Hands On With A Rolex That Landed on the Moon

Screenshot from a video of the Apollo 14 crew during their luner transit in space. Astronaut Mitchell smiles at the camera, his Rolex GMT Master "Pepsi" on his right wrist. The crew was "hamming it up" over shaving their beards.

Question: if you're a) really into watches and you b) learn about a watch that is older than you that has travelled more than 400,000 miles through the vastness of space to the surface of the moon and back and c) discover the watch is within easy driving distance, what do you do?

Answer: you get in the car, drive to the watch, and you check it out. So that's what I did.

The watch in question is a Rolex GMT Master reference 1675 "Pepsi." This particular GMT Master has out-of-this world provenance. Literally. And I thank the team at RR Auctions for granting me some time to check it out, they were gracious and generous hosts.

Here's the deal: on January 31, 1971, NASA astronaut CAPT Ed Mitchell, PhD USN launched from Florida aboard a Saturn V rocket.

Screenshot from a video of Astronaut Mitchell checking the setting on his Rolex GMT Master during suit-up for launch. His Omega Speedmaster is visible affixed by an elongated strap on the left wrist of his suit.

Archival video and photo records indicate that he wore two watches at launch. One was an Omega Speedmaster, the so-called "Moonwatch." That was on his left wrist. On the right, tucked under an elastic shirt cuff, was the Rolex GMT Master. This is the Rolex I put on my own wrist a few days ago.

Now, I haven't gone down the rabbit hole enough to learn exactly why the Apollo 14 astronauts outfitted themselves this way (for reasons I don't need to go into here, I believe all three Apollo 14 crew members chose to wore a Speedmaster and GMT Master).

Screenshot from a video of Astronaut Mitchell checking the fit on his Rolex GMT Master during suit-up for launch. His Omega Speedmaster is visible affixed by an elongated strap on the left wrist of his suit.

The most obvious explanation is redundancy. If you have many watches running (six among the three astronauts plus whatever timekeeping the spacecraft offers), it is easier to figure out if any one is gaining or losing time more than the others. Also, keeping track of time was (and is) a multidimensional challenge for astronauts. During the Apollo 14 mission, time was measured using a "Ground Elapsed Time" which started at 0 at the moment of liftoff. The launch took place in Florida, which is in the Eastern Standard timezone but ground control was located in Houston, which is in the Central Daylight timezone. Apollo missions were tracked by stations in Madrid, California and two cities in Australia, providing even more potential need to track multiple timezones. A few Rolex GMTs would no doubt help with this task. The Speedmaster would help with any effort to track elapsed time over periods lasting twelve hours or less.

With that behind us, let's talk about Mitchell's GMT Master.

Mitchell's Rolex GMT Master, photo taken at RR Auctions.

Crown side profile view of Mitchell's GMT Master, photo taken at RR Auctions.

The timepiece is in very good condition with wear you would expect for a watch that is over 50 years old. The bezel has slightly faded. There are some light scuff marks on the crystal. The dial is quite attractive, the lume has picked up a patinated hue which is generally sought after by collectors.

The case appears unpolished. The bevels on the lugs are sharp and the crown guard also maintains a sharp profile. The bracelet has folded links with hollow end links. The only question mark I have with respect to originality comes from the hour and second hands. The lume on those hands does not quite match the color of the other lume plots. There are highly experienced dealers who believe that, in general, such color differences are not necessarily an indication that the hands have been swapped. And, I have seen a similar color difference on another Rolex GMT Pepsi which flew on an Apollo mission of this era (can't really go into more details than that). After moving the watch around a bit to take different photos, I noticed that the seconds hand started running.

One of the more striking features of the watch is the engraving on the caseback. It reads "Worn by CDR E. Mitchell on Apollo 14, 1971 To Karlin - My Daughter." This engraving is extraordinarily touching and serves as some corroboration of the watch's provenance. There is a footnote, though, when it comes to the caseback. Mitchell's daughter spelled her name Karlyn, a point first made to me by Nicholas Gould, aka @niccoloy, on Instagram (in fact, I tip my hat to Nick because it was his post which drew my attention to this watch). Nick also shared that these type of engraving errors did happen on some more famous watches (in addition, I asked a very well known dealer if he had concerns over this watch's provenance but he did not offer any).

Mitchell's GMT Master on my wrist.

In sum, spending time with Michell's space-flown and moon-landed watch was one of those moments where I kind of had to pinch myself. When I returned from my visit, I found video of Mitchell floating in one of the Apollo modules in transit between the Earth and the Moon, the Rolex GMT on his wrist. I saw pictures of Mitchell wearing the watch while "suiting up" before launch and setting the watch's time. And I just couldn't believe that I was fortunate enough to place the very same watch on my own wrist.

Interest in Michell's Pepsi Rolex GMT is running very high. Even as I finish writing this post, bids have reached six figures, $132,000 to be exact. There are still sixteen days left of bidding. My hope is that Mitchell's Rolex ends up in either a museum or in Geneva, alongside the other historically important watches that Rolex owns. Even better, I hope one day, after the sale has ended, Mitchell's GMT appears at a long-rumored official Rolex museum, on public display with the other historically important GMTs that Rolex, apparently, has in its collection. Let's hope that day comes soon.

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