Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch 3861 Review

"with great power comes great responsibility, also with a expensive pricetag comes higher expectation" is the first things that come to mind when i got my grail which is omega speedmaster 3861.

i got this unit 2nd (originally from 2022) from some grey dealer in indonesia for around 5200$ specifically the hesalite version. i intend to bought a sapphire version unfortunately it isnt avaible and cost 700$ more for 2nd market.

there are a few limited edition offered but i like the standard version better. for me most of the limited edition speedmaster dont look good except a few (ultraman, apollo 11 anniv, etc).

history

the box came up with nice booklet about the history of the speedmaster, and i think its worth to share with you guys:

1957 omega speedmaster was born

1962 astronaut wally schirra wear his own speedmaster on mercury sigma 7 mission before it is approved by nasa. he orbited the earth six times

1965 omega speedmaster was certified by nasa for all manned space missions

1969 omega speedmaster was used in the first lunar landing on apollo 11 mission and the legend of the moonwatch was born which omega milking it until now

1970 the crew of the failed mission apollo 13 relied on the speedmaster to time 14 second engine burn to angle the craft correctly reentering earth atmosphere when all of the electronics equipment failed

1975 russian cosmonauts and american astronauts wore speedmaster during the historic meeting in space which signalled the beginning of the end of cold war

now lets get back to the review shall we

case

the case is 42mm with 13,58mm thickness. its made from stainless steel with brushed and polished finishing. now i dont have too many collection but comparing to my orient kamasu case with 12,8mm thick the omega case doesnt look bigger thx to their side case design. it looks sleek from the side view and feels thin (perfect for small wrist like mine).

the only problem is the sharpness of the lug area, i already compared the sharpness from all of my collection and omega's lug area is the sharpest.

dial and hands

one things that good about speedmaster is the dial, i love the proportion, colour and everything about it. its black dial with a printed indices, they also got superluminova lume at every hour indices. the subdial consist of running seconds indicator at 9 hour position, twelve hour counter at 6 hour position, and thirty minutes scale at 3 hour position. all of the hands are pencil shaped except the arrow hand for the chronograph function. i like how omega put the dial near the crystal, looking back at my other collection feels their dial burried deep down inside the case.

but there is one problem which is missaligment from my chronograph hand, i dont know if any other speedmaster got a missaligment too probably fellow speedmaster owner can comment down below.

crystal

the biggest let down of this watch is of course the dome hesalite crystal, i mean why didnt they just put "more" modern material like sapphire. i know it is neccesary for astronaut to use hesalite but i think it would made more sense these day to just put sapphire in it. but man they offered the sapphire version too right? yes of course but for 700$ more on 2nd market.

however there is one i liked about hesalite, it doesnt reflect too many light as the mineral or sapphire. there is also very small omega logo on the center of the crystal.

bezel insert

another things that i didnt like about the watch is the aluminium tachymeter bezel. how come 6000$ watch bezel used the same material as 300$ (or less) diver watch. i think ceramic would be a good option for the bezel insert at this price range.

caseback

the speedmaster have a solid stainless steel caseback with seahorse logo at the center of it. they also put nasa certified, and first watch on the moon writing around the caseback. its a nice caseback, i got no problem for it. i also like the sapphire version caseback, its nice to look at the beautiful 3861 movement sometimes.

movement

from 2021 omega released 3861 caliber for the speedmaster which replace 1861 caliber. from my research i wouldnt say 3861 is an omega in house movement. i think its a improved version of manual winding lemania 1873. the difference between 1861 and 3861 is omega put coaxial module on the movement which improved 2 hour power reserved, prolonge service time, and better accuracy.

the 3861 movement is also meta certified which is a good thing i guess 😃😃.

bracelet and clasp

one thing that i like about this model is the bracelet. the bracelet is president style (kind of) with full brushed finishing. it has 20mm lug width at the top to 15mm lug width at the clasp, perfect for small wrist like mine. i really like the style and the finishing.

looking at the clasp style remind me of rimowa suitcase lol, its also equipped with foldover clasp with two micro adjusment.

but just like the lug area from the case this clasp is sharp too, i think its better if omega chamfered the edge a little bit.

conclusion

after a few years into this hobby i realized that history and brand names become the most important factor that decide the price of the watch and what about the speedmaster? i think its a good watch with great history, movement, and looks however i think my expectation was a bit more higher. eliminating sharp edge, more updated specs without charging more would be appreciated by us. but thats just my opinion, so what do you guys think about speedmaster? do you think it is good enough? cheers🍻