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Full Coverage: Buzz's missing moon watch
Article index:
Watch not Aldrin's, lawsuit dismissed
June 23, 2004 — Mr. Stephen Morely does not own the watch Buzz Aldrin wore on the Moon.
So was the finding by NASA that lead Morely to drop the federal lawsuit he filed last October against the space agency and moonwalker to claim ownership of the watch, reports the San Diego Union Tribune. Morely had hoped the case would force NASA and the Smithsonian to authenticate the Omega Speedmaster timepiece, which he said he purchased from a college student whose father had found it on a beach near Santa Barbara, California.
Morely had suspected the watch was flown after learning that Aldrin's had gone missing in the early 1970s and subsequently discovering "43" etched on its reverse. The number, Morely believed, may have corresponded to the serial NASA assigned to the Speedmaster Aldrin wore on the Moon.
"After extensive investigation, including the deposition of a former NASA employee involved in the Apollo 11 program, both Aldrin and the United States concluded that the watch was not the watch Aldrin had worn and that they had no interest in the watch," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Plaxico wrote in papers asking a federal judge to dismiss the suit, as quoted by the Tribune.
A San Diego judge dismissed the case last Wednesday.
Yet Morely's lawyer is not convinced the watch might still not be authentic. Richard Van Dyke told the Tribune that he believed the Smithsonian Institution should have documents to identify the watch, which they did or could not provide.
"There really is no way for us to know what engravings are supposed to be on this watch," Van Dyke told the Tribune. "The custody of our nation's artifacts have been entrusted to the wrong people."
Watch would be sold, proceeds split
October 17, 2003 — Stephen Morely, in an interview with The Washington Post, has stated his desire to sell the Omega Speedmaster he claims to have been the watch worn by Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, should the lawsuit he filed for its title be ruled in his favor.
Comparing the dispute over the watch with Barry Bonds' 73rd home run baseball which a judge later ordered to be sold and the profits split, Morely has said he would share the proceeds with Aldrin and the Smithsonian.
"I told them I want to create a win/win/win," told Morely to the Post.
Aldrin and the government are more interested in return of the watch. "[Aldrin] would love to have it back. In addition, if the Smithsonian wanted it to exhibit, he would lend it to them," said Aldrin's attorney, Robert O'Brien.
The article quotes an unnamed representative of the federal government as saying "if the watch is the one worn by Buzz Aldrin during his moon walk, the watch is the property of the government".
Text of lawsuit and Omega locations
October 14, 2003 — Presented in its entirely in text format: "STEPHEN A. MORELY V. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; BUZZ ALDRIN; ALL PERSONS UNKNOWN CLAIMING ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE RIGHT, TITLE, ESTATE, LIEN, OR INTEREST IN THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED IN THE COMPLAINT ADVERSE TO PLAINTIFF'S TITLE, OR CLAIMING ANY CLOUD ON PLAINTIFF'S TITLE THERETO" as filed by Van Dyke & Associates on April 11, 2003.
As part of our research into this story, we are currently trying to locate all Omega Speedmaster Professionals worn on lunar orbit or the surface of the Moon.
Listed below are the watches we have located, organized by mission and noted with their serial numbers:
| Apollo 8 |
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William Anders |
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044 |
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United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD |
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| Apollo 8 |
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James Lovell |
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060 |
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Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL |
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| Apollo 10 |
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Thomas Stafford |
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027 |
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National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC |
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| Apollo 11 |
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Neil Armstrong |
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046 |
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National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC |
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| Apollo 11 |
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Michael Collins |
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073 |
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National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC |
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| Apollo 12 |
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Richard Gordon |
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057 |
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The Omega Museum, Bienne, Switzerland |
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| Apollo 14 |
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Alan Shepard |
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075 |
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Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas |
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| Apollo 14 |
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Edgar Mitchell |
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077 |
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U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, Titusville, Florida |
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| Apollo 15 |
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Alfred Worden |
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045 |
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on loan to him from the Smithsonian |
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| Apollo 17 |
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Ronald Evans |
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061 |
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Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas |
If you know of an addition or correction to this list, please e-mail: omegasp@collectspace.com
Lawsuit filed over missing moon watch
"In the course of getting ready to move, I decided to offer a number of things to the Smithsonian. Several objects I took along to the moon and some of the gifts presented on the world tour were included, and the institute quickly accepted. I also included the Omega watch I had worn on the surface of the moon. It was the only such watch, because a timer malfunction in the LM had prompted Neil to leave his watch in the LM. NASA hired special packers who inventoried and shipped the collection to Washington.
"The watches used in space were ordinary store-bought Omegas, which were given to the various crews several months before the flight and, by tradition, were kept by the individual astronaut after the flight. The Smithsonian had expressed an interest in exhibiting my watch because it was unique, and I readily agreed.
"When the packages arrived at the Smithsonian, the watch -- along with several medals -- was missing. NASA quickly launched a security investigation but could not turn up any clues. The Government Accounting Office got wind of the investigation, and in what I think was a rather narrow-minded decision, ordered that all watches be returned to NASA. When we heard about this we figured NASA would tell the officious GAO people to mind their own business. Instead NASA avoided any confrontation and agreed with the GAO.
"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. 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."
- Buzz Aldrin, Return To Earth (1973)
October 13, 2003 -- Buzz Aldrin's watch that he wore on the Moon, missing since 1971, may have been found, but its new owner doesn't want to return it.
Stephen Morely of Long Beach, California has filed a lawsuit in federal court to assert he is the rightful owner to the Omega Speedmaster which once graced the wrist of the second man to walk on the lunar surface.
Morely claims to have purchased the watch for $175, responding to an advertisement placed by a college student in the early 1990s, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. The seller, whom Morely no longer remembers by name, said the watch was found by her father in the early 1970s on a beach near Santa Barbara.
After an attempt to sell the watch and a brief encounter with the FBI, Morely decided to file the lawsuit "to bring legitimacy to the watch and its potential owners," he told Marisa Taylor with the Tribune. "I want to see this resolved."
Before any resolution can be reached however, there remains the issue if the watch Morely owns is indeed the Omega that flew to the Moon in 1969.
According to the Tribune, Morely located a serial number etched inside the watch that he believes corresponds to the Speedmaster assigned to Aldrin. He attempted to contact the Smithsonian for assistance, as well as filed a Freedom of Information Act request with NASA, but received little assistance from either.
For their part, the Smithsonian and NASA have each reportedly laid claims on the watch, if it is authentic. So has Aldrin, who through his lawyer told the Tribune that he would hope Morely decides to return the watch to him.
After returning from the Moon, Aldrin had intended to donate the watch to the Smithsonian, when it went missing with a shipment of his artifacts. As of result of the assumed theft, the Government Accounting Office instructed NASA to recover all the astronauts' flown Omega watches.
"It is true that the Smithsonian claims all the flown watches as government property, although most of us have ours 'on permanent loan' from the Smithsonian," wrote Apollo 14 moonwalker Edgar Mitchell in a recent response to his website's message boards. "Mine is at the Space Hall of Fame -- on loan to them."
Morely believes that it wasn't the flown watch which Aldrin sent to the Smithsonian in 1971, but instead some other timepiece NASA had provided him. According to the Tribune, he believes Aldrin lost the Omega he wore on Apollo 11 while standing on a California beach watching Apollo 15 fly overhead.
Morely isn't the first person to step forward with claims of owning Aldrin's lost watch. Over the past 30 years, numerous reports of the missing Omega have surfaced, all of which have been dismissed as false leads.
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