'Normal' watches and the Moon/Everest etc

We all know that the Speedy Pro was the 1st watch certified for manned space flight and either the Smiths or Explorer (depends who you believe) were 1st to the Everest summit but aside from these how likely is it that a 'normal' watch would survive on the Everest peak or on the moon.

Presumably a Gshock would lap it all up no problem but is there any reason why an El Primero wouldn't survive Everest? Or why a Dornbluth (would need to be manual wind or quartz I presume) wouldn't survive a trip to the moon's surface?

The Omega Speedmaster, Rolex Oyster and Smiths A409 were all normal watches.

Presumably any modern sports watch is going to have no problems on a mountain, in space, and didn't someone send an SKX like 1000m down without issue?

An El Primero was strapped to the arm of Felix Baumgartner when he free fell from 39,000 metres and broke the sound barrier. I understand that it coped alright with that.

https://www.zenith-watches.com/int/b...ix-baumgartner

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Originally Posted by ryanb741

...Or why a Dornbluth (would need to be manual wind or quartz I presume) wouldn't survive a trip to the moon's surface?

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I'm pretty sure this presumption was disproved decades ago.

M

FPIS?
First Panerai In Space

https://www.wristenthusiast.com/late...s-way-to-space

Its all markting i feel, all sorts of products have been to space and get zero credit but they make a song and a dance that their watch has.

The challenge for space isn't what it used to be. Not only has watch manufacturing improved in terms of consistency, reliability and shock absorption capabilities, but the "ride" is a lot smoother than it used to be. A round of golf is probably more challenging than a trip to the ISS in one of Elon's finest.

As a starter for 10 a simple google brings up these
https://www.spacekids.co.uk/spacewatch/

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/ei...r-professional

As said there have been plenty of ‘normal’ (whatever they are) watches that have gone to space.
Now there is generally a queue to get to summit Everest so I presume all sorts have been up there as well.

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Originally Posted by Saint-Just

The challenge for space isn't what it used to be. Not only has watch manufacturing improved in terms of consistency, reliability and shock absorption capabilities, but the "ride" is a lot smoother than it used to be. A round of golf is probably more challenging than a trip to the ISS in one of Elon's finest.

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So true.

Most modern space exploration is akin to a bus ride.

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Originally Posted by snowman

I'm pretty sure this presumption was disproved decades ago.

M

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Yep, Colonel Pogue had no problems with his auto winding only Seiko.

Operating on the lunar surface and EVA are very different to within in a space vehicle or station as the watch is worn on the outside of the suit, in a vacuum and wildly varying temperatures. Pogue's Seiko didn't leave the craft but would probably have been fine. LCDs would have problems.

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Originally Posted by ryanb741

We all know that the Speedy Pro was the 1st watch certified for manned space flight and either the Smiths or Explorer (depends who you believe) were 1st to the Everest summit but aside from these how likely is it that a 'normal' watch would survive on the Everest peak or on the moon.

Presumably a Gshock would lap it all up no problem but is there any reason why an El Primero wouldn't survive Everest? Or why a Dornbluth (would need to be manual wind or quartz I presume) wouldn't survive a trip to the moon's surface?

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It was Smiths. Rolex said so. Oh, and the Explorer didn't even exist at the time.

The Smiths was winterized with low-temp oils.

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Originally Posted by Rev-O

It was Smiths. Rolex said so. Oh, and the Explorer didn't even exist at the time.

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To be fair, Tenzing Norgay was almost certainly wearing or carrying his Oyster at the time, albeit unofficially since Smiths was a sponsor. I mean, how many watches would a Sherpa have and why would he leave it behind? I still think Smiths missed a trick there by not issuing watches to everyone just as Rolex had done with a previous expedition, and then this nonsense would never have arisen.

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Originally Posted by chris_calcite

To be fair, Tenzing Norgay was almost certainly wearing or carrying his Oyster at the time, albeit unofficially since Smiths was a sponsor. I mean, how many watches would a Sherpa have and why would he leave it behind?

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He had, I think, a gold datejust (?) for his work with the 1952 Swiss Expedition but no pictures of him with the '53 group show him wearing a gold watch. As for why he'd leave it behind: probably because it was too valuable to risk?

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Originally Posted by chris_calcite

I still think Smiths missed a trick there by not issuing watches to everyone just as Rolex had done with a previous expedition, and then this nonsense would never have arisen.

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Umm, they did. All 13 member of the Hunt team got a Smiths.

If only we'd discussed this before . . . . https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...n-53-The-proof

Enicar made it up Everest and Lhotse in 1956. I don's see why any modern watch with somewhat decent WR wouldn't be able to do the same.

https://enicar.org/2018/07/02/birth-...st-expedition/

Tianjin made it up third with the Chinese team. Rolex didn’t get a watch on the summit until the sixties.