Omega Speedmaster CK2998 'First Omega In Space' (FOIS)

The second Speedmaster

The Speedmaster was not built for space. Omega introduced it in 1957 as a racing and sports chronograph, part of a 'Professional' trio alongside the Seamaster 300 and the Railmaster. The first reference, the CK 2915, carried a steel tachymeter bezel and lasted only about two years before it was replaced.

Its successor, the CK 2998, arrived in 1959. Omega's own archive lists it as a 1959 watch with a screw-in stainless steel case, a matte black dial with luminous markers, luminous 'Alpha' hands filled with radium, an applied Omega logo and the hand-wound Calibre 321 chronograph movement. The big visual change was a black aluminum tachymeter bezel insert, which made the scale easier to read and pushed the case to about 40 mm. Omega also added O-ring gaskets around the pushers for better water resistance.

Some CK 2998s left the factory with a plain baton central seconds hand; others carried a 'lollipop' seconds hand with a luminous dot near the tip. The slender Alpha hands, the straight lugs and the dark bezel are the details that set the 2998 apart from both the 1957 original and the Speedmasters that followed. In 1962 and 1963 Omega moved on to references 105.002 and 105.003, which swapped the Alpha hands for the straight baton hands Speedmasters still wear.

Exact production dates for the 2998 vary by source. One collector article dates the 2998-1 variant to 1959 through 1962; this entry's own record gives 1959 to 1963 for the family. Neither figure comes with a production count, and this page does not give one.

Wally Schirra and Sigma 7

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. was born March 12, 1923, in Hackensack, New Jersey. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1945, served at sea in the last months of World War II, earned his naval aviator wings in 1948 and flew 90 combat missions in the Korean War. As a test pilot at China Lake he became the first pilot to fly with and fire the Sidewinder missile. In 1959 he was named one of the seven original Mercury astronauts.

His Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 8, launched from Cape Canaveral at 12:15 UTC on October 3, 1962, after a two-week delay over booster problems. Schirra named the capsule Sigma 7, after the mathematical symbol for a sum, because, he said, the flight was 'the sum of the efforts and energies of a lot of people'; the seven honored the Mercury Seven. He orbited the Earth six times in 9 hours, 13 minutes and 15 seconds, the longest American crewed flight up to that point, and splashed down in the Pacific about half a mile from the recovery carrier USS Kearsarge.

On his wrist was a Speedmaster CK 2998 that he had bought himself. It was not government issue. NASA had no watch program yet, and Schirra was not alone: Gordon Cooper, who flew the next Mercury mission, Faith 7, in 1963, also bought a CK 2998 privately and is photographed wearing it as he suited up. A NASA photograph from the Kearsarge on the day of splashdown shows Schirra wearing his.

Schirra went on to command Gemini 6A, which flew within a foot of Gemini 7 in December 1965, and Apollo 7 in 1968. He was the only astronaut to fly in all three of America's first crewed programs, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, and he later co-anchored network coverage of the Moon landings with Walter Cronkite. He died May 3, 2007, in San Diego.

From a private purchase to flight-qualified

In 1962 the United States felt it was behind. The Soviet Union had already kept a cosmonaut in orbit for a full day, and in August 1962 it flew Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 at once, for 64 and 48 orbits. John Glenn had become the first American to orbit the Earth only that February. Three weeks before Schirra launched, President Kennedy told a crowd at Rice University that the country would go to the Moon.

Astronauts carrying personal watches into orbit worried NASA, and in 1964, working from a letter of requirement by Deke Slayton, a young NASA engineer named James Ragan sent requests for quotations to several watchmakers' American agents. Longines-Wittnauer, Rolex and Omega supplied chronographs; Hamilton offered a pocket watch and was dropped. The watches went through 11 tests, including 48 hours at 160 degrees Fahrenheit, shocks of 40 G and vibration up to 2,000 Hz, between October 21, 1964, and March 1, 1965.

Only the Speedmaster passed, and NASA flight-qualified it in 1965. Omega's headquarters reportedly learned of it only after seeing Ed White wearing a Speedmaster on America's first spacewalk during Gemini 4 in June 1965. One collector account notes that, as far as is known, Schirra's and Cooper's private purchases had no direct influence on NASA's choice. Still, the 2998 got there first, which is why Omega calls it the first Omega in space.

Three tributes, one name

Omega first used the 'First Omega in Space' name in 2012, with reference 311.32.40.30.01.001: a 39.7 mm straight-lug watch with the hand-wound, Lemania-based Calibre 1861, sold only on a strap and issued as a numbered rather than limited edition. It retailed for 4,300 euros including VAT and was discontinued in 2021. A Sedna gold version with a panda dial, reference 311.63.40.30.02.001, followed in 2015, although no gold CK 2998 was ever made. In 2016 Omega released a separate 'CK2998' limited edition of 2,998 pieces.

The current watch, reference 310.30.40.50.06.001 and its two strap siblings, went on sale on October 3, 2024, 62 years to the day after Sigma 7. Omega frames it as a return to production rather than a limited edition. The three references are the same watch: one on a 'flat link' steel bracelet with Omega's comfort-release adjustment, and two on black or brown leather straps with a buckle. Each comes in a presentation box with a 'Legendary Moonwatch' leaflet.

At launch in Singapore the bracelet version listed at SGD 11,450 including tax and the strap versions at SGD 10,950. In October 2026 Omega's U.S. site lists the bracelet reference at $8,900 and the strap references at $8,500.

Original CK 2998s are another market entirely. In 2017 a 2998-1 found in an estate sold at an online auction against an estimate of $500 to $1,000; the report covering it gives both $110,700 and $103,500 as the result, so this page records only that the watch passed $100,000.

How to recognize it

The modern FOIS keeps the 1959 silhouette: a symmetrical 39.7 mm case without crown guards, straight lugs, and a black aluminum bezel whose tachymeter scale has the dot placed over the 90, a detail associated with the earliest Speedmasters. Omega's specifications give a thickness of 13.38 mm, 48 mm lug to lug, 19 mm between the lugs, water resistance of 50 meters and a weight of about 133 grams on the bracelet.

The dial is the giveaway. Instead of black, it is a CVD-coated grey-blue that Omega says replicates the tone some CK 2998 dials took on in the 1960s. One reviewer describes it as nearly black, with a lighter grey and blue cast. The hour and minute hands are Alpha-shaped and filled with vintage-toned Super-LumiNova, and the central seconds hand is a white-varnished baton. A vintage Omega logo appears on both the dial and the crown.

The crystal is sapphire shaped to look like the domed hesalite of the original. The closed caseback carries a Seahorse medallion and the engravings 'SPEEDMASTER', 'THE FIRST OMEGA IN SPACE' and 'OCTOBER 3, 1962'. Inside is the Calibre 3861, a hand-wound Co-Axial Master Chronometer that Omega describes as the latest evolution of the Calibre 321 in the original, certified to the Swiss METAS standard and resistant to magnetic fields above 15,000 gauss.

The numbers

Reference

310.30.40.50.06.001 (bracelet); 310.32.40.50.06.001 and .002 (strap)

Caliber

Omega 3861, hand-wound Co-Axial Master Chronometer, 50-hour power reserve

Case

39.7 mm stainless steel, 13.38 mm thick, 48 mm lug to lug, 19 mm lugs

Water resistance

50 meters

Crystal

Sapphire, shaped like hesalite, anti-reflective inside

Production

Regular production since October 2024; not a limited edition

Original reference

CK 2998, introduced 1959, Calibre 321, about 40 mm

Earlier tributes

311.32.40.30.01.001 (2012 to 2021, Calibre 1861); 311.63.40.30.02.001 (Sedna gold, 2015)

Timeline

1. 1957

   Omega introduces the Speedmaster, reference CK 2915, as a racing and sports chronograph.

2. 1959

   The CK 2998 replaces the CK 2915, adding a black aluminum bezel and Alpha hands; Calibre 321 inside.

3. Oct 3, 1962

   Wally Schirra wears his privately bought CK 2998 on Mercury-Atlas 8, six orbits in 9 hours and 13 minutes.

4. 1963

   Gordon Cooper flies Faith 7 wearing his own privately bought CK 2998.

5. Oct 21, 1964

   NASA begins qualification tests on chronographs from Longines-Wittnauer, Rolex and Omega.

6. Mar 1, 1965

   Testing ends; the Speedmaster is the only watch to pass and is flight-qualified.

7. Jun 1965

   Ed White wears a Speedmaster on America's first spacewalk, during Gemini 4.

8. 2012

   Omega launches the first 'First Omega in Space' tribute, reference 311.32.40.30.01.001, with Calibre 1861.

9. 2015

   A Sedna gold FOIS with a panda dial, reference 311.63.40.30.02.001, is released.

10. 2016

    Omega issues a 'CK2998' limited edition of 2,998 pieces, reference 311.33.40.30.02.001.

11. 2017

    An original CK 2998-1 found in an estate sells at online auction for more than $100,000 against a $500 to $1,000 estimate.

12. 2021

    The 2012 FOIS reference is discontinued.

13. Oct 3, 2024

    Omega launches reference 310.30.40.50.06.001 and two strap versions with Calibre 3861 and a grey-blue dial.

14. Oct 2026

    Omega's U.S. site lists the bracelet version at $8,900.

The world in 1962

• Feb 20, 1962

  John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times aboard Friendship 7.

• Jul 10, 1962

  Telstar, the first commercial communications satellite, is launched; on July 23 it relays the first live transatlantic television signal.

• Aug 1962

  The Soviet Union flies Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 together, completing 64 and 48 orbits.

• Aug 27, 1962

  NASA launches Mariner 2, which later becomes the first spacecraft to return data from another planet as it passes Venus.

• Sep 12, 1962

  President Kennedy's 'We choose to go to the Moon' speech at Rice University.

• Oct 11, 1962

  Pope John XXIII opens the Second Vatican Council.

• Oct 16, 1962

  The Cuban Missile Crisis begins, less than two weeks after Sigma 7 splashes down; it ends October 28.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Omega Speedmaster CK2998 'First Omega In Space' (FOIS) is number 88 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (51 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Schirra's Speedmaster was his own. NASA did not issue astronaut watches until after its 1964-65 tests.
• Schirra first wanted to call his capsule Phoenix; his wife favored Pioneer. He chose Sigma, the symbol for a sum.
• There was never a gold CK 2998, but Omega made a Sedna gold 'First Omega in Space' in 2015 anyway.
• Schirra also carried the first Hasselblad camera into space on the same flight.
• Omega's Swiss headquarters reportedly learned NASA had chosen the Speedmaster from photos of Ed White's 1965 spacewalk.
• The 2024 dial is grey-blue on purpose: it imitates how some 1960s CK 2998 dials changed color over time.