October 22nd saw one of the most precious watches go under the hammer. The only privately-owned wristwatch that went all the way to the moon and back was officially sold off in an auction for a whopping 1.6 million dollars. This made the watch one of the highest paid pieces of astronaut memorabilia. Previously auction unique stuff from the spacewalkers were cuff checklists, joystick, a space capsule, gloves, and a lot other items.
Astronaut David Scott was the original owner of the famous watch, the Omega Bulova, which was auctioned for a good $1.625 million at RR Auction of Boston end of last month. The spacewalker and mission commander Scott wore the timepiece when walking on the moon for the third time during the Apollo 15 mission. He was also the officially the first person to drive the lunar moon buggy.
NASA actually does not allow any third-party (unauthorized) stuff on its space missions. NASA had officially issues the astronauts to wear the Omega Speedmaster watches while on missions. The chronograph wristwatches were specially made. This meant that the Bulova was not officially on the Apollo 15 flight. Scott carried the Bulova as a spare watch. Scott wore the Omega for the first two moonwalks, but unfortunately on the second instance the crystal glass covering the timepiece fell off and got lost. He then retrieved his Bulova for the third moonwalk.
The watch, and the moondust-stained velcro strap that he used to hold both the Omega and Bulova chronographs was residing for almost 40 years in a safe deposit vault after the Apollo 15 mission.
