The first Rolex worn on the Moon is up for auction
Russell SheldrakeOmega may dominate in the mind when it comes to Moon landings, and they are undisputedly the first watch brand to set a timepiece on the lunar surface. But throughout the six crewed landings, a number of brands were worn on astronauts’ wrists, and on February 5 1971 Edgar Mitchell, the Lunar Module Pilot, stepped out with his Rolex GMT-Master ref. 1675 on his right wrist.
The watch is currently being auctioned off by RR Auction in an online auction that will close on October 25. At the time of writing, there have been 13 bids placed with it currently sitting at US$32,211. Although something tells me this piece of astrological history will go for slightly more. To date, this is only the second lunar Rolex to be publicly sold, with the first being another GMT-Master worn on the Apollo 17 mission and sold in 2009 for US$131,450. There was also a Bulova chronograph worn on Apollo 15 that sold in 2015 for US$1.5 million. So your guess is as good as ours on where this one might end up.
The watch itself is a standard ref. 1675, with no alterations made for its extraterrestrial journey. It still has its original Pepsi bezel and wonderfully faded tritium lume on the dial. On the back of the watch, there is an engraving that says, “WORN BY CDR. E. MITCHELL ON APOLLO 14, 1971, TO KARLIN – MY DAUGHTER.” And the watch is accompanied by a letter of authenticity signed by Mitchell.
As many know, the Speedmasters that the astronauts wore on these missions remained the property of the government, so it’s rare to see mission-worn examples reaching auction, but these Rolex examples were personal watches owned by the astronauts and were taken up into space as back-ups. While there are no images of Mitchell wearing this watch on the Moon, there are plenty of shots of him before and after his trip with it visible over his space suit.