Just last year, NASA astronaut Wally Schirra’s gold 1:1 fake Omega Speedmaster BA145.022-69 fetched US$1.9 million (including buyer’s premium) from the same auction house. This might have triggered the other owners of the astronaut-owned gold luxury replica Omega Speedmaster “Tribute to Astronauts” BA145.022-69 to offer theirs for auction as well.
Ultimate Guide To The Speedmaster BA145.022-69
A few months before Schirra’s gold cheap replica Omega Speedmaster fetched this record price for this reference, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins’s gold Speedmaster sold at auction for US$765,000 (including buyer’s premium). We’ve shared the story of these watches several times on Fratello, but just in case you are not familiar with it, you can read our Ultimate Guide To The BA145.022-69.
Three astronaut-owned AAA fake Omega Speedmaster BA145.022-69 watches up for auction
To me, the most impressive of the three is the high quality fake Omega Speedmaster BA145.022-69 that belonged to the widow (Betty Grissom) of astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom. On January 27th, 1967, Gus Grissom died in a tragic accident resulting from a fire inside the Apollo 1 Command Module. During this fire, astronauts Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee also passed away. Grissom, White, and Chaffee’s relatives received the gold Omega Speedmaster BA145.022-69 replica for sale UK posthumously. As you can see in the picture above, Grissom’s Speedmaster was presented in a special box with a personalized plaque. I have to admit that I’ve never seen this box before. Normally, the gold Speedmaster “Tribute to Astronauts” came in the “Moon crater” box.
A numbered edition
In total, high quality replica Omega UK produced 1,014 of these gold Speedmaster BA145.022-69 watches between 1969 and 1973. Grissom’s Speedmaster is #4, the second-lowest number allocated to an astronaut after Alan Shepard’s watch (#3). Numbers 1 and 2 were presented to President Nixon and Vice President Agnew, though the men declined the watches due to their high value. Interestingly, RR Auction also has a document that states that astronaut Harrison Schmitt (offered #1008) declined this gift.
Most of these Swiss made fake watches were offered during a banquet dinner in Houston, Texas on November 25th, 1969, also known as the Astronaut Appreciation Dinner. On the leaflet below, you can find the names of the 22 astronauts present there and the three astronauts who passed away during the Apollo 1 test in January 1967.
