One of only two Rolexes known to have landed on the moon, and Heritage has it...

July 30, 2009

Posted by Noah

You know, I just happen to be in the market for a new watch...

In my humble estimation, it doesn't get a whole lot cooler than this. An Apollo 17 Lunar Module Flown Rolex GMT-Master Chronometer, directly from the personal collection of Mission Command Module Pilot Ron Evans, will be part of our Oct. 8 Signature® Space Exploration Memorabilia Auction. Nobody does Space Exploration memorabilia better than Heritage and - as if you needed proof - the firm has done it again.

"We’ve done a tremendous amount of research on the subject," said Michael Riley, Chief Historian and Senior Cataloger at Heritage, "and we can confidently say that this is the only one of two Rolex watches known to have ever made it to the moon's surface to come up for auction."

There is nothing that can set the modern imagination alight like space travel, and little that inspires more awe in humans than the original Mercury and Apollo astronauts. America's "Right Stuff" pioneered space flight in the 1960s and actually spent time on the surface of the moon, the closest humans have ever come to personally exploring a distant world. As such, anything associated with the nation's space program, especially anything that was actually with the astronauts on the lunar terrain, brings a premium from space collectors.

In the evolving hierarchy of Space Exploration collecting, astronauts' timepieces have proven among the most sought after. It's widely known that the Omega Speedmaster Pro was the only watch approved by NASA for use on the Apollo moon flights, leading to its being called the "Moonwatch." Several astronauts, however, preferred their own timepieces, such as the Evans' present example. It already has significant value simply because it's a Rolex. Factor in its provenance, who it belonged to and where it's been, then it becomes not just a great watch, but one of historical import, as well.

"Many students and collectors of space-flown timepieces are aware that Jack Swigert carried and/or wore a Rolex on the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight, which never landed on the moon," said Riley. "Our research has turned up only one other Rolex, worn by Edgar Mitchell on Apollo 14, that can claim to have landed on the lunar surface."

Dr. Mitchell himself reported that he did indeed wear his Rolex in the lunar module during Apollo 14, but the whereabouts of the Rolex are unknown as of now, so this watch – with its unimpeachable provenance – carries a special distinction. Interestingly, but on another note, Dave Scott actually took his personal Waltham watch with him to the moon on Apollo 15.

This handsome, all-original, 1968-era Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master was Apollo 17 Astronaut Ron Evans' personal watch. He placed it into his Personal Preference Kit (PPK), which was taken to the moon by his crewmates Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt aboard the Lunar Module Challenger while he orbited the moon in the Command Module America. It remained on the moon for approximately 75 hours on what is, up to this day, the last manned lunar landing mission.

After Evans' return to Earth he certified the watch by engraving the pertinent facts, along with his name, along the outside edge of the back of the watch with an electric engraving tool. He wrote: "FLOWN ON APOLLO XVII 6-19 DEC 72 ON MOON 11-17[?] DEC RON EVANS."

Apparently Commander Evans didn't remove the stainless steel band to accomplish this as the "writing" is a bit rough and shaky. The apparent '7' in the 'ON MOON' phrase was certainly intended by him to be a '4' but, being directly below the band's attachment to the watch, and due to the size of the portable engraving machine, the number was not clearly engraved.

There is no doubt – due to photographic evidence, authentication and a letter of certification from Ron Evans' wife, Jan Evans – that this watch belonged to Commander Evans, and that he took it with him on Apollo 17.

Like I said, it doesn't get a whole lot cooler than this...

April 1 Space Auction gets a nice mention in today’s New York Times

March 20, 2009
Posted by Noah

National publicity, even international publicity, is not new to a world-class agency like Heritage. Just in my seven months here I’ve watched – and had the pleasure to be an active participant in – more than a dozen stories that have broken widespread across newswires and related media outlets across the globe. You add to this the extensive category-specific PR we get, then it starts to expand exponentially into much higher numbers.

Today, though, on this glorious Dallas spring Friday – I kid you not when I say it is a gorgeous day here, as good as it gets in Dallas in my humble opinion – we all got a little kick when we saw that our own Michael Riley, Chief Cataloger and Historian, was quoted in the New York Times today in a nice little piece about our April 1 Space Exploration Auction here at Heritage world HQ, which I wrote about just last week. As a major player in the auction world, we’re all usually pretty sanguine about a story hitting big, but the cachet of the Times makes this one just a little sweeter. It is, after all, America’s paper of record for just about everything.

Michael is a good man and an amazing researcher and historian – and he’s just one of the many superb talents in this building that makes it such a pleasure to come to this beautiful place every day – and he deserves to be quoted for this auction, and he deserves whatever attention may come his way today for his contribution. A passing week has not dimmed my observation that the April 1 Space auction is so cool I can hardly contain my excitement.

I wrote to our resident celebrity to ask him if I could get an autograph before he is partying like a rock star with A-list starlets, and he quickly rebuffed my request – all in good humor, I assure you.

“I think I’ll retire while I’m on top,” he wrote.

In all seriousness, though, the NYT article is just the topper for all the hard work that Michael and the rest of the Space and Americana team has done to make not only this auction such a great success, but also to put Heritage squarely on the top of the heap when it comes to this niche of the market. Clearly, even the space exploration of almost 40 years ago still has the same power to capture our imaginations as it did then.

If you have a few minutes and want to spend some quality digital time with an amazingly cool collection of stuff, much of which actually saw the lunar surface, then grab a cup of coffee, kick back and click on this link. It’s time you’ll find well spent, especially as it fires your imagination into the stratosphere.