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TLIGuy
·It has been a couple of years now but I remember Jim Ragan telling me "Never believe what you read on the internet," after asking him to sign March 1, 1965, on his case back for my collection as the Speedmaster Qualification date. Jim told me he would sign a piece for my collection but said he would only sign the June 1, 1965, date as the "official" date that NASA qualifies and accepts the Speedmaster for the Gemini program. I relented and he told me that if anyone questioned the date when I shared it I could tell them "You heard it straight from the hoses mouth that June 1, 1965, is the correct date."
A few weeks later, shared at an event hosted by Omega, the PuristPro website posted the first picture of the stamped NASA June 1, 1965, letter "officially" accepting the Speedmater for use.
While it is true that testing is tied up around March 1, 1965, and watches do fly in March 1965, it is not until later that it is made official by NASA.
A copy of the June 1, 1965, stamped letter now appears on the Omega website.
Jim Ragan's case back has always been the most well received piece in the collection. I think the picture I did for his piece is one of the better composed pictures I have done. Jim was kind enough to share one of his last few original NASA business cards which is pictured in the image as well.
Also, for those of you that have endured me flogging my collection over the years you may have noticed the time on the watches are set to the time of the event on the case back. Since Jim's piece does not include a time the watch is set to 6:01 with the chronograph hand set at 65 on the tachymeter scale representing the date and year.
Jim was also gracious enough to sign this picture as well.
I'll leave you with a great interview with Jim Ragan "The Original Speedy" from MONOCHROME.
A few weeks later, shared at an event hosted by Omega, the PuristPro website posted the first picture of the stamped NASA June 1, 1965, letter "officially" accepting the Speedmater for use.
While it is true that testing is tied up around March 1, 1965, and watches do fly in March 1965, it is not until later that it is made official by NASA.
A copy of the June 1, 1965, stamped letter now appears on the Omega website.
Jim Ragan's case back has always been the most well received piece in the collection. I think the picture I did for his piece is one of the better composed pictures I have done. Jim was kind enough to share one of his last few original NASA business cards which is pictured in the image as well.
Also, for those of you that have endured me flogging my collection over the years you may have noticed the time on the watches are set to the time of the event on the case back. Since Jim's piece does not include a time the watch is set to 6:01 with the chronograph hand set at 65 on the tachymeter scale representing the date and year.
Jim was also gracious enough to sign this picture as well.
I'll leave you with a great interview with Jim Ragan "The Original Speedy" from MONOCHROME.
Edited:
