Not too long ago, three of our favorite blogs ran a piece about a limited edition Omega http://www.speedroc.com/replica-omega-speedmaster-broad-arrow-gmt.html called the Alaska Project. The watch was a rare modern day Speedmaster with a white face and a red-anodised aluminium outer case that would protect it in temperatures anywhere from -148F and +260F. These three articles (which all tell you much of the same information as one another), can be found on Men.Style.Com, JoshSpear.com, and of course Gizmodo. Three big blogs felt this watch was big news, and we agree completely. It is a really interesting watch, no question about it. However, we would now like to show you the watch that inspired the modern-day Alaska Project replica omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow, one that was actually designed by Omega to replace the the original Moon Watch. Yes it's true, the original Speedmaster Professional had made it to the moon and back, but Omega being Omega, they wanted to produce a Speedmaster even more durable than the current model. They handed the project to a man named Pierre Chopard (no, not of THAT Chopard). Chopard and his team worked tirelessly to develop a replica omega Seamaster 300m that could withstand the greatest limits of galactic exploration, resulting in a patent in 1973 for the outer-case design. They also got rid of the black face (which absorbed heat) and replaced it with a white one. The classic hands of the Speedmaster were also revised. The chronograph seconds hand was replaced with a red one and all other hands were black (in lieu of the traditional white). To allow for even better readability and contrast, the chronograph minute and hour hands introduced a new feature: their lower ends featured a large triangle that helped to increase ��directional focus�� for example when a user is forced to take readings at a glance in difficult conditions. Shaped like the NASA Space Capsules, these hands became known as ��Apollo Hands�� (though some will point out that they do indeed look more like the Capsules used in the Mercury and Gemini Projects). After the patent had been granted and Chopard's team had completed all testing, they submitted the new and improved Speedmaster to NASA for review. NASA said "no thanks, we're good." Basically, NASA was content with using the existing Speedmaster Professional as is, and the Alaska Original Alaska Project Patent Filings Project was officially called off. It was not until just this past year that people even really spoke of the Alaska Project again, when Omega released their tribute pieces which all the blogs picked up. But, what happened to the original Prototype Alaska Project Speedmasters from the early 1970s? Well, here's one of them. Coming to us from Antiquorum's most recent auction, this is an original Alaska Project Speedmaster with the red outer-casing. The pre-sale estimate for this original prototype was 40,000CHF-60,000CHF, but ended up selling for a bargain price of 33,000CHF, or roughly $27,000. This probably one of the coolest Speedmasters ever made, and we would like to congratulate whoever picked up this amazing piece of Omega (and NASA) history just this past week in Geneva.