Your Speedmaster Story #3 — New Life And Life On The Frontline

This week we have two stories in store for you, contributed by Speedmaster enthusiasts. One is from Mario and the other from Patrick. Completely different stories, but they have the exact same watch in common.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of people’s stories on their Speedmaster watches. It is very interesting to see what the Speedmaster means to some of you. For some, it is a watch to celebrate something special. Others share their stories of how a Speedmaster has helped them to get the job done. This week, we have one of each!

Your Speedmaster Stories

We are interested in reading your story, and we’re happy and proud to share them with all the Speedmaster fans that come to this website every Tuesday (and on other days). Hopefully, we will meet (again) at one of the Speedy Tuesday events where you can show us your watches and share your stories face-to-face. Make sure to create a profile on Fratello and sign-up for our newsletter. This way you will be the first to know about upcoming (Speedy Tuesday) events.

Story #1: Celebrating a new life

My name is Mario and live in The Hague The Netherlands. I always was fascinated by watches. At first, I focused on digital and quartz watches as these were in my price range. I still own a Casio DW-5600 and wear it mostly on weekends or when I am on the tennis court. These are such great watches. But the dream was always to have a mechanical watch because of the beautiful craftsmanship and fine engineering of the watch mechanism.

After some years of saving up for a great watch, I started my search. I was looking for a watch that had a fine aesthetic, heritage, and durability. I came across a lot of watches during my search. A lot of these watches didn’t feel like “the one”. I started to learn more about mechanical watches. Even though my knowledge and interest has deepened, one thing has remained the same about my approach. The most important thing is always the smile these things bring to your face when you strap them on.

An intricate system

As I said before, I love engineering and a mechanical watch is an intricate system of (sometimes) hundreds of parts. I knew I wanted a hand-wound caliber. It’s the feeling of bringing the watch to life every morning that gives me the best connection with a watch.

At this point, I started reading the Speedy Tuesday section of Fratello. I learned about the great heritage and, of course, the moon watch story. I read articles like the Omega Speedmaster buying guide, How the Speedmaster became the moonwatch. After this, I came back every week to read some new stories. But what I maybe liked the most about reading the Speedy Tuesday section was the fact that there is a whole community out there with love for the watch.

Celebrate with a watch

I bought the Moonwatch Only book to learn more about the heritage and the differences between the different Speedmaster models. Although I already knew and felt that the modern Moonwatch was the one I wanted to buy, I was still was waiting for the right moment to do so.

And that moment came after my beautiful girlfriend gave birth to our daughter in October 2019. Some people get a tattoo to capture such a beautiful moment, but I knew I wanted to celebrate with a watch. I knew I wanted the Moonwatch. Like Patek’s slogan, “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation”, I liked the idea of having a watch that you can pass on. Today, after almost one year of ownership, I can say that the  Speedmaster (ref. 311.30.42.30.01.005) is truly a great watch and is everything I hoped for.

Story #2: On The Frontline With An Omega Speedmaster

I am a firefighter in one of the ten largest US cities, working for a department that serves over a million and a half citizens. Nineteen of the twenty-three years I’ve worn a badge have been spent with Truck companies. The Engine may be most people’s idea of firefighting — hoses, and putting the “wet stuff on the red stuff” — but the Truck companies have the ladders and axes.

The Truck’s crew has, at its core, three missions: search, rescue, and break stuff. I can be hard on watches. This past spring, as with all first responders around the world, we added the COVID runs to our regular call load. When the summer came, however, I was given a new role. It was a role to which I was unaccustomed, and one that was met with skepticism, to say the least. My background with the department’s Hazmat Team led to my being part of a crew tasked with decontaminating our city’s ambulances after the transport of any suspected COVID patient.

Happy owner

Along with the hands-on job, a radio call announces the Medic unit’s approximate time of arrival, and records have to be kept of each unit’s time in, actual decon time, and time out. Things have to run smoothly so our citizens are covered by the first responders as they expect and deserve. We can’t run out of ambulances.

I have been the happy owner of an Omega Speedmaster Professional 1861 — with Hesalite crystal, of course — since 2015. While I’ve worn it on many a cross country, off-roading adventure, I have been largely disinclined to wear while at work. This may be due to cycling through a couple of pretty good watches over the years and losing them to the rigors of the job. I wouldn’t be seeing any fires or car wrecks on this assignment, though, and keeping track of time was going to be a big part of the job.

Besides, Dennis Quaid, in his role as Firefighter Frank Sullivan in the movie Frequency, sports a Speedy Pro. That’s good enough for me. I fastened my watch and went to work. The Speedmaster, with its’ chronograph function and sub-dials allowed me to track and log two separate Medic units in the decontamination bay simultaneously, or a unit in the bay and the expected arrival of another.

My Speedmaster professional

This might not seem like a big deal until you consider I was able to do this at a glance and with the simple use of the Speedy’s chronograph pushers. Less potential for contamination. No fumbling for, or unnecessarily handling my smartphone, digging through my pockets, and so on. All that was needed was a regular virucidal wipe down of the stainless steel case and bracelet. At the end of my shift, I gave the watch a gentle wash down and that was that.

I’m sure some will remark, “What about the seals?” and “Running water from the tap exerts more force than the resistance rating…” A lot of the same people will use the words tool and Speedmaster in the same sentence, too. I think the two sentiments are mutually exclusive. And besides, as Fratello has covered in the past, while these concerns are grounded in some kind of truth, the seals are more than capable of withstanding that kind of pressure.

But then, I’ve never used the word timepiece to describe a watch, either. The Speedy did everything I expected and needed it to do with accuracy and reliability. I have been back with my regular Truck company for a few weeks now, but I expect to rotate back to the decontamination assignment. When I do, I’ll be wearing my Speedmaster Professional.

Submit your Speedmaster Stories

We have more Speedmaster stories coming up, but we’d love to read yours too! It doesn’t matter if you’re not a professional writer. Most of the time, submissions read very nicely, but if they need a final polish we have a managing editor who will happily take care of that. What does matter, however,  is that your story is accompanied by some high-resolution images of your Speedmaster watch. We are happy to share your Instagram account in the story as well, of course. Submit your story, accompanied by a few pictures, to [email protected].