18K Gold Commemorative Astronaut Watch Auctioned For Record Breaking $1.9M [Photo]

An 18-karat gold omega watch has broken all records by selling for $1.9 million at an online sale organized by RR auction, which is the highest price paid for an astronaut-owned watch in history.

The timepiece is very special as it is one of the 26 gold watches that were presented to astronauts at a gala dinner honoring the success of the Apollo 11 astronauts. The gold watch belonged to astronaut Wally Schirra. The model of the Omega Speedmaster Professional watch was identical to the one first worn by Schirra in space.

The deal was closed Thursday evening at $1,525,563. Including fees, the watch was finally sold for $1,906,953.75 as part of a space exploration-themed online sale by RR Auction of New Hampshire. The winning bidder was not disclosed.

The previous record holder was a prototype Bulova watch of Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott, and it was the only privately-owned watch to be worn on the surface of the moon. The chronograph was sold for $1.625 million (including the buyer's premium), coincidently, at RR Auction.

The record-breaking Omega watch came with all of its original parts except a rubber gasket and a replaced burgundy bezel procured directly from the Omega factory in Bienne, Switzerland.

Present along with the auctioned watch was a Speedmaster box made for a later anniversary edition watch and a black bezel that Schirra had put in place after losing his original burgundy one.

The watch also came with a document package from the Omega Museum and a letter of authenticity penned by Jo Schirra, Wally Schirra's wife.

Wally Schirra died in 2007 at the age of 84 from abdominal cancer while Jo Schirra died at the age of 91 in 2015.

Astronaut Schirra was also the first person to wear an Omega Speedmaster in space, which he had bought for himself for his 1962 Mercury mission. Later, after becoming the only astronaut to be part of all three NASA missions- Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, NASA issued him a Speedmaster.

On July 20, 1969, an Omega Speedmaster became the first watch to be worn on the moon, by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on mankind's first moonwalk. Four months after the event, Omega celebrated its part in the Apollo mission by gifting 18K gold watches to 26 astronauts associated with the mission.

The gold watches were engraved on the back with each astronaut's name and his mission(s) and the lines, "To mark man's conquest of space with time, through time, on time."

"My husband was among the astronauts in attendance that night and, as such, he received watch number eight of the [26] gold watches that were presented to the first group of astronauts to receive these rare timepieces," Jo Schirra wrote in her letter accompanying the watch. "The early number given to Wally was in honor of his being one of the 'Original Seven' Mercury astronauts."