to be honest, but it does wear comfortable and never failed on me. In any case, mine came with the modern reference 1998 bracelet and I decided to take it off immediately as it had never been used before. As I was planning to going to wear this watch often, at least I could ‘save’ the bracelet from getting signs of daily wear as I have some spare bracelets that already do so. However, I decided to wear it on a strap anyway at some point and got an OEM Omega strap as discussed here.

As you can see above, the dark brown OEM calf strap actually belongs to the Omega Speedmaster Professional with a brown dial that came out a few years ago. Anyway, I recently changed it to the leather NATO strap as you can see in the head photo and the first photo. This is a hand-made rugged leather NATO strap that is currently being offered by Bulang & Sons. It gives the watch a bit of a vintage look, which really belongs to this Speedmaster ’57 replica model of course.

As you can see on the photo above, the Speedmaster ’57 refers to the very first Omega Speedmaster CK2915, from 1957. Bert and I did a write-up and photo shoot on a comparison between these models and the new Omega Speedmaster ’57 Caliber 9300 as well. Make sure to read it here.

I have to say that a lot of people are mistaken by my precious Speedy 3594.50 for the original 1957 model reference CK2915. It is not of course and I also don’t pretend that it is one. But it does show that Omega did a nice job in creating a commemorative model to that very first Speedmaster from 1957. The broad arrow hands, stainless steel tachymeter bezel and the applied logo probably are good aspects that make it look like a Speedmaster CK2915. The case however is of course a-symmetrical and measures 42mm instead of the smaller symmetrical case of those first generation Speedmaster watches.

In any case, I wear this watch with great pleasure and have to admit that I can wear it for weeks in a row without craving for a different watch (Speedmaster or not) to wear. Just before I received this watch, I bought my wife a modern ladies Omega Speedmaster Chronometer with a white ceramic bezel and white alligator strap to celebrate the birth of Charlotte. Without her knowing it of course. So, in the end we were both surprised by a Speedmaster. My guess is that my daughter is now seriously doomed to wear one as well when she gets the right age to do so.

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