The Bulova Chronograph presents with significant wear from the mission.
Pieces of history, even mundane ones, are born out of exceptional moments in history, and now the astronaut-worn watch that has been to the moon was sold after a ferocious auction in Boston.
- Dave Scott was the commander on the Apollo 15 mission, in 1971
- The Bulova Chronograph was used as a backup on the moon, for 4 hours, 49 minutes, and 50 seconds
- The watch sold for over $1.6 million
- Scott has stated that he would donate some of the money to help future astronauts
Commander Dave Scott is a former NASA astronaut, who is part of the selected few individuals who have been to the moon. It’s an amazing privilege and dangerous task that only several people have ever undertaken. Scott was among them. He was the sixth person to ever walk on the moon, and the first to drive a vehicle on it, during his 1971 mission, Apollo 15.
Pieces of equipment worn on Earth’s natural satellite, however, are generally considered government property. Most of them are housed in several institutions, and are not given to astronauts or sold to the public. The Apollo 15 mission was no exception in that regard. Upon their mission NASA gave their astronauts standard Swiss Omega Speedmasters watches for their trip to the moon.
Scott’s timepiece lasted for two moon walks, but then broke as the crystals loosened. The astronauts was then forced into using his backup watch, a Bulova Chronograph that he had packed with him for the trip. According to the 83 year-old former astronaut, “the monitoring and use of time was perhaps the most important”.
It required careful attention, and good planning of resources while venturing across the moon. Thus, the Bulova Chronograph watch became the first privately-owned timepiece to be worn on the our planet’s natural satellite. The third lunar excursion, where the item was present on Scott’s wrist, lasted 4 hours, 49 minutes, and 50 seconds.
The timepiece presented with significant wear due to exposure on the Moon, all the way to the astronaut plummeting back down toward Earth.
The watch that has seen to an historical moment for humanity, has recently been placed for auction and then sold to a Florida businessman. After a frantic, 12-minute long bidding war with another British man, the RR Auction in Boston ended. The final price? The watch sold for $1,650,000.
As the only American-made watch that was ever worn on the Moon, the whopping price rose to unexpected amounts. The auction house estimated its worth will go just past $750,000, but it managed to surpass all their expectations. Instead, the Bulova Chronograph, exposed to the Moon’s atmosphere went for over $1.6 million dollars.
It’s a true testament of how ordinary objects can become extraordinary given its owner and the point in time when it was used.
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