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Thought the Omega Speedmaster was the only “Moonwatch?” Think again. In 1971, American astronaut Edgar Mitchell spent nine hours walking the surface of the Moon as part of the Apollo 14 program. He was the sixth person to tread the lunar surface, but, with his Rolex GMT-Master ref. 1675 on his right wrist, the first to ever bring a Rolex to the Moon’s surface. Talk about making history! Mitchell’s “Pepsi” was both the first automatic watch and the first Rolex ever worn on the Moon. Now, that very watch is coming up for auction, only the second lunar Rolex to be publicly available.
While there are no photos of the watch being worn on the lunar surface—it being difficult to take a selfie from within one’s spacesuit and all—there are plenty of images showing the watch on Mitchell’s wrist before the mission, immediately after the moon walk, and post-mission completion back on Earth. An otherwise standard 1675, the watch features the beloved red-and-blue bidirectional “Pepsi” bezel, an automatic Chronometer-certified Rolex movement, beautiful patina from the faded tritium lume, and a steel folded-link Oyster bracelet. Developed by the brand in the early 1950s for Pan Am flight crews and used to track both local as well as GMT time, the Rolex GMT-Master model family would have been less than 20 years old by the time it walked the Moon on Mitchell’s wrist. It even comes with a touching personal inscription on the back: “WORN BY CDR. E. MITHCELL ON APOLLO 14, 1971, TO KARLIN—MY DAUGHTER.” This piece has all the makings of an auction superstar.
