Yesterday, Rory McIlroy became just the sixth golfer in history to complete a career Grand Slam. His victory at the 89th Masters at Augusta National means McIlroy has now won all four major championships. Eagle- (or birdie) eyed watch addicts, however, will have been just as interested in the timepiece poking out from his newly received green jacket: the Omega Speedmaster 50th Anniversary Silver Snoopy.
Omega isn’t a brand that one finds on the fairway too often. It’s Rolex that has a longstanding relationship with golf going back all the way to the late 1960s. (Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Gary Player were, or are, all Rolex men.) When we do see a watch on the green, we thus almost reflexively expect a gold Day-Date on a jangly President bracelet (or, if you’re Jack Nicklaus, a surprising rubber bracelet, as watch spotter Nick Gould pointed out this weekend). However, McIlroy is a longtime Omega ambassador, and even has his own signature Speedmaster ’57. Thus he chose to wear not only a hand-wound chronograph on a leather strap, but one with a…cartoon character on the dial!
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There’s a perfectly good explanation for this, of course: The Silver Snoopy Award (which features the cartoon beagle created by Charles M. Schultz) was created to honor NASA employees who contribute significantly to mission safety and success. Presented by NASA astronauts to their coworkers, it largely consists of a flight-worn Snoopy lapel pin as well as a certificate. In 1970, Omega—whose Speedmaster is the longtime flight-certified watch worn by NASA astronauts—received the Silver Snoopy Award in recognition of the crucial part it played in getting the Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth.
In 2003, Omega first made good on this honor with a special Speedy, ref. 3578.51, featuring Snoopy in the small seconds register and on the caseback. A white-dialed edition followed in 2015 in time for the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. Finally, in 2020, the mission’s 50th anniversary saw the creation of a new execution: A 42-mm steel case is ringed by a blue ceramic tachymeter bezel with “dot over 90” insert in white enamel. The laser-engraved silver dial once again features Snoopy in the blue running seconds register, this time with the words “50th Anniversary” proudly displayed above him. Flip it over and the moon’s surface is depicted with Snoopy traveling in the Command and Service Module (CSM)—which actually rotates around the dial when the chronograph is in use. (The Earth likewise rotates once a minute.)
The $10,600 special Speedy—which is still available on Omega’s website—seems a far cry from modern sport watch fare. That’s what makes McIlroy’s choice all the more exciting. After cementing the greatest achievement of his career, McIlroy still didn’t take himself so seriously. It is meant to be a celebration after all. And in a world in which one brand largely dominates the game, it was fun to see some variety—especially at the conclusion of such a nail-biter of a match.