Omega 3594.50 Speedmaster "Replica" 1957 Broad Arrow

The Under The Radar Speedmaster Watch

This Omega Speedmaster watch was introduced in 1997 and celebrated the 40th anniversary of the model. At the time, it was one of the first Omega watches that we would call a “re-edition” today. The efforts were well-meant but not as good as Omega does now. Omega took the case of its Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” and used another set of hands (“Broad Arrow”), a steel bezel and a dial with the applied Omega logo and lack of “Professional”. Those details were, at least, right.

Replica vs Relaunch

This Speedmaster watch was part of the famous mission cases, that contains 22 mission patch watches, this Speedmaster’57, and a spare movement. Only 50 of these cases were ever produced (of which 40 were meant for selling). Omega, strangely enough, called this watch officially “Speedmaster’57 Replica”. A name that raised a red flag with many collectors and enthusiasts. But if you can look past that, this Speedmaster watch is actually a very attractive model. Later on by the way, in 2017, when Omega introduced a proper “replica” of the first Speedmaster CK2915 for its 60th anniversary, they referred to this 1997 model as “Relaunch” edition on their famous Speedmaster poster (available through boutiques at the time) showing a number of interesting references.

This Speedmaster watch was in production from 1997 till 2003. That means it can come with two types of bracelets (reference 1499 and reference 1998), where one has the push buttons on the clasp and the older one doesn’t. Both are correct though. Also, this watch was first delivered in a black leather box, and later on in the famous red leather Omega box.