Watches in Space by Anytime

Table of Contents Watches in Space

Watches in Space Watches used in space are manufactured to withstand extreme conditions. And only very few make the cut to qualify as watches to be used in space. The watches used in space have to be of very high quality and made to specification to function in zero gravity conditions and inside pressurized cabins. The gravitational pull on the space craft during the liftoff from the earth and re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere is six times greater than the normal gravity pull. The watches used in space will have to handle temperature fluctuations ranging from -160 to 120 degrees centigrade. Inside the pressurized cabins, the astronauts wear the watches on their wrists but while they are outside for space walks they attach the watches to their space suits using Velcro straps. The watches used by astronauts are tested comprehensively before they are selected. The pioneering space trips were from countries like USA and the erstwhile USSR. Both countries notched up several milestones in different areas.

Yuri Gagarin and Sturmanskije In 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first man to be on space, he wore a mechanical Pobeda brand Sturmanskije on his wrist. Gagarin completed one orbit of the earth. Yuri Gagarin had graduated as a pilot from the famous Orenburg Aviation School. The Sturmanskije watches were awarded to pilots on their graduation day at the famous Orenburg aviation school. After Yuri Gagarin’s flight, the erstwhile USSR government changed the brand name to Poljot meaning ‘flight’. Sturmanskije roughly translates into navigator. The Sturmanskije watches were the traditional choice for pilots due to their high quality and accuracy. Gagarin’s Sturmanskije was a slightly modified version with a seconds hand and could be synchronized, which is a must for a navigator watch. With the warming up of relations between the US and USSR, the US 3

astronauts gifted Omega Speedmaster with the cosmonauts which were very warmly accepted.

Tag Heuer Stop watch John Glenn in February 1962 became the first American to orbit the earth and he made 3 orbits. He had on his wrist a Heuer Stopwatch Reference 2915 A. Thus Tag Heuer became the first Swiss watch in space. Glenn’s watch had been modified with elastic bands so that it fitted over his space suit. Glenn’s watch also served as a ‘backup clock’ for the timing instruments aboard the space ship – Friendship 7. It was a manual stop watch which had to be hand wound.

John Glenn entering Friendship 7 spacecraft prior to launch in February 1962. His Tag Heuer Stopwatch is seen strapped on the right hand. Picture : NASA

Breitling Navitimer 4

Breitling is a Swiss watch manufacturer and started producing chronographs for pilots by 1940s. The chronograph model had a circular slide rule added to their bezel for use by pilots. The model was named the Navitimer model. In 1959, Scott Carpenter was selected as one of the astronauts among seven for their Mercury-Atlas 7 mission. Scott Carpenter wanted a 24-hour dial instead of the then common 12-hour dials. Breitling gave him a 24-hour Navitimer called the Cosmonaute before his Mercury-Atlas mission in May 1962. Unfortunately, it was damaged when Carpenter’s space module landed in the ocean.

Strela Alexey Leonov became the first human being to perform the extra vehicular activity of walking in the outer space in 1965. His walk lasted for 12 minutes. Leonov was wearing a Strela-Strela 3017. The Strela 3017 became a legend after Leonov’s space walk. The original Strela series were exclusively meant for Soviet Air Force and was the preferred watch of cosmonauts for a long time. Strela means “Arrow” in Russian. The first models of Strela had a chronograph with a 45-minute counter and did not have a date function. The first Strela models also had two registers, a constant second hand and a central chronograph hand to measure the elapsed seconds. These watches came with chrome plated cases and a stainless steel snap case back. Strela was branded as Poljot, Sekonda. These came in various face designs and colours. Alexey Leonov is believed to have worn a white-faced Strela for his historic space walk. The Strela 3017 model was replaced by 3133 model in the late 1970s. The Strela 3017 model was one of the early products from 1st Moscow Watch Factory (1.MWF, renamed to POLJOT after 1964). The manufacturing equipment and the technical know-how were imported from Switzerland to the former Soviet Union in the late 1950s. Strela watches became the brand that cosmonauts used in their space missions until it was phased out around 1979.

Omega Speedmaster (Moon Watch) Omega Speedmaster got its first chance for spaceflight in 1962, when 5

Wally Schirra orbited the earth six times aboard the Sigma 7 Mercury flight. Omega has become synonymous with space trips. In 1965, Omega’s Speedmaster chronograph was “flight qualified by NASA for all space manned missions”. It is the only watch to have been certified by NASA for space walks and to have been tested extensively. In many of the preApollo manned space missions by NASA, Omega Speedmaster had been used. The first American to walk in space was Edward H. White in 1965 and he wore a Speedmaster during his Gemini-4 mission. White’s walk happened just three months after Leonov’s historic walk. Edward White’s son has gone on record to confirm that his father used the Omega Speedmaster for his first spacewalk. In 1969, two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon on their Apollo 11 voyage to moon. Buzz Aldrin had an Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph strapped around his spacesuit. Neil Armstrong had left his Speedmaster inside the space shuttle as a backup due to the failure of the on-board computer. Omega Speedmaster is still used by astronauts on shuttle missions.

Omega Speedmaster and Apollo 13 In 1970, Apollo astronauts relied on Jack Swigert’s Speedmaster during the ill-fated Apollo13. The crew timed on the Speedmaster a crucial engine burn that helped them safely return home after their on board oxygen tank exploded. In recognition of the role played by the Speedmaster, the Apollo 13 crew (Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Haize) conferred “the Snoopy Award” on Omega.

Rolex GMT Master Many theories abound about the Rolex GMT Master and the Apollo13 mission. Lot of people claim that Jack Swigert had another watch other than the NASA approved Speedmaster on his wrist. It is believed that Swigert wore his personal Rolex GMT under the sleeves of his space suit while he wore his Omega Speedmaster outside over his space suit. Rolex GMT Master unlike the Omega Speedmaster was an automatic watch and it also lacked a chronograph. These two reasons were sufficient to 6

eliminate it being the official choice of NASA. Being an automatic watch its accuracy under conditions of zero gravity was suspect. Also, the lack of chronograph would have hindered the astronauts from carrying out various tests. The Rolex GMT Master is known to keep precise time at high altitudes and withstand the elements. These same attributes make the watch attractive to astronauts as an additional watch apart from the NASA approved Omega Speedmaster. Rolex was worn by Ron Evan and Ed Mitchell in successive Apollo missions. Other astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Missions like Columbia, Endeavor and Discovery have worn Rolex GMT Master. Thus the Rolex watches also find a place in any list of space watches. Rolex has another first to its credit. In 1947 when Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound, he was wearing a Rolex Oyster Perpetual wrist watch. That was much before all the tests done by NASA or any other agency and no one was sure whether a pilot or plane could endure such stress.

Omega Skywalker X-33 The earlier mechanical Speedmaster has been replaced by the newer quartz-driven X-33 for space missions. The quartz model displays the GMT time which is the basis of all timings in space missions. The new Omega SkywalkerX-33 space watch is based on the inputs provided by the French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy. Clervoy’s movement which was patented by the European Space Agency has now been used by Omega in their latest space watch. NASA has also qualified Casio’s G-Shock and Timex’s Ironman watches other than Omega’s Skywalker X-33.

Bulova’s Acutron Apart from Omega’s Speedmaster, the Swiss watch maker Bulova also competed for a chance to be on the space flights. Bulova lost out to Omega as the astronaut’s watch but NASA chose Bulova’s Acutron watch movements to be used in all the space craft’s instruments panel clocks and time-keeping mechanisms for missions in the -60s and -70s. NASA 7

chose the electric Bulova because they were not sure how a manual hand-wound watch would respond to the zero-gravity situations. Limited editions of the Bulova’s Acutron watches of the ‘Astronaut’ model are still being manufactured.

G-Shock DW-5600 by Casio This is one of the few watches to have been certified by NASA as qualified to be on space missions. It’s extremely durable and functional and housed inside a machined steel case, with the inner movements kept in place by internal shock buffers and protected with thick mineral glass. It’s multifunctional: can display multiple times like local time and mission elapsed time, can function as a stopwatch and manage countdowns also. Its longevity is more than 10years. DW in its name stands for digital water resistant. The easy readable digital face is the most appealing factor to the astronauts.

Timex Data-Link Timex Data-Link is one of the few NASA approved watches. It is quite popular with the Shuttle astronauts. It was one of the early series of smart watches from Timex. The name of the watch indicates its ability to link with a computer and transfer data from it. The watch was developed as a joint collaboration with Microsoft in 1994 as an alternative to the available personal digital assistants (PDAs). The Timex Data-Link was easier to use and wearable on the wrist with a lot of functional attributes like water resistance and compactness. The early models of Timex were named as Data-Link 50, Data-Link 70, Data-link 150 etc. The model number indicated the number of telephone numbers that could be downloaded. These watches were also known as personal information managers (PIM). Timex Data-Link watches were quite an improvement with the advanced technology used.

Timex Ironman 8

Timex collaborated with Ironman Triathlon sporting event officials and brought out the Timex Triathlon in 1984. In 1986, Timex acquired the rights over the name Ironman and further improved upon the model. The Ironman Triathlon watch is one of the most popular sports watches in the world, selling an estimated half a million to one million pieces every year. It has iconic status and has become the face of Timex. The Ironman watches had a series of alarms, calendar based on an external computer, multi-lap stopwatches, light emitting diode (LCD) display etc. The Triathlon Data-Link also showed dual date zones and had longevity of around three years. The Ironman Triathlon turned out to be very popular with astronauts and has been used in several of the shuttle missions.

Fortis official Cosmonauts watch Fortis watches were extensively tested by the Yuri Gagarin Russian State Scientific-Research Test Center of Cosmonauts Training in Star City in 1994 and chosen as the official watch for cosmonauts. The Swiss made watch had also been chosen for wearing by US astronauts during training. In 1997, Fortis official cosmonauts chronograph automatic also became the official watch of the German-Russian space mission MIR 97.

Fiyta watch The Chinese made watch was worn by the tyconaut Lt.Col.Yang Li Wei, crew member for China's first space mission in 2008. The watch was worn during the space walk by the tyconaut. The watch had special features like anti-magnetic shield, an AM/PM indication, the minute subdial displaying 45 minutes, eight hour rotating bezel indicating serves as a life support indicator for the Chinese EVA spacesuit etc. Some of these watches made history and grabbed headlines when they were used in space by astronauts. We can expect more sophisticated and multifunctional space watches in future.