Let’s get into this week’s vintage Swiss made replica watches.
1975 Omega Speedmaster Professional Ref. 145.022 Replica Watches Worn In Space
While NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell’s space-flown Rolex GMT-Master is grabbing headlines over at RR Auction (read Tony’s article for the full story on that one), it is not the only high quality fake watches in the sale. French cosmonaut Jean-Loup Chrétien is, seemingly, a watch guy or, at least, he was during the 1988 French-Soviet cooperative Aragatz mission. Aragatz was an interesting mission. I won’t go into all the details but, in short, the mission sent Chrétien to the Soviet space station Mir for three weeks. This marked the first time that the Soviets welcomed an Astronaut from a non friendly nation on board its space stations and Chrétien’s trip, at the time, was the longest space flight by a non-Soviet and non-American astronaut. Aragatz is most well known for Chrétien’s 5 hour and 57 minute (!) spacewalk on December 9, 1988 – this marked the first non-Soviet and non-American spacewalk.
Now, I said Chrétien was a watch guy during the mission because he can be seen double-wristing in most photos! Even more proof is this incredible photo of him aboard Mir. Yes, he is wearing the best CA replica Omega Speedmaster watches on his left wrist and a Yema Spationaute III on his right wrist while juggling a group of three other Speedmasters. I can’t believe I had never seen that photo before!
As for the Speedmaster in particular, its serial number dates production to 1975, well before the Aragatz mission which is interesting because the watch itself has that true vintage Speedmaster feel. If, for example, the top copy watches would have been made 10 years later, around the time of the mission, the lume wouldn’t be quite as patinated. I say that not only because there would be less time for patina to develop but also because Omega’s lume mixture changed constantly on Speedmasters. Typically, examples from the mid-1970s develop a nice rich burnt yellow patina whereas those from the mid-’80s tend to either stay a bit whiter or turn greenish in hue.
While it was acquired well before the mission or at least produced then, it doesn’t appear as though Chrétien wore the luxury replica watches very often. Sure, it has a few bumps, bruises, and scratches (particularly on the caseback) but the sides of the case show their original brushing and I can even see a bit of the red wax seal on the edge of the caseback. These seals were applied during production, if they are unbroken, the watch has never been opened. Here, the full seal is long gone but to see even a bit of that red wax means there was not a ton of wear.
Generally, super clone watches wholesale CA with provenance like this one are hard to compare. At the end of the day, this is one of the very few space-flown and space-worn Omega Speedmasters, THE watch of space, that private citizens can own. The vast majority of NASA Speedmasters are famously U.S. Government property – if you’re offered one for sale, be very careful. I can point to the Speedmaster of Astronaut Ronald Evans, Jr. that sold for $245,000 at Christie’s in 2015 as well as a couple of even higher 2022 Phillips results, here and here – there were NASA-delivered yet not space-flown. Chrétien’s watch is a different beast being a non-NASA space Speedmaster. So, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Jean-Loup Chrétien’s Omega Speedmaster is lot 6514 of RR Auction’s Space auction ending on Thursday, October 24, at 7:00 PM ET. The pre-sale estimate is $30,000+ and, at the time of publication, bidding was at $13,915.
1970s Heuer Carrera Ref. 2447N Second Execution Fake Watches
In literature, there is a common saying that the classics are the classics for a reason. Typically, a literary work gains this title by doing something better than anyone before or since. Jack Heuer’s first-generation perfect replica TAG Heuer Carrera watches is a classic. No watch executes the idea of a simple and legible sport chronograph better than Carreras from the 1960s and early 1970s. And that’s not an accident – Jack Heuer was obsessed with legibility. After taking a course on the subject at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, he prioritized dial readability over all else when designing AAA China copy watches. This led to the realization that multiple tracks or registers on the dial were unnecessary, and it was more aesthetically pleasing to have something with an overall clean look. This may seem obvious today but when you consider the context of pre-1960 chronograph design with “snail” scales and multiple outer tracks, it was revolutionary.
The first generation TAG Heuer Carrera fake watches online was available with a silver dial or a black (noir, in French) dial; 2447S, for silver, and 2447N for noir. The example we have here today is of the noir variety and has come to be known to collectors as a second-execution variant. Compared to first-execution examples, the differences include the black inserts with the main handset and a few dials tweaks such as the slightly wider hour makers.
Listed by an eBay seller who goes by the name “storagefinds2u,” this particular example appears to be fresh to market after years of sitting idle. Yes, the seller’s name is a clue towards that but I was also drawn to the vintage single-pass nylon strap. It is quite clear that the watch has not been prepared for sale or dolled up in any manner – I mean, the seller could barely bother to take photos with the watch in focus. If you can’t tell by reading other BAL editions, I am a bit obsessed with poor eBay photography. I simply ask for your trust. I have purchased and assessed enough replica watches for men on eBay to understand the art of looking past a poorly taken photo. Ultimately, I would rather have a watch un-messed with and this is how I find them.
What I can see from the photos is a strong case with nice lines, a correctly Heuer-signed crown, seemingly full luminous plots on the dial, and a visually clean Valjoux caliber 72. That’s all I need to see, if the movement requires a service, so be it.
An eBay seller out of Klamath Falls, Oregon, has listed this Heuer Carrera ref. 2447N for auction ending Wednesday, October 8, at 4:37 AM ET (set your alarms!). When this article was posted, the bidding had reached $7,199.
