Rory McIlroy is one of just three golfers to win four majors before his 25th birthday, the other two: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Now the Northern Irishman joins another select group of athletes – those who have had a version of the Omega Speedmaster made in their honor. The OMEGA Speedmaster ‘57 Rory McIlroy celebrates some of the former world number one’s unparalleled career accomplishments with a watch cast in yellow gold that is a trophy piece in an of itself.
Fortunately, you won’t have to win a major on the PGA tour to own this co-axial chronograph from Omega. The Swiss-made timepiece borrows design elements from the original Speedmaster model released in 1957 while pairing them with others that pay tribute to McIlroy. The sun-brushed champagne dial taken from the original Speedmaster hosts a pair of subdials that surreptitiously conceal the numbers 16 and 61 at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock, respectively. Those numbers are revealed when exposed to UV light as an homage to the catalyst that launched McIlroy’s career: the course record 61 under par that he shot at Royal Portrush Golf Club at just 16 years old. The dial is complemented by a brushed bezel with a tachymeter scale. The 41.5mm case is met by a bracelet made from the same yellow gold that gives the watch a brilliant glow that is impossible to ignore.