311.32.40.30.02.001, SPEEDMASTER CK2998, PULSOMETER LIMITED EDITION

A ref. 311.32.40.30.02.001, the Speedmaster CK2998 Pulsometer Limited Edition. The white dial carries black subdials in a panda layout, and the red chronograph seconds hand cuts across it all in a single bright line. The bezel is black, but it does not carry a tachymeter: it carries a pulsometer scale, built for taking a pulse rather than measuring speed. The 39.7mm case is slimmer and more vintage in feel than the modern Professional, with straight lugs and no crown guards. Inside is the calibre 1861, the hand-wound chronograph that powered the Moonwatch of its era. It came to us on a black perforated leather strap, a sporting, vintage-leaning choice.

The original CK2998 was the second generation of Omega's Speedmaster, and it earned a place in history in 1962 when astronaut Wally Schirra wore one on his Mercury flight, Sigma 7. It was the first Omega in space, years before NASA's formal qualification of the Speedmaster. Omega returned to the CK2998 with a series of limited editions, each limited to 2,998 pieces in honor of the reference number. The Pulsometer edition took the concept further, replacing the tachymeter with a scale built for medical use. Pulsometer scales were a feature of vintage chronographs made for doctors. This edition pairs that heritage with the CK2998 silhouette.

We sourced this watch for the bezel. Swap the tachymeter for a pulsometer on a Speedmaster and suddenly the watch has a different job, a doctor's chronograph rather than a racer's. Then look at the dial, white with black subdials, and that red seconds hand, a detail that turns every start of the chronograph into an event. The 39.7mm case wears smaller than a Professional and closer to the original 1950s proportions. Limited to 2,998 pieces, it is one of the most distinctive watches Omega built from the CK2998. Nothing else in the Speedmaster family pairs this dial with this bezel. Curated with intent.