NASA Moonwatch Strap

If you scroll way down to the bottom of my blog you’ll find a link to the Speedmaster project that I completed many months ago. At the time I considered the job “done” even though there was a very important piece missing to the watch- the steel bracelet.

A proper bracelet for a 1967 Speedmaster is a stainless steel model 1171. Vintage bracelets can be had on eBay for several hundred dollars but I haven’t had the funds to invest for a while so I set about finding a suitable alternative.

I had originally planned for this piece to supplement my Navitimer but discovered after the fact that I’m not really your typical watch savant as I only like to wear one watch. I don’t change them daily or weekly or even monthly, so the poor Speedmaster has been relegated to the safety deposit box. Thus the need for an expensive bracelet became moot.

I did reach out to Kizzi Precision Flightgear which is a small company in the UK offering replica NASA specification watchbands. This was many weeks ago.

As you may be aware, the Omega Speedmaster was the chronograph approved by NASA for operation in space during the Gemini and Apollo programs. This resulted in the Speedmaster being the first watch on the moon and now it is commonly now known as the Moonwatch.

The watchbands Kizzi produces are identical to those issued by NASA during the 1960’s and 1970’s. They are utilitarian and economical and most importantly, they look good.

These watchbands have become quite popular in the Omega community and that makes them a bit difficult to get a hold of. At the time I tried placing an order, the manufacturer was inundated with orders and out of stock. Luckily there was a waiting list.

About a week back I received a wonderful email advising that if I was still interested, there were watchbands available and I could now place an order. Naturally I did with gusto.

Today the watchband arrived and since I had the watch at home I was able to put it to good use. Following are the unboxing images. I think it’s a perfect fit.