The Mystery of Buzz's Lost (and found?) Moon Watch

"James Oberg"
The Mystery of Buzz's Missing Moon Watch -- Found??
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniont...1n12watch.html

no work. try
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/s...1n12watch.html
Text at end of post.


Ran into a fellow that was wearing one of these...it was the Apollo Moon Landing
Commemorative edition. He paid $1800 for it, and it has a picture of the (LEM?)
stamped on the back.

It looks to me that this Morley fellow has a clear title to the watch. The quit
claim suit was brought at least as much to formalize the provenance as it was to
clear the title. I was guessing the thing was worth at least a million, and the
Trib article says $2-4 million. This lucky guy owns the first watch worn on the
moon.

KB
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More links....

The watch described specifically in para 7 of quit claim suit as...

7. The personal property which is the subject matter of this action is one each
Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph Wrist Watch having the movement
number 26'549'951, caliber 321 manufactured on November 29, 1968, with reference
number ST 145.012, and it is further believed that subject watch is serial
number 043, also known as "the Moon Watch".


http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-101303a.html#1014

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-101303b.html

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/s...1n12watch.html

Timepiece found on beach spurs legal fight

By Marisa Taylor
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

October 12, 2003



NASA
Astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, who wore a watch aboard Apollo 11, is part of an
ownership dispute over a watch that is thought to have been worn by him during
his moon walk.

Among collectors, it's known as the missing moon watch, an Omega Speedmaster
that astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. wore during his historic 1969 walk on the
moon.

Sometime in the early 1970s, the watch disappeared on its way to the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, D.C. An investigation went nowhere, and it looked
like the watch would never be seen again.

Now the coveted timepiece may have resurfaced just as mysteriously as it
vanished.

Stephen Morley, a retired sales clerk from Long Beach, said he bought the watch
after seeing it for sale in a weekly advertising publication. To establish
ownership, he filed a lawsuit that has ended up in San Diego's federal court.

Morley's claim pits him against Aldrin, the Smithsonian and the nation's space
program, who all insist the watch is theirs.

No one can say for sure what the watch would be worth if it turns out to be
authentic.

Although it still keeps time after a little winding, it's no longer in perfect
condition. The specially-designed Velco band that once fit outside the sleeve of
Aldrin's spacesuit is missing, and the face is scratched.

Richard Van Dyke, Morley's lawyer, said his research indicates the watch could
be worth between $2 million and $4 million.

Everyone agrees on one thing: It's worth far more than the $175 Morley paid for
it.

Already, lawyers are comparing the case to a San Francisco court battle fought
by two men over the baseball hit by slugger Barry Bonds for his 73rd home run of
2001. Last year, a judge ordered the men to sell the record-setting ball and
split the money.

No one involved in the moon-watch dispute believes it will be resolved the same
way.

If the watch is authentic, which the attorneys say looks increasingly likely,
Aldrin argues it should be returned to him because he received it from NASA as
part of an astronaut tradition that continues today.

"If Buzz had found someone else's watch, knowing the kind of guy he is, he'd
give it back to him," said Robert O'Brien, Aldrin's lawyer and a partner in a
Los Angeles firm that represents several astronauts on various issues. "He
certainly understands that Mr. Morley has something he believes is very
valuable, but Buzz would be extraordinarily grateful if Mr. Morley decided to
give him the watch back."

NASA and the Smithsonian insist neither Aldrin nor Morley is entitled to the
watch, contending in court papers that, if its authenticity is proven, it
belongs to the government.

Morley acknowledges the government and Aldrin have legitimate claims, but he
believes he should be recognized as at least a part-owner.

"If it weren't for me, there wouldn't be a watch," he said. "I could've put
another crystal on it, a new back, and worn it for another 20 years and died
with it and nobody would have known the difference."

Morley, 52, originally filed the lawsuit in April after he said he tried
unsuccessfully for years to get information from the government.

"I don't know if we'll ever know the actual story of what happened to the
watch," he said. "They claimed they lost all the documents."


First watch on the moon
Aldrin couldn't be reached for an interview, but he described the disappearance
of the watch in his 1973 book, "Return to Earth."
Soon after the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin said he decided to let the Smithsonian
exhibit the watch. By then, it was recognized as the first watch worn on the
moon. Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 astronaut who first set foot on the moon's
surface, had left his Omega watch in the lunar module.

Aldrin, who is now 73 and lives in Southern California, said he saw the watch
for the last time when special packers hired by NASA shipped it to the
Smithsonian. When the package arrived, the watch was missing.

As a result of the disappearance, the General Accounting Office, in a decision
Aldrin described as "rather narrow-minded," ordered all astronauts to return
their watches to NASA.

"The matter probably never would have become an issue had I not decided to let
the Smithsonian have my watch, and I felt badly for the other astronauts, nearly
all of whom were grumbling audibly," he wrote. "I, meanwhile, started filling
out special forms about the loss of my watch - and kept filling out one form or
another for the next year until the matter was dropped."

Morley said he discovered the watch in the early 1990s. The first time he saw it
advertised, he thought the $200 asking price was too high. When he saw the ad
again the following week, he bargained until he got it for $175.

The owner was a San Diego college student who said his father found the watch on
the beach near Santa Barbara in the early 1970s. Morley now thinks that Aldrin
lost the watch on the beach when he was watching Apollo 15 fly overhead - and
that Aldrin mistakenly sent the Smithsonian another watch he had been given by
NASA.

Aldrin's attorneys dispute that theory, and Morley said he can't verify the
story because he didn't keep the former owner's name.

Morley wore the watch for a couple of years and at one point even painted his
house with the Omega strapped to his wrist.

People kept asking him where it came from. And when he tried to sell several
other watches, a collector tried to buy it for $1,000.

At that point, Morley decided to do some research.

He unscrewed the back of the watch, scrutinizing it until he found a microscopic
"43" inside - the number believed to have been assigned to Aldrin's watch.

"I was kind of obsessed," Morley said. "I'd come home and freak on this watch
because I had this feeling. Everybody thought I was nuts."

Eventually, he contacted the Smithsonian. Museum officials didn't ignore his
theory, but they weren't exactly helpful.

He tried to force the government to release details about Aldrin's watch under
the Freedom of Information Act. Nothing came of those requests, either.

Somehow, the FBI got wind of his discovery and he said agents initially accused
him of stealing the moon watch. But he said they dropped the matter when he told
them the story.

"I asked if I could sell the watch and they said, 'Go right ahead.' I decided to
try to bring legitimacy to the watch and its potential owners by filing the
lawsuit. I want to see this resolved."

In the meantime, Morely is keeping the watch in a safe place.

"Let's just say it's undisclosed," he said with a grin.

Take a look at those on EBay. No matter how you cut it, they are expensive and
highly prized. Too expensive for me, and I would love one.
It isn't the first watch worn on the moon. It's the first watch to return from the
moon to Earth. Neil's is splattered deep inside some impact crater. He accidently
left it inside the LEM. Now the guy with the first metal detector on the moon might
have something....

RDG

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 10:01:09 -0500, RDG wrote:

It isn't the first watch worn on the moon. It's the first watch to
return from the moon to Earth. Neil's is splattered deep inside some
impact crater. He accidently left it inside the LEM. Now the guy with
the first metal detector on the moon might have something....

Not quite.

Armstrong's watch is safely in the collection of the National Air and
Space Museum. It's listed along with the location of many other Apollo
Omega Speedmaster in the text of the lawsuit filing.

Armstrong did leave his watch in the LM during the EVA. The mission timer
in the LM had failed and Armstrong and Aldrin had decided to leave Neil's
watch behind as a backup in case both watches got damage during the EVA.
This is discussed in the "EVA Preparations" section of the Apollo 11 Lunar
Surface Journal.

So Aldrin's watch was the only one worn on the lunar surface during the
Apollo 11 EVA, and therefore the first watch worn on the lunar surface.
But both watches did in fact make it back to earth.

As far as the first watch to make it back from the moon to the earth, I'd
say that it was a tie, and depending on how you want to interpret the
phrase "from the moon" a case could be made that the honor would go to the
watches worn on Apollo 8.

Remarkable story. Thanks, Rick!

metal detector splattered watch in a crater....right

wassup wrote:

metal detector splattered watch in a crater....right

Another non-believer.