The History of Horology and Chronometry
History of the Space Watch
1961, April 12, Yuri Gagarin is first man in space and wears a Pobeda Shturmanskie (Navigator’s) watch when piloting the Vostok One (the watch brand was renamed to “Poljot” meaning “Flight”)
1962
February 20, John Glenn on the Friendship 7, who becomes the first American to orbit Earth on this flight, wears the first Swiss watch brand to be used in space: The Tag Heuer Stop Watch
May, Scott Carpenter on the Aurora 7 Mission wears first watch to be worn by American in space and first watch in space to feature 24-hour display: The Breitling Navitimer Aurora 7 (sometimes considered the first Swiss watch in space)
October 3, Speedmaster’s first test flight when Walter M. Schirra orbited earth 6 times aboard Sigma 7 (Mercury-Atlas 8 mission)
1965
March 1, Omega Speedmaster passes NASA’s watch tests:
1. High temperature: 48 hours at a temperature of 160°F (71°C) followed by 30 minutes at 200°F (93°C).
2. Low temperature: 4 hours at a temperature of 0°F (-18°C).
3. Temperature-Pressure: 15 cycles of heating to 71°C for 45 minutes, followed by cooling to -18°C for 45 minutes at 10−6 atm.
4. Relative humidity: 240 hours at temperatures varying between 68°F and 160°F (20°C and 71°C) in a relative humidity of at least 95%.
5. Oxygen atmosphere: 48 hours in an atmosphere of 100% oxygen at a pressure of 0.35 atm.
6. Shock: Six shocks of 40 G, each 11 milliseconds in duration, in six different directions.
7. Acceleration: From 1 G to 7.25 G within 333 seconds, along an axis parallel to the longitudinal spacecraft axis.
8. Decompression: 90 minutes in a vacuum of 10-6 atm at a temperature of 160°F (71°C) and 30 minutes at 200°F (93°C).
9. High pressure: 1.6 atm for a minimum period of one hour.
10. Vibration: Three cycles of 30 minutes vibration varying from 5 to 2000 Hz.
11. Acoustic noise: 130 db over a frequency range of 40 to 10,000 Hz, duration 30 minutes.
March 18, Alexei Leonov leaves the Vostok II and wears the first watch to be taken on a spacewalk: The Strela chronograph
June 3, Ed White on Gemini 4 mission is first American to conduct spacewalk and wears the Omega Speedmaster
1969, July 21, The Omega Speedmaster became the first watch to be worn on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore the Omega Speedmaster watch during the mission Apollo XI
1970, April 11, Rolex GMT Master used by Jack Swigert on the Apollo XII mission
1973, Colonel William Pogue boards the Skylab 4 mission with the first automatic chronograph in space: The Seiko 6139-6002 Automatic Chronograph
1985, German Astronaut Reinhard Furrer wears Sinn 140 (previously thought to be the first automatic chronograph in space) during the Spacelab D1 mission