#swiss-made

[moonwatchuniverse]

60 years ago… Gemini IX the 7th two men mission. On June 5, Cernan performed a spacewalk wearing an Environmental Life Support System (ELSS) chest pack and a 75 kilograms Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU). However, after two hours with an overheated suit, a fogged-up face plate he had to end the perilous EVA, barely being able to return safely into the Gemini capsule. The Gemini IX mission lasted 3 days 20 minutes, it would be up to "Mr Rendez-vous" Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin PhD to sort out and master spacewalking in Low Earth Orbit. This June 10, 1966 photo shows NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan arriving at Ellington field Houston - Texas meeting his family. Note the NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.003-64 wrist chronograph (NASA #28), which became his lucky charm. During both Apollo 10 and 17, Cernan wore this Speedmaster #28 underneath the spacesuit on a lightweight steel mesh Jacoby Bender Champion bracelet. Today it resides on display in the Omega museum in Bienne - Biel kanton Bern - Switzerland. (Photo: NASA)

[gadgetswizard]

Zodiac Jetomatic Is A Swiss-Made Watch That Won’t Cost You A Fortune

[moonwatchuniverse]

Remember these ? 45 years ago... Tempus Fugit Omega decided to start a new marketing campaign about the Speedmaster chronograph with the title:

Omega Speedmaster Professional. Now in the Space Shuttle.

By November 1978, Omega had delivered a new batch of 56 Omega Speedmaster chronographs to NASA, radial dial Alaska Project III versions but the campaign would focus on the regular Omega Speedmaster for the general public. As a young lad, I was pleasantly surprised that Omega got permission to use the official logo of the upcoming space shuttle Columbia STS-1 mission as they added a Speedmaster beneath the colorful STS-1 mission logo. The STS-1 logo which was designed by famous space art virtuoso Robert McCall in February 1979 and appeared as a NASA photograph in March 1979. Interesting to note Young & Crippen first wore the logo as stickers even during Columbia roll-out ceremony December 20, 1980. The actual STS-1 mission logo cloth patches were worn in January 1981 during Emergency Escape System testing which was also the first time the crew had been on the Launch Complex LC-39 Pad with "Columbia" in place! The campaign remarked that the Omega Speedmaster chronograph was the only piece of equipment used during all US manned space programmes since the dawn of the Space Age! (Photo: Moonwatchuniverse)

[moonwatchuniverse]

65 years ago... NASA-issued astronaut watches ! 1959 NASA's bespoke LeCoultre astronaut wrist watches ! In 1959, the NASA Space Task Group (STG) decided the "Mercury 7" astronauts required a 24 hours dial pilot watch as the worldwide network of tracking stations worked with military 24 hours system, so an astronaut in orbit could cope easier with time awareness, experiencing a Sunrise every 90 minutes. The STG's choice was LeCoultre as the watch brand already offered the LeCoultre Quartermaster with 24 hours dial and genuine 24 hours movement. These bespoke LeCoultre astronaut watches were worn on lightweight stretch steel Jacoby Bender bracelets. Although not worn during spaceflight missions, all Mercury 7 astronauts wore these 34 mm waterproof anti-magnetic stainless steel LeCoultre watches extensively during training and official events up to October 1963! (Photos: LIFE/NASA)

[moonwatchuniverse]

Omega Speedmaster CK2998... "Mercury 7" astronaut Leroy "Gordo" Cooper, Slayton and Schirra, were petrol heads and that's the main reason why they had an Omega Speedmaster wrist watch which was advertised as a sports car racing timing chronograph. NASA photographs suggest that the astronauts must have bought their Speedmaster CK2998 in 1961, Cooper perhaps in 1962. 60 years ago, Donald Slayton expressed the need for an "off the shelf" durable accurate wrist chronograph for use in the hostile space environment and on the the lunar surface. By October 1964, this memorandum landed at the desk of NASA engineer James Ragan, who determined a set of requirements and contacted 10 different watch brands to submit a request for proposal; American Elgin, Benrus, Bulova, Gruen, Hamilton, Lucien Piccard, Longines, Mido, Omega and Rolex. Only 4 brands answered, 3 sent actual wrist chronographs, the rest is history ! (Photo: LIFE magazine)

[moonwatchuniverse]

40 years Omega museum ! The OMEGA Museum in Biel/Bienne Switzerland, opened in 1984 was the first museum to be dedicated to a single Swiss watchmaker and has long been the guardian of OMEGA’s history. Since 2019, 50 years Apollo 11, it moved into the new buildings next to the Omega HQ. This photo shows the NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.012-66 CB (NASA n° 57) used by US Navy Captain Apollo 12 Command Module Pilot Richard "Dick"Gordon (1929-2017) onboard "Yankee Clipper" in November 1969. 42 mm Speedmaster with 321 movement in a Centrale Boîte case. (Photo: MoonwatchUniverse)

[moonwatchuniverse]

May 1962... awaiting a Breitling Navitimer chronograph 62 years ago US Navy aviator NASA astronaut Malcolm Scott Carpenter was ready for the MA-7 “Aurora 7″ Mercury spaceflight mission. Six months earlier he requested Breitling to make a custom Navitimer chronograph with larger bezel and 24 hours dial, a wrist watch he wanted to use as a backup timing instrument during his flight. Four days before the flight, on May 20, 1962 Carpenter finally received this Breitling chronograph and showed it to his fellow astronauts and to NASA nurse Dolores “Dee“ O’Hara. During the following days, Carpenter wore the Breitling Navitimer while training in the capsule and attending NASA briefings. On May 24, 1962, the Breitling chronograph can clearly be spotted in suit-up photographs as Carpenter was assisted by suit technician Joe Schmitt before heading to the launch pad 14 at Cape Canaveral - Florida. After 4 hours 55 minutes, Carpenter splashed-down in the Caribbean Sea and while waiting for the recovery crew, his Navitimer got water damaged. This historic chronograph turned up in 2022 during a Breitling presentation in Zurich - Switzerland. Post-mission, Breitling brought out the “Cosmonaute” chronograph and Commander Scott Carpenter kept wearing it untill he resigned from NASA in August 1967, and on the 50th commemoration in 2012! (Photo: NASA)

[moonwatchuniverse]

50 years ago... June 11, 1973 Starcity - Moscow, cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov pose in the Soyuz simulator wearing their brand new "bulky" Omega flightmaster pilot chronographs. During the 1973 Paris Air show, cosmonauts Leonov and Kubasov were announced as the prime crew for the upcoming ASTP Apollo-Soyuz Test Project spaceflight mission. A historic flight during which by 1975 NASA astronauts and cosmonauts would work together in docked spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit. On May 22, a cosmonaut delegation, lead by Aleksei Yeliseyev, had visited the Omega Headquarters in Bienne - Switzerland during which they were shown the flightmaster pilot watches, Speedmaster chronographs and Alaska II Project Speedmaster in distinctive red outer cases.Between 1974 - 1978, Russian cosmonauts used all these Omega wrist watches in space but Omega "sold" the name "flightmaster" to Seiko. Learn the whole space watches story in our upcoming podcast (Photo: TASS/RKA)