Buzz Aldrin’s Coolest Chronograph Is Up for Auction. It Isn’t an Omega

Buzz Aldrin wore arguably the most important watch in history.

He had an Omega Speedmaster Professional strapped to his wrist when he followed Neil Armstrong out of their lunar lander and onto the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. Armstrong had left his Speedy in the lunar module as backup for a malfunctioning digital timer, making Aldrin’s watch the first to ever be worn on the moon.

Since 1973, Armstrong’s watch has resided at the National Air and Space Museum, but Aldrin’s watch disappeared while in transit from NASA to the same museum in 1971. It has never been recovered, making it the world’s greatest (and likely most valuable) lost timepiece.

NASA

As a piece of government property, Aldrin never owned his famous Moonwatch. But as a collector and longtime Omega ambassador, the now-96-year-old astronaut legend has amassed an impressive watch collection over the years.

Several watches from Aldrin’s personal collection are going up for auction at Sotheby’s this week, and while there are plenty of Omegas to choose from (eight, to be exact), the coolest watch in the lot actually comes from a different brand.

From space to sea

Aldrin’s Omega watches that are up for grabs are pretty cool too, don’t get me wrong.

There’s a new reverse panda Speedmaster 3861 in full Moonshine gold that Aldrin received earlier this year, a Moonwatch ref. 3590.50 from 1990, a Speedmaster X-33 Gen 2 from 2010, which is the same model the Artemis II astronauts recently wore during their trip around the moon, and the quirky Speedmaster HB-SIA ‘Solar Impulse’ from 2013, which has a titanium case and bracelet, an automatic chronograph GMT movement and a carbon fiber dial.

Sotheby’s

Rounding out the Omega lineup are a pair of De Villes, a very 1980s two-tone Constellation Manhattan and a “Bond” Seamaster Diver GMT.

But, in my opinion, the coolest watch from Aldrin’s collection actually comes from another Swiss brand, Jaeger-LeCoultre.

It’s a LeCoultre (JLC’s American branding at the time omitted “Jaeger”) ref. 2643, better known as the “Shark Deep Sea.” The watch dates to 1970, meaning it’s likely that Aldrin purchased it the year after he touched down on the moon. The astronaut would’ve been at the height of his fame then, and maybe even picked it up to mark his mankind-altering achievement.

This is just speculation on my part; the lot contains no information on the watch other than a quote from Aldrin saying it was “a treasured item in my personal collection for many years.”

So what makes the Shark Deep Sea so cool? Well, just look at it.

Sotheby’s

This is a reverse panda chronograph that’s also a dive watch. It has perfect creamy patinaed lume on its hands and indices, pump-style pushers, a rotating coin-edge dive bezel with a black aluminum insert, an inner tachymeter scale, straight faceted lugs on its 40mm stainless steel case, and a tri-compax layout complete with a 12-hour chronograph counter.

It’s basically the definition of a cool mid-century sports watch.

The watch is also mounted on a five-row steel bracelet from JB Champion. Known today as Forstner, the brand is best known for having made the mesh bracelets that Aldrin and other Apollo-era astronauts preferred to pair with their Speedmasters, so it’s cool to see that Aldrin also used the brand for his other watches.

Sotheby’s

Produced in limited quantities beginning in the 1960s, the Shark Deep Sea was JLC’s first diving chronograph and was water resistant to 120m when new. Even more interesting, the watch originally came with two interchangeable bezels. Aldrin’s only comes with the attached dive bezel, but the watch should have come with a telemeter bezel for measuring the distance of a sound, and a world time bezel for calculating the time in cities around the world.

The Shark Deep Sea is powered by the Valjoux Calibre 72 manual-wind movement, a classic chronograph engine that’s considered one of the greatest ever made. Ever hear of a Rolex “Paul Newman” Daytona? It used the same movement.

Jaeger-LeCoultre

To sum up, we have a rare mid-century sports watch from one of watchmaking’s most storied names with a beautiful design, a legendary movement inside, and a groundbreaking feature set that arguably makes it the ultimate tool watch of its era. Oh, and it was owned by the second man on the moon.

I mean, do watches even get better than this?

The online bidding for Buzz Aldrin’s JLC Shark Deep Sea currently sits at an obscenely low $17,000, with live bidding set to take place tomorrow at 10 am EDT. I expect the watch to sell for well above the anticipated sum of $20,000.

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