5 Space Watches That Are Out of This World
The most famous space watch is undoubtedly the Omega Speedmaster. So famous, in fact, it is one of the very few iconic timepieces that enjoy instant recognition well beyond watch aficionados.
What is not as well known is the extreme tests NASA put the original 321 Speedmaster through. At the start of its Gemini program in 1961, NASA realized its astronauts needed a watch that could deal with the extreme temperatures and g-forces experienced during space flight. So in October 1964, wristwatch manufacturers were contacted and asked to submit watches they felt would work for space missions. Only four brands were brave enough to heed the call: Hamilton, Rolex, Longines, and Omega.
NASA immediately dismissed Hamilton's entry. Somewhat bafflingly, the company had submitted a wristwatch instead of a pocket watch. The space agency then put the Rolex, Longines, and Omega entries through 11 tests designed to simulate conditions in space and on the moon itself.
These durability tests included spending 48 hours at 70°C then 30 minutes at 93°C, then four hours at -18°C; fifteen 45-minute cycles alternating between 71°C and -18°C; acceleration from a standstill to 7.25 g's within five minutes, then 16 g's for 30 seconds, along three axes; vibration from 5 to 2,000 Hz along three axes, with acceleration of at least 8.8 g's; and decompression for 90 minutes in a near vacuum at 10-6 atmospheres.
The Rolex and Longines both failed at the high-temperature trials, but the Omega kept working through all 11 tests, and it was duly awarded NASA’s certification. Fitting, then, that it makes our list below of the select group of five watches connected with spacefaring adventures.
If nothing else, Jeff Bezos’ 11-minute joyride to the edge of space in July demonstrated the statement-making power a particular wristwatch can still carry. Perhaps with an eye on both posterity and his quest for a contract to ferry NASA astronauts to the moon, Bezos strapped on the most famous watch of the space age, Omega’s Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional—the legendary timepiece of Apollo lunar missions, Armstrong, Aldrin, et al.
Outwardly unchanged since the 1960s, the Moonwatch remains the definitive timepiece for armchair astronauts and prospective space tourists alike, and it has this year benefited from a major upgrade to its hand-wound movement, bringing it in line with the stringent modern demands for accuracy and anti-magnetism of Omega’s Master Chronometer designation.
Fun fact: The Moonwatch is the only flight-qualified watch suitable for extravehicular activity. Quartz watches, especially those with LCD displays, are extremely vulnerable to temperature changes and so are entirely unsuitable for spacewalks.
The Moonwatch is far from the only timepiece with a connection to the cosmos. In fact, it’s not even the only one that made it to the moon. The US astronaut Dave Scott wore a Bulova chronograph during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. (It was his backup watch, the glass having popped off his Omega on a prior lunar walkabout.) That watch has given Bulova a rich seam to mine with its stylishly retro tribute piece, the Lunar Pilot (which indeed graces our list of the best watches under £500). And in light of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 15 this year, a bold new limited edition, in titanium with gold accents, has been launched. Powered by a quartz movement, it’s a quirky and affordable challenger to Omega’s space watch.
Another affordable alternative to the Moonwatch is Seiko's 5 Sports Custom Watch Beatmaker 2021 Limited Edition. The key difference between the Bulova and this watch is that this is an automatic, so it is mechanical and self-winding, and it has 41 hours of power reserve (how long the watch keeps on ticking after you take it off).
We like Seiko's 5 Sports range very much, and the diver model made it into our Affordable Watches That Feel Luxe list. The whole collection has a 41-hour power reserve and 100-meter water resistance, but this is a modern take on the brand's spacefaring Pogue watch worn by astronaut William R. Pogue during the NASA Skylab 4 mission in 1973. This is not a chronograph, clearly, like the Pogue, but it has the same winning gold and steel aesthetic
The design here was actually the creation of a member of the public, who rightly won Seiko’s Custom Watch Beatmaker campaign where participants were asked to design a timepiece using just five components from the brand’s website. It came out in August, and being limited to 2,021 examples, the Beatmaker promptly sold out. But models are turning up for resale, such as on eBay.
The moon is one thing, but how about Mars? Since the 1990s, Fortis, a historic Swiss brand known for its durable pilot’s watches, has been supplying watches to Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, used in missions aboard the Mir space station and the ISS.
Its latest space-themed watch, the Amadee-20, takes its name from a monthlong field simulation of a Mars mission in Israel’s Negev desert this past October, where six participants put the watch through its paces. A rugged chronograph cased in sandblasted titanium, its thoroughly modern look includes a Mission Control bezel and a huge minutes counter at 12 o’clock.
From a different kind of universe altogether is the newest watch from Urwerk, the future-facing haute horlogerie indie based in Switzerland, whose UR-100V P0.2 combines the brand’s complex design approach with inspiration from the flight controls of NASA’s Enterprise space shuttle.
Around Urwerk’s customary “orbital” time-keeping display, apertures are designed to count off key events in the shuttle’s takeoff and landing sequences. If you want one, you’ll need to join the online collectors’ club Collective Horology, for whom the watch was made—and these are limited to just 20 pieces. Space travel is nothing if not exclusive, after all.
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