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Thread: Space Watches - what to get next?

  1. #1

    Space Watches - what to get next?

    I was hoping to furnish this thread with a pic of my lovely Twinings tea box containing 3 of my favourite ever watches, with an ominously spare space, but as the wife is ill and has gone to bed early, I guess individual pictures will have to do. This is what's currently in my "Space Watches" box:








    So, the Friday evening question is, what to finish the collection?

  2. #2
    Nice collection. How about a Fortis Cosmonaut to complete the collection?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by HenPecked View Post
    I was hoping to furnish this thread with a pic of my lovely Twinings tea box containing 3 of my favourite ever watches, with an ominously spare space, but as the wife is ill and has gone to bed early, I guess individual pictures will have to do. This is what's currently in my "Space Watches" box:








    So, the Friday evening question is, what to finish the collection?
    Gen 2 X33

  4. #4
    How about the Russian space watch, a Strela Chronograph?

  5. #5
    Master Caruso's Avatar
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    Worn by X-15 pilots and some of the Mercury Astronauts.

  6. #6
    The most obvious ones would be a Strela, Gagarin, Fortis but what about the Fitya Chinese Spacewatch?

  7. #7
    Grand Master PickleB's Avatar
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    Breitling Cosmonaute, see history?

  8. #8
    Craftsman Dr_Niss's Avatar
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    By Fortis, do you mean this?

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  9. #9
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
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    DW-5600.

  10. #10

  11. #11
    Journeyman
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    Set your alarms by flashing lines at your optical sensor:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink

  12. #12
    Master Lampoc's Avatar
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    The first watch in space would be a good start - a Sturmanskie as worn by Yuri Gagarin.



    Followed by Alexei Leonov's watch worn on his space walk - a Strela.


  13. #13
    Master TimeThoughts's Avatar
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    38mm Strela I reckon.

    This sort of thing...

    https://www.poljot24.de/en/chronogra...fferblatt.html

  14. #14
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    'Space Watches' are as good a basis of a collection as any IMO. So many different watches have served the varied purposes of those who have left the atmosphere that there are now very many different interesting options.

    I'd agree that an X-33 would fill the space nicely.




    And the Lemania Fortis is also a lovely option.




    Speaking of cosmonauts, there's Vostok.




    And Sturmanskies through the years.






    Strela/Sekonda.






    Moving into Europe, there's Yema.

    \


    Back to NASA, I covered the Timex Data Link watches here:

    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...SA-Smart-Watch

    Of which many variations have been in space.








    A fair number of Casio G-Shocks have been qualified by NASA for space flight.






    Staying with LCD, there's the Seiko A829 with the nifty bezel.




    Jumping back in time again, a flightmaster 911 as worn by Leonov (although maybe only in training).




    That's just scratching the surface. I expect that Tintin wore one of these in 1950 :




    All the best with your quest, I feel that you may need a larger tea box!

    Last edited by Mr Curta; 10th March 2018 at 07:01.

  15. #15
    Apprentice
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    Space Watches - what to get next?

    How about a Rolex that never made it into space? The Space Dweller is essentially a 1016/Explorer that was only released in Japan. Rare, collectible, everyday wearable and an interesting conversation piece to boot.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    'Space Watches' are as good a basis of as collection as any IMO. So many different watches [...]
    What a great collection and post!

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by dougair View Post
    Gen 2 X33
    Not a fan, but I do love the Gen 3 "Skywalker" ones - that grey bezel is just lush.

    I just don't know if I could spend £4k on a quartz watch.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Dr_Niss View Post
    By Fortis, do you mean this?

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    Oooh. That is lovely.

  19. #19
    Grand Master SimonK's Avatar
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    Obviously a Certina






















    Images courtesy of Vintage Certina Watches.

  20. #20
    Master mycroft's Avatar
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    Great subject for a collection. If I only had one more space available then of the suggested watches it would be the Fortis for me without a doubt...

    Simon


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  21. #21
    Grand Master SimonK's Avatar
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    What about the Seiko Spacewalk - worn by Richard Garriot, the 6th private citizen to go into space - who spent 12 days on ISS.



    Last edited by SimonK; 10th March 2018 at 11:29.

  22. #22
    Master
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    Rolex GMT Master ;-) pic from Jakes Rolex blog

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  25. #25
    Grand Master Sinnlover's Avatar
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    Glycine Airman?
    A little different with the 24 hour movement

  26. #26
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HenPecked View Post
    Not a fan, but I do love the Gen 3 "Skywalker" ones - that grey bezel is just lush.

    I just don't know if I could spend £4k on a quartz watch.
    They come up on here for £2k - £2.5k. It's a lot of watch for the money.

    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...-X33-Skywalker
    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...fect-condition
    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...Skywalker-X-33
    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...er-a-month-old
    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...X-33-Skywalker
    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...-X33-Skywalker
    http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...r-2-months-old

  27. #27
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SimonK View Post
    What about the Seiko Spacewalk - worn by Richard Garriot, the 6th private citizen to go into space - who spent 12 days on ISS.
    Up there with the fabulous modular Halda Space Discovery when it comes to desirable but virtually unobtainable space watches.

    There's one on eBay at the moment, yours for a mere $70k (original price was $28k IIRC).
    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEIKO-SPR...MAAOSwZkNZwY6h

  28. #28
    Master sweets's Avatar
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    Why not a Sinn 140?????? Worn by German astronauts Flade and Furrer.
    Dave

  29. #29
    Craftsman tanatron's Avatar
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    You cannot forget from Fortis the B-42 Cronographs in both the titanium with teflon pushers version (which I own):



    and the stainless steel version (which I owned):


  30. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Dr_Niss View Post
    By Fortis, do you mean this?

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    Ooh that’s nice
    Got my eye on a new old stock one on eBay....

  31. #31
    Grand Master MartynJC (UK)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    'Space Watches' are as good a basis of a collection as any IMO. So many different watches have served the varied purposes of those who have left the atmosphere that there are now very many different interesting options.

    I'd agree that an X-33 would fill the space nicely.




    Goodness!! It must be deafening at 06:45.

  32. #32
    There's an awful lot to go at on that theme. And l wish I had the funds to pursue it to the degree that my OCD would elevate it to...
    ...at the risk of a good flaming, it always amuses me to read the many rolex fanboys poorly-disguised and desperately anxious scrabble to match the speedmasters achievements, even involving assumption and fabrication - as if rolex didn't have enough genuine achievements anyway.

    Have to say l love the fact that something as simple as Gagarins watch beat them all to the top spot!

  33. #33
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Umbongo View Post
    There's an awful lot to go at on that theme. And l wish I had the funds to pursue it to the degree that my OCD would elevate it to...
    ...at the risk of a good flaming, it always amuses me to read the many rolex fanboys poorly-disguised and desperately anxious scrabble to match the speedmasters achievements, even involving assumption and fabrication - as if rolex didn't have enough genuine achievements anyway.

    Have to say l love the fact that something as simple as Gagarins watch beat them all to the top spot!
    Indeed! I also like the fact that five of the eight watches flight-qualified by NASA are sub-£100 Casio G-Shocks, with another being a Timex Ironman. Armstrong wore Jimmie Mattern's very modest Wittnauer All-Proof on-board Gemini 8 in 1966 and several cosmonauts were launched wearing cheap Elektronika 55 digitals. It makes collecting eclectic and interesting.

  34. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by dougair View Post
    Gen 2 X33
    Indeed.

  35. #35
    Journeyman
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    Some fantastic watches here. I had no idea there were so many. I really like the shot in the ISS. Perhaps the ultimate watch geek picture?


    Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

  36. #36

  37. #37
    Master Bernard's Avatar
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    Get the Fortis Cosmonaut. It is fat but a great watch at a nice diameter (38mm) and with superior legibility.

  38. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Mr Curta, are these yours? If so, how are the resin parts holding up on the DW-5900? I've seen all kinds on eBay, from relatively solid to cracked to missing altogether. Do you (and the others) think it's worth hunting a good one down for regular wearing, or is it better to wait and see whether Casio reissue it in the coming years?

  39. #39
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lasz View Post
    Mr Curta, are these yours? If so, how are the resin parts holding up on the DW-5900? I've seen all kinds on eBay, from relatively solid to cracked to missing altogether. Do you (and the others) think it's worth hunting a good one down for regular wearing, or is it better to wait and see whether Casio reissue it in the coming years?
    Yes, indeed. The DW-5900C-9 in my collection is absolutely fine, it came to me as virtually NOS, but I only wear it occasionally and wouldn't subject to any rough treatment these days. It has a lovely symmetrical appearance, a reissue would be welcome.

    The G-Shocks that NASA flight-qualified for space missions are DW-5600C, DW-5600E, DW-5900C, DW-6900 and 'Master of G' G-9000. The 1987 DW-5600C came in a number of variants. The black version used by NASA was designated DW-5600C-1V and featured a screw down caseback, black bezel and strap and the text WATER 200M RESIST. Early versions used module 691, replaced by module 901 in 1990.

    You can see that the bezel of one of the DW-5600C-1V has long gone, it is nigh on impossible to find a replacement but I quite like the look . The other is intact, but I had to repair a couple of small cracks near the lug screws.




  40. #40
    Craftsman
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    Thanks for getting back to me so quickly Mr Curta. It's good to hear that the DW-5900s are not subject to resin rot quite so much as the DW-5000s and the early 5600s. I'll try to find myself a DW-5900 for a good price, I don't need NOS, just a nice used example, though I have to say that the recent surprise DW-5750 reissue (I must have been the first person in Slovenia to get one) has got me hopeful that Casio, in order to keep the sales figures up, might in due time re-release most iconic models, of which the DW-5900 certainly is one in my opinion - I certainly prefer it to the 6900.

  41. #41
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Caruso View Post
    Worn by X-15 pilots and some of the Mercury Astronauts.
    That would be the one I'd go for too.

  42. #42
    Some great ideas on here - many thanks.

    I think my first purchase might be a larger box...

  43. #43
    Master Seiko7A38's Avatar
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    A cheaper Seiko alternative Space watch ?

    Quote Originally Posted by SimonK View Post
    What about the Seiko Spacewalk - worn by Richard Garriot, the 6th private citizen to go into space - who spent 12 days on ISS.
    I've never made any secret of my own favourite space watch, the Yema Spationaute III Aragatz, as worn by French and Russian cosmonautes between 1988 and 1992. Got far too many of the things, so I won't bore readers by posting another photo of them. It's based on the Seiko 7A38 15J quartz movement, by the way.

    But I digress. I was searching Yahoo Japan this afternoon, searching on 'Seiko Chronograph' (in Japanese) when I chanced across a listing that included 'NASA SPACE MOVE' in the listing title.

    https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/j479031676

    The description includes a link to a blog which gives the backstory:

    http://synchronar.blogspot.co.uk/201...asa-watch.html

    Apparently (if I've understood the Japanese / English translation correctly) these Seiko VD57 chrono's have dials made from a tile (or tiles) from the space shuttle Endeavour.





    (There's loads more photos in the blog article).

    Edit: Hmm .... I was thinking where had I seen that before ? The 'Reverse Panda' dialed version bears certain similarities to the sister model to the Spationaute III: Yema's 1989 Flygraf.

    Last edited by Seiko7A38; 18th March 2018 at 19:08. Reason: Adding the photos I failed to before !

  44. #44
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Here's yet another alternative. Russian Elektronika quartz digital watches were worn by cosmonauts on many missions.

    This recent arrival in the collection is the same Elektronika-55 model as worn by Viktor Afanasyev on Soyuz TM-11.




    The often cropped image of the crew includes Toyohiro Akiyama, a Japanese television reporter - the first commercially sponsored and funded spaceflight of an individual. He returned from Mir a week later on Soyuz TM-10, whilst TM-11 landed with Britain's first astronaut, Helen Sharman.






  45. #45
    Master Seiko7A38's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Here's yet another alternative. Russian Elektronika quartz digital watches were worn by cosmonauts on many missions.
    Indeed, I came across many photos of Soviet cosmonautes wearing them (while I was actually searching for photos of them wearing Yema Spationaute III's). Here's just a couple from the 1988 Franco-Soviet Aragatz mission:

    Aleksandr Volkov:




    Sergei Krikalev:


  46. #46
    Master Seiko7A38's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    .... on Soyuz TM-11. The often cropped image of the crew includes ....

    Note Musa Manarov (right) is wearing a Yema Spationaute III.

    I never quite figured out how he came to have one, because according to a reliable source, they were only presented to the Soyuz TM-7 Aragatz crew and that mission's back-up crew members - of which he was neither. Although coincidentally he was already onboard Mir when they arrived in November 1988.
    Last edited by Seiko7A38; 7th April 2018 at 21:20.

  47. #47
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seiko7A38 View Post
    Note Musa Manarov (right) is wearing a Yema Spationaute III.

    I never quite figured out how he came to have one, because according to a reliable source, they were only presented to the Soyuz TM-7 Aragatz crew and that mission's back-up crew members - of which he was neither. Although coincidentally he was already onboard Mir when they arrived in November 1988.
    Maybe he won it in some sort of orbital bet, or perhaps they just made some swapsies.

  48. #48
    Master Seiko7A38's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Maybe he won it in some sort of orbital bet, or perhaps they just made some swapsies.
    Could well be.

    Coming to think of it, I never did find a photo of Aleksandr Viktorenko (Soyuz TM-7 back-up crew, Flight commander on Soyuz TM-8) wearing a Yema Spationatute III. Just some cheap-looking digital - presumably another variant of Elektronika-5. Whereas Aleksandr Serebrov (right) appears to have worn his regularly.

    Last edited by Seiko7A38; 7th April 2018 at 22:06.

  49. #49
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Staying with LCD, there's the Seiko A829 with the nifty bezel.

    It has been a long wait, but the other iteration arrived this week. It featured on many shuttle missions.
    Apart from the scuffs on the bezel insert it is in excellent fully working condition.








    Crew of STS-51-A




    Crew of STS-51-J




    Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, on STS-7 in June 1983.


  50. #50
    Master
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    The Fortis Cosmonaut would get my vote, absolutely lovely looking Watch.

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