Watch that has been on the moon sells for $1.6 million

Updated
Watch worn on the moon
Watch worn on the moon



The only privately-owned watch ever worn on the moon has sold at auction for $1.625 million - smashing the $1 million estimate. It goes to show how valuable spacememorabilia is becoming.

The watch was worn by Dave Scott on the Apollo 15 moon mission. It's incredibly rare for a watch that has been on the moon to be up for sale, because all astronauts wore their NASA watches - which remain the property of NASA.

Commander Scott wore his too, but after the second moonwalk, Scott noticed that the crystal of his NASA Omega had popped off when he returned to the cabin, so needed to use his own personal backup watch, the Bulova watch.

We wore it on his third and final moonwalk of the mission: when he saluted the American flag on Hadley Delta, this was the watch photographed on his wrist.

Space value

The watch fetched $1,625,000 at auction - according to Boston-based RR Auction. It wasn't the only piece of space memorabilia to fetch a fortune at the auction. Gordon Cooper's Mercury 9 Flight Plan Roller sold for $89,775, while Dave Scott's Apollo 15 Lunar Surface-Used Rover map sold for $37,485, and Buzz Aldrin's Apollo 11 'Type 2' Flown Cover sold for $36,111.

These are impressive prices, but they don't come as a huge shock for collectors, who have seen prices rocket recently.

The Picollecta Space Memorabilia Index has been rising by around 10% a year for the past 15 years. The experts say this is because the baby boomers, who grew up during the space race, have now got to the stage in life where they have finished raising their families and have spare cash to invest in rare artefacts

The Apollo missions are a particular draw for investors. Items that have been on the surface of the moon are the most prized, followed by those that were on the moon but not outside, and then those that merely orbited the moon.

Most of the very valuable items taken to the moon's surface have been retained by NASA and exhibited in museums. Perhaps it's unsurprising, therefore, that this watch - the only privately-owned watch ever to be worn on the moon - is thought to be the most expensive piece of moon memorabilia ever sold at a public auction.



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