Reply With QuoteIt would appear that he will most likely be wearing an Omega X-33:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Hu...for_astronauts
As many of you will know, Tim Peake is the first British person to be selected as an astronaut by the ESA and is due to travel to the ISS in November. I was wondering which watch he will wear, if any, and is it an issued piece of kit or it's up to the astronauts themselves what they use? Do ESA have preferred watches they issue or recommend?
It would appear that he will most likely be wearing an Omega X-33:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Hu...for_astronauts
Interesting. So it looks as if the X-33 has been tested and approved by ESA but can't work out if ESA will now issue the watch to astronauts.
His press officer is a good friend of mine, I'll drop her a note now.
Got to love this forumOriginally Posted by Meesterbond
The new X-33 is really an incredible watch. It sounds massive but wore really well on my wrist. If only they could increase the water resistance on these models.
She's off skiing at the moment but got the following response...
I *think* he gets to take a watch of his choice, and I *believe* its what he already wears. Certainly ex army apache helicopter pilots choose their watches carefully. I'll see what I can find out when I'm back next week.
I know, it can be a big problem in space :o)Got to love this forum
The new X-33 is really an incredible watch. It sounds massive but wore really well on my wrist. If only they could increase the water resistance on these models.
Sea of tranquility??!!
:op
Brilliant. :)
IIRC in NASA anyway, they can wear whatever watch they like within reason inside the pressurised environment, but the only watch qualified for EVA is the Speedy. Though again IIRC didn't a Seiko and a Fortis get EVA qualified by the Russians? The Chinese have their own EVA watch whose name and make escapes me.
The X33 really stood up well to the testing. Though I wonder why didn't they run the vacuum test at higher and lower temps? EVA temperatures can run from over 120 degrees c in direct sunlight to minus 150 in shadow. Seems odd to test all the other parameters and not that one, or only partially. If it passed that too then they could advertise it as EVA capable. Maybe they did test it and it failed in the higher ranges? The alarm would be useless on an EVA because in space no one can hear you beep. I'll get my coat.
It's great that we might get to hear what watch Tim will wear for his mission. I wonder what it will be?
This is the link to the Fortis space test results http://www.fortis-watches.com/upload...eport-FOCC.pdf
Looking forward to hearing about this OP.
Given we are less than 48 hours away from lift off, any ideas of what watch Tim is likely to wear?
Program about him currently on BBC2. Not noticed what he's wearing though.
There was a brief close-up of an older X-33 when he was getting changed into the spacesuit, pre swimming pool training session.
Edited to add: it's at 47:57 on iPlayer, if you're desperate to see it.
Last edited by Bravo73; 14th December 2015 at 00:22.
I noticed that and I think the America astronaut may have been wearing an Omega X33 Skywalker. I'm sure there will be plenty of photos of Tim on board the ISS, so we may get to see which watch he has taken with him.
He's also a Speedmaster fan. "My 1 weakness - love watches!"
http://www.rocketstem.org/wp-content...51b56a64_o.jpg
He appeared on the One Show a couple of weeks ago and he was sporting a blue faced Breitling Aerospace.
The story by omega fans that's been told over and over of the NASA engineer furtively walked through a local watch dealer in Houston, Texas, and bought several “wrist chronographs” and used these retail watches as base for a test process. After 3 years of testing, in 1965, the Omega Speedmaster was the only watch that succeeded all tests, and became the official space watch. This might be a very nice story. But the truth is quite different (Even if another version of the story was already spread around the Omega collectors)
NASA, a government organization, does not go out to a local store to buy equipment. Since it’s a governmental agency there are procedures, and of course there are procedure for the procurement of equipment. An important factor in that procedure is the letter of requirements. The procurement procedure was initiated by James H. Ragan (at the time a young engineer at NASA) and end of 1964, a request for quotations was sent to several watch brands. The request for quotations was accompanied by a specifications-sheet, with more details about what exactly NASA wanted to see. Only four brands answered: Longines (via Longines-Wittnauer USA), Omega (via their agent in New York, Norman M. Morris), Rolex (via Rolex USA) and Hamilton (then still an American company).
After the four brands send in their watches, James H. Ragan performed the tests, which lasted for a few months only, from October 21st, 1964 to March 1st, 1965 to be precise, so a little longer than four months (not the three years that are frequently mentioned in other publications.) What is correctly mentioned in other publications is that of the four brands that send in their watches only the Omega Speedmaster met all requirements and NASA declared it ‘operational for space exploration and flight certified’. The ‘Moonwatch‘ was born, but only after a complex and highly administrative process.
I've known for along time that the popular omega fans story was just that a story and that the truth of what really happened back then would eventually come to light but i just didn't know when, It took longer than i expected but none the less it's out now......
Last edited by Chronographic; 14th December 2015 at 14:05.
He (and the ESA) confirmed to me on Twitter that he was wearing an X33 Mk3 Skywalker in his recent photos. Assume he'll be wearing similar tomorrow.
Nicely done.
Is this a Breitling?
Tim Peake at the press conference by European Space Agency, on Flickr
Indeed it isLooks like an Avantage unless I'm mistaken.
It sure looks like it to me.Indeed it is
Looks like an X-33 Mk3 when suited up
The esa site has links to a live feed starting at 10:00 GMT
Needless to say I have me MET set to 11:03:10 15/12/2015 and wearing said X-33 in Tim's honour. I hope all goes well on the flight.
Martyn
Last edited by MartynJC (UK); 15th December 2015 at 10:32.
I'm not overly concerned by the watch selection -
Just as long as he doesn't take a bloody guitar.
Superb!!
He's forgotten his instruction book!Looks like an X-33 Mk3 when suited up
The esa site has links to a live feed starting at 10:00 GMT
Needless to say I have me MET set to 11:03:10 15/12/2015 and wearing said X-33 in Tim's honour. I hope all goes well on the flight.
Martyn
Especially as he likes Coldplay ffs.
What time is it on the ISS - UTC presumably?
Update...no he hasn't. A longer look and I've spotted it on the steps next to him.He's forgotten his instruction book!
Correct...link.
Last edited by PickleB; 15th December 2015 at 12:29.
at least his camera choice cant be faulted
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk...in-space-67011
British astronaut Tim Peake will be hoping to use a Nikon D4 on a spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS), according to postings he has made on social media.
I wonder if Omega will do a Skywalker 'special edition' given that they must have exhausted every possible excuse for a Speedmaster special edition.
they already did. 1,927 of them.
http://www.omegawatches.com/watches/...1892457903001/
Last edited by MartynJC (UK); 15th December 2015 at 19:14.
I used to live near his village and he went to Chichester High School for Boys... (I went out with a couple of girls from the Chichester HS for girls site, as went to nearby school a few miles away)......
these days it's mixed of course and building sold off) they were happy days and lovely girls. *ahem* .. But I go OT even further sorry...
What I meant to say is I was laughing at a couple of threads popping up on my Facebook feed from ex pupils who are still in that area sent from friends still there...
One of them saying didn't you used to beat him in the 100m every time? Yes and he didn't like being tackled in soccer either!
But the hashtag is #winseveryschoolreunioneverytime ...
You can see it in the vid on this page when he is greeting the crew:
http://news.sky.com/story/1606480/br...joyed-the-show
Cant make it out though - any ideas?
FWIW, he's got (at least) two watches on. One on each wrist.
Last edited by Bravo73; 15th December 2015 at 22:11.
Looks like a Halda...
Looks like a proper Speedy to me :)
http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/re...mages/4553893/
Look at this full sized photo, pre-launch - Halda-esque.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/europe...21281/sizes/o/
I wonder how many watches he took...?
Probably all he could. He can sell then for a nice sum later.
Indeed he has probably been plyed with them by friends and family and god knows who else...Probably all he could. He can sell then for a nice sum later.
Whoa, you got good eyes. Havent logged on to tz in years, just stumbled on this thread when I was looking for which astronaut it was.
But its confirmed by Halda that a Space Discovery is in space http://www.haldasweden.com/2015/12/a...ce-discoverer/ must be Tim then!
I can't find anything just now, but I'm sure I read somewhere during the build up that Tim was taking two watches with him to the ISS.
He plans to give them to his sons when they are older. [Heavily paraphrasing] He said that 'It would be pretty special to be able to give them something that has flown in space'
jeff
Not watch related but;
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/c...20151215104725
has he not watched The Right Stuff! and what happened to Gus Grissom who brought stuff up just to fly it in space
Never heard of Halda, but they are POA judging by their website, so doubt I could afford one anyway! Look rather chunky too.
X-33 prices have been firming for a while now, along with most other Omegas. There are some v silly BIN prices being routinely asked in ebay and the auctions are steadily running up higher. I can see them being a pretty canny buy at current levels, even more so if you got one 5-10 years back when they couldn't give them away. Problem with them is the level of maintenance needed which is relatively high for a Quartz with 3 yr battery life max. The fact that NASA and ESA still issue them as std kit will have an effect eventually IMO.
It's a long-standing tradition for astronauts to take souvenirs along on their flights, including Grissom, who carried two rolls of dimes on his Mercury flight, and two wristwatches and a diamond ring on Gemini. He didn't get into any trouble for that, as far as I know, but it was a different matter for the Apollo 15 crew, who were involved in a major scandal over some postage stamps (though they were later cleared of any wrongdoing).has he not watched The Right Stuff! and what happened to Gus Grissom who brought stuff up just to fly it in space
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