I think what attracts many to the world of watches, nearly as much as the watches themselves, is the history behind them. In many ways, watch history is history ? at least as far as the past hundred-odd years are concerned ? and so the watches we read about or acquire seem as much a part of the great odyssey of human experience as the people who originally wore them. From the countless military watches adorned by warring factions, to the pieces that, through pure determination and willpower, were worn to the highest and lowest points on Earth, to the watches associated with the pinnacle of human accomplishment: landing on the moon and returning to tell the tale. The intricate stories watches tell often reveal fascinating details you wouldn?t find in a history textbook, and it is this reservoir of knowledge that keeps us coming back for more.
One of the more interesting of these stories in the past few years has been that of the Bulova Moon Watch. This watch is a vintage re-creation based upon a 1971 Bulova prototype (pictured above) worn by astronaut Dave Scott during the Apollo 15 space mission. As the legend goes, Scott brought the Bulova as a back-up in case his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster malfunctioned ? which it then did, requiring him to wear the prototype chronograph in its place. He went on to use this watch during his lunar journeys as part of the Apollo 15 mission, making it one of the few non-Speedmaster and non-government-owned pieces to be used on the...