The renowned Swiss watch maker, Omega, is launching a worldwide advertising campaign for its Speedmaster chronographs, featuring images of President John F. Kennedy.

It is because of Omega’s longstanding connection with our nation’s first manned space flights that an image of JFK was chosen for this campaign.  By the time astronaut Gordon Cooper made his history-making space flight on May 15, 1963, he was already a huge fan of the Omega Speedmaster, and this watch had become the first “exclusive watch” of NASA, approved for use on all manned space flights.

Mr. Cooper was one of seven heroic astronauts to enter the Mercury space program.  Then, another astronaut, Wally Shirra, wore the Omega Speedmaster on his flight into space.

President Kennedy played a vital role in promoting America’s space program, and the first lunar landing, starting with the challenge that he voiced to Congress in May of 1961.  He echoed this challenge a year later in a speech at Rice University, where he said, “We choose to go to the moon.”

It is those words that are featured in the new Omega Speedmaster campaign, alongside Kennedy’s image and the iconic Omega Watches that made the historic trips.

While Kennedy was no longer alive when it finally happened, a few years later Apollo 11 would land squarely on the face of the moon, with Neil Armstrong’s historic steps being taken while wearing an Omega Speedmaster.