The Omega Speedmaster has become a true icon in the watch world that is very desirable to many collectors. Not only for its classic design that makes the wearer fall in love, but also the social media campaigns it has spurred on like #speedyTuesday. Obviously, the Speedmaster has a lot of heritage behind it, and countless stories can be told of what it has done for the history of horology. The most well known story being the fact that the Speedmaster was used on the moon. But we are here to tell you a story about a watch enthusiast who has a huge connection to his Speedmaster through his daughters after school activities.

The collector, a friend of Life on the Wrist, purchased this watch in 1998, the year it was manufactured, on one of his business trips to Japan. At the time, he had a collection of Seiko watches, but wanted to add a Swiss piece or two to his collection. He had never purchased a chronograph before, so this was his first step into buying a complication. He brought the watch to his home in Connecticut where the real story comes to life.

This gentleman had a daughter who was a very big swimmer. She had competed at extremely high levels and was looking to continue her passion through University. 1998 was her first year of high school and she had just had been asked to join the swim team! Because she was a relatively serious swimmer, she wanted to keep track of her times and had asked her father to help her. Well this is where our dear friend, the Speedmaster, came into her life.

For four years, the gentleman used his trusty Speedmaster with the Omega caliber 3220 to time his daughters swim races. He remembers sitting at countless swim meets watching his daughter swim faster than anyone else in the pool. Her main strokes were backstroke and freestyle where she dominated the 100m and 200m races. All the while, the Speedmaster sat on his wrist counting the seconds in took her to take the strokes towards the end of the pool. He had a small book where he would write the date, meet name, race and her time for each event. We had asked him to keep the booklet with the watch, but he decided to give that to his daughter with a picture of him wearing his Omega Speedmaster inside.

The Omega Speedmaster did go to the moon, but the stories it can tell are so much bigger than that. For him, it was the bond between him and his daughter. And we hope the lucky new owner gets to enjoy its past, and create a beautiful future this Speedmaster.

Oh, and she did end up swimming at University. Actually, she swam at three national meets for her school and was a three time All American swimmer... I think this Speedmaster had something to do with it!

The watch is for sale here on our watch store.