Your Speedmaster Story #4 — The Other Side And More
For this week’s #SpeedyTuesday, we have three stories lined up for you. One from Lorenzo on his Speedmaster Apollo 8, a story from Dennis on his Speedmaster Mark II, and lastly, a very short story from Luca on his Moonwatch.
We asked you to share your Speedmaster story with us, and this is the fourth installment featuring three stories of our readers. Some Speedmaster stories can be very short because one is simply mesmerized with the Omega Speedmaster watch. Other stories are a bit lengthier. It is about graduation, a wedding, celebrating business success, the birth of a child, or down to a tradition, for example. Whatever the reason is, it is always a good idea to buy a Speedmaster, of course. In the fourth installment of “Your Speedmaster Stories”, we share three stories from our readers on their Speedmasters.
Speedmaster Stories
In normal times, we love to hear these types of stories from you directly during one of our Speedy Tuesday events. But because of Covid19 and our travel restrictions, we asked you to share them with us via e-mail. At the end of this article, we provide you with an email address that you can use to submit your story (don’t forget about the pictures!). 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.
#Story1: See you on the other side
My name is Lorenzo and I have been passionate about watches since my parents bought me my first watch — a Teeter Totter Seesaw Toy Watch — when I was 4 years old. I still own that watch and have kept it in working condition ever since. It reminds me of the period that we lived in Boston, MA, while my father was doing post-graduate studies in med school.
Like many others, watches have been a good way to remind me of special moments in my life such as high school and university graduation, getting married (and unfortunately divorced), and closing important transactions in my professional career. I have bought high-end watches for every special occasion, but no brand has enticed me more than Omega in recent years since a tragic event impacted my life.
In December 2016, we learned that my father had stage 4 prostate cancer. It took us by surprise and shook us to the core. What can I say about him? He was an incredible person. He was a very successful general surgeon, a loving husband and father, an excellent friend, and car enthusiast with the best smile. It was his decision decided to keep his cancer secret to extended family and friends. He carried on as usual with a big smile and the best attitude towards life while receiving an alternative treatment. Unfortunately, he passed away at home in November 2017 surrounded by us and his close friends.
With honor
A couple of months before passing away, I wrote him a letter thanking him for the wonderful life he gave us. I promised to take care of my mother and to continue our family name on with honor. I closed the letter with the phrase, “We’ll see you on the other side.” I have kept the letter private to myself to this day.
Fast forward to July 2019, my best friend, business partner, and “brother from another mother” decided to give me a present for closing a deal for both of us — an Omega Speedmaster Apollo 8 (Dark Side of the Moon). I was amazed by the level of detail. Everything about this watch impressed me: the colors, the box, everything. And then my eyes fell to the phrase on the case back: “We’ll see you on the other side.” Since then, I have bought a couple more Speedmasters (ST1 and ST2) and plan to continue marking important moments in my life with Omega Speedmasters.
Story by Lorenzo
#Story2: a Hippie Pawnshop
My Omega Speedmaster story is not a very traditional one. See, I was born in the late 1970s and the moon landing was already ancient history for a 10-year-old. After all, it was almost 20 years ago and that is prehistoric, right? I can remember the space shuttle breaking up but, for me, the space race was over and a relic of the cold war.
I can see you twitching to switch this story “off” but bear with me. It gets better. So, I grew up admiring Rolex. My grandad wore one. My dad bought one with me standing beside him in the mid-1980s. Unsurprisingly, then, one of the first watches I had was a Rolex GMT-Master.
Space interested me but not in a practical way. It wasn’t so much that we’d been to the moon, no. I was engaged with the idea of Space. Imagine Patrick Stuart uttering those eternal words, “the final frontier.” That was the extent of my interest. And with this, I was a happy old chap with not a single Speedmaster even close to the outer edge of my consciousness.
So what changed? The first thing that changed was me encountering a NOS 1970s Speedmaster Mark 2 (with box and papers, never worn, factory fresh) in a hippie pawnshop in Berlin around 1996. Needless to say that I didn’t buy it for the 300 Deutsch Mark they were asking for it — about $150 because that was just crazy money for an old relic. But for the faintest moment, I was impressed. Here was a watch so obviously superior to what I was wearing — yet it seemed to be forgotten by the world.
Research
I like to research things in a very geeky way and fell down a little rabbit hole after that experience finding that a Speedmaster Mark 2 could have really been the starting point of something amazing, not just for me but for mankind. As we all know the Speedmaster Mark 2 was the watch that Omega had designed not for the moon but for the next steps into space — possibly to the space station, a moon base, a journey to Mars, and beyond.
And with this realization, I was hooked. There before me had been a physical manifestation of an unfulfilled promise. A promise of a future which had never been, a future that would have meant me growing up glued to the telly watching us continuing our voyage into space. The next thing that happened was me finding that my watch collecting had weirdly left me more unfulfilled than satisfied. Regardless of the number of Rolex and Tudor watches, I could never decide what to wear.
So finally my Speedmaster story came to its conclusion as I decided to buy an Omega Speedmaster Mark 2 Reissue. It combined the styling and spirit of that famous watch that would have taken us into deeper space with modern technology. And, in a repeat of my own history, I found it in a pawnshop, just forgotten and looking for a new owner.
Keeping that dream alive
Since buying it, I have worn it every day (my watch collection is now long gone) and am loving it. It is such a cool watch to live with and every time I glance at it I can see it being worn in a spaceship on its way to Mars. And although I know that is a stretch of my imagination, I am excited about the newly renewed steps that we are taking to continue our journey into the deeper reaches of the cosmos.
My little nephew is four now and one day very soon I shall show him this, my Omega Speedmaster Mark 2 Reissue, and introduce him to this crazy idea called space exploration. But not as a relict of times gone by(as it had been for me). I will frame it as a promise for the future of mankind. And, who knows, he might wear it when I am long gone, keeping that dream alive.
Story by Dennis
#Story 3: First Important Watch
Ever since I start to love watches, I dreamed of owning a Speedmaster. Mainly thanks to my dad who always told me why that watch was so iconic and so special. It is my first “important” watch. So I worked very hard for a long time, just to save enough money to buy a Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch. And my hard work paid off! I went to the boutique to try it on and I was so excited and nervous, my legs were shaking. Now it’s MY Speedmaster and MY favorite watch.
(Short) Story by Luca
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].
