Pilots and their watches have a long and illustrious history. Before modern computerized planes, the right watch was an essential tool for pilots – not only did it keep accurate track of the time on long flights, its added features even complemented the instruments on the cockpit of the airplane itself. As the air age passed into the space age, pilots turned cosmonauts and astronauts wanted to take their reliable watches with them. So along with their respective space pilots, many luxury watches made their marks on history by traveling into space. Check out these five luxury timepieces which have voyaged beyond the boundaries of Earth itself and kept on ticking:
Poljot Strela Chronograph
In 1965, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made history by being the first human being ever to walk in space. During that seminal journey, Leonov wore a Poljot Strela chronograph which spent 12 minutes in the vacuum of space along with Alexei. As an interesting note, a similar watch was worn on the suit of Yuri Gagarin, the first man ever to enter space. The watch performed so well that it was adopted by Poljot — which means “flight” in Russian and began its illustrious career as the official watch of Russian cosmonauts. Strela discontinued the original chronograph in 1979. The new Poljot Strela Chronogrpahs feature the then groundbreaking 3133 movement and have also enjoyed space flights with French, German, Ukranian and Russian astronauts. In 1994, a Poljot 3133 accompanied cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on the longest space flight in history. Today the Poljot chronograph is a beautifully made luxury watch made of stainless steel with ruby jewels, a crystal face and the same, smooth 3133 movement that made the original chronographs stand out. Watch lovers who know quality prize the Poljot Strela Chronograph as the best timepiece Russia has to offer.
Astronaut Scott Carpenter Sports His Breitling Timepiece
Breitling Navitimer
Like its Russian counterpart Poljot, Breitling has always had a close relationship with aviators. In 1952, Breitling created the Breitling Navitimer. At the time it was a state of the art luxury watch that not only kept time, but was advertised as a “portable flight computer”. Designed to help a pilot calculate his flight plan, the face of the Breitling Navitimer is a sea of dials with over 13 hands and 500 different moving parts. The 1952 version housed the world’s second ever watch chronograph, a slide rule and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association logo on the dial. This groundbreaking watch forever cemented Breitling’s relationship with pilots.
Ten years later on May 24th 1962, Breitling’s Navitimer accompanied Astronaut Lieutenant Commander Scott Carpenter into outer space. Carpenter had worn a Breitling Navitimer during his days as a pilot in the Korean war and wanted to take the reliable watch on his longer flight to space. Carpenter wore the watch onboard the Aurora 7 and made the Breitling Navitimer the first Swiss watch ever to leave Earth’s atmosphere. After its maiden voyage, Breitling changed the name of that particular watch model to the Navitimer Cosmonaute, which still retails today as a luxury watch.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and His Omega Speedmaster
The Omega Speedmaster made its mark in space flight history when it was worn by Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission. When he piloted the first manned lunar landing, the Speedmaster became the first watch in history to visit the moon. Since that historical moon walk in 1969, the Omega Speedmaster has been used on several different space odysseys.
Since the Omega Speedmaster was qualified for space flights by NASA in 1965, it has remained one of the most iconic luxury watches in America. It can stand rough and tumble handling and temperatures that range from 0 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the years, Omega has released several editions of the Speedmaster. Each piece is as durably made as its name sake and ready to travel into space whenever you’re ready to break the surly bonds of earth.
Richard Garriott Wears His Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk in the ISS
Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk
The Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk has an interesting history. It was commissioned not by an astronaut or a space program but by Richard Garriott, a video game developer and entrepreneur. Garriott not only commissioned the watch but a trip to the International Space Station as a tourist on board the Russian space ship Soyuz TMA-13. For his journey, Garriott wanted a time piece that could handle the extreme temperatures, pressure and radiation that he would encounter on his spacewalk. Garriott wore the watch for 12 days in space in October 2008 which included a 5 hour spacewalk.
Today the Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk is a beautiful luxury timepiece made from titanium. And it retains the original specs commissioned by space tourist Garriott. This automatic watch is a hybrid powered by a traditional mainspring but regulated not by an escapement and balance spring but through a newly-developed mechanism: the Tri-synchro Regulator. The piece runs beautifully, has a 12-hour chronograph and a band designed by the Russian Space Agency. At the time Garriott commissioned them, only six Spacewalks were available. In a more recent edition in 2010, 100 watches were made available to the public (albeit at a steep price).
Mark Kelly With His Limited Edition Airwolf by Breitling
Breitling Naval Centennial Limited Edition Airwolf
Breitling was not just content to have a few of its watches go into space. It wanted to make its mark. In January of 2011, Breitling released the limited edition Naval Centennial Airwolf. In May, shortly after its release, the first watch in the series accompanied Astronaut Commander Mark Kelly on the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its last space flight. The watch flew 6.5 million miles on its trip and returned to Earth on December 3, 2011 just in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of naval aviation. This limited edition time piece features state of the art function. In durable steel, it keeps time to 1/100th of a second. It can be set to 2 time zones with two alarms with resonance chambers to amplify the sound. The watch is also backlit for easy nighttime reading and a navigational rotating bezel. However, only 500 of these watches were made. The first edition in the series of 500 was auctioned off in February of 2012. The proceeds were donated to the National Flight Academy. The remaining Breitling Airwolf watches are available housed at Breitling’s flagship store in Manhattan.
