The 3861 Hesalite Moonwatch

A legendary watch

When trouble came to Apollo 13 the astronauts onboard had to turn off nearly all electronics to conserve power, the only tool they had to calculate the trajectories for their safe return was the Omega Speedmaster. It was thanks to this precision instrument that their lives were saved. The Omega Speedmaster Professional is without a doubt a legendary watch that has graced the hands of many space explorers, scientists, and engineers. In terms of historical importance there's not many watches that can compete and even fewer that can compete at this price point.

The ownership experience

While this watch in particular hasn't left the atmosphere or saved any lives, the spirit of adventure lives through it. The 3861 co-axial movement in the new speedmasters brings a lot to the table in terms of quality of life improvements. Hacking the small subseconds as well as improved service intervals makes the 3861 speedmaster a great companion to every day life. There are really few downsides with this watch, but one thing to consider is that as a manual winding watch, you have to wind it daily. For some this ritual is part of the enjoyment of owning a manual winding watch, for others it's a daily annoyance. At the end of the day this watch provides hefty value going toe to toe with a Rolex Daytona for a fraction of the price even at MSRP and even better in secondary pricing.

Fig 1. The Omega Speedmaster Professional

The Market

Right now (as of 9/20/2023) the Omega Speedamster Professional Hesalite has a MSRP of $7000 and is trading in the secondary market at ~$5200 with private sales often trading in the mid 4s making it nearly a 30-40% discount from retail. You seriously have to consider what your end game with your boutique/AD is if you plan to purchase one of these watches at retail. While I don't really like to think in terms of parlaying purchases it's a rather hard sell to go after one of these at retail if you don't plan on trying to get a Snoopy or Ed White, and even then you may be better off just purchasing off of a secondary market.