Not quite such a blue moon. Why Omega is not the only moon watch
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As I write this, it is the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. Omega is proudly is adverting their ‘Speedmaster’ on television and reminding us of the connection between their wristwatch and the moon missions.
The story of Omega and the moon missions is well known and you could be forgiven for thinking they, only they had their watches flown to the moon. The truth is rather more interesting. By the early 1960s the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) knew they would need a watch to accompany their astronauts in space. They needed a watch that was pressure proof, waterproof, robust and accurate whilst experiencing 14G. They went to downtown Houston and purchased some watches to test, one of the brands was Omega and one Rolex (the others are lost to history). Some rigorous testing later and Omega was declared the brand they would use on space missions. There is a popular misconception that the watches were intended for moon walks only, but in fact having a few accurate watches on board a space craft was vital in case of a power outage as the watches could then be used to reset the clocks on board.
Now, most of the NASA astronauts were ex-pilots who had flown in the 1950s. If you were a pilot in that period then you had probably purchased a watch that was specifically designed for pilots - the Rolex GMT-Master. Even before then Rolex’s rugged designs had attracted pilots - Chuck Yeager who broke the sound barrier did so wearing a Rolex Oyster back in 1947. So it’s perhaps not surprising that a good few astronauts wore a Rolex. Mercury and Gemini Astronauts Frank Borman, John Glenn, Michael Collins, Scott Carpenter and Walter Schirra all wore Rolex watches.
But the most interesting group to the story of Rolex on the moon are the astronauts Alan Shepherd, Dr Edgar Mitchell, Eugene Cernan, Jack Swigert, James Lovell, Ronald Evans and Stuart Roosa who all wore Rolex GMT-Masters. And no fewer than 5 of these men wore their personal GMT-Masters to the moon and back. How many of them wore a Rolex on the surface of the moon is unknown, but Dr Edgar Mitchell certainly did while he carried out the longest moon walks on record.
So, yes Omega was the official watch purchased by NASA but many of the Apollo astronauts wore their own watches on missions and Rolex GMT-Masters were certainly flown and used on the surface of the moon.
I won’t deny that Omega’s connection to the moon missions is important. But, I think that Rolex may really be the most important watch worn in space: Jack Swigert wore his GMT-Master on the ill fated Apollo 13 mission. It was this watch that was used to time the critical engine burn that got all three astronauts back to earth safely after their craft suffered an explosion and was crippled. He presented that watch to Rolex and today it still sits in the Rolex museum in Geneva with a personal note thanking his long time friend, Rolex Director Rene Paul Jeanneret for allowing him to ‘Always be on time’. An great understatement of Rolex’s importance to the space program would be hard to find!
Dr Edgar Mitchell winds up two Rolex GMT-Masters prior to going to the moon on Apollo 14. He took them both to the moon and wore one GMT-Master on the surface of the moon.
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Jack Swigert wearing his Rolex GMT-Master, 1675 model. This watch would prove to be the most important piece of equipment on the Apollo 13 mission.