One of the most important moments in the history of Omega - and of mankind at large - was when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface of the moon in 1969, with an Omega Speedmaster on their wrist. The return in publicity for Omega, who had been selected in 1965 as NASA supplier, was simply enormous. To commemorate the occasion, a series of 1014 gold speedmaster with engraved case back was issued. Number one and number two were offered to the President and Vice President of the United States (who however could not accept due to compliance reasons. These watches are now at the Omega museum). Numbers 3 to 32 (and also, later, number 1001 to 1014) were given to astronauts and various personalities and feature a special nominal case back engraving. The remaining pieces (nos 33 - 1000) were publicly sold. This present watch is an example of this historical line of celebrative timepieces.

As a matter of fact, the series features an evolution of case and dial. Three variation of the case back are recognized: early examples (circa the first 100 pieces) feature a thin unpainted engraving, then comes a thick unpainted engraving (exemplified by the present watch) and finally we have the burgundy-painted engraving. Dial-wise, instead, one can identify early dials most easily distinguishable by the O in "Omega" having an oval design, and later dials with round O.

The present piece is one of the earliest representative - being number 163 - of the second series of both case and dial. Its superlative condition make it an extremely rare find, and a trophy piece for the collector of rare and unusual Omega wristwatches.