Ed White Speedmaster - a history of the watch, the man and the mission...

[PreacherCain]

Great post, Rob - as an Apollo Geek myself I am always glad to see interesting and relevant material written up, particularly in such an engaging way. The Apollo 1 fire was a terrible event, to be sure, but as others have said, its aftermath had a direct and beneficial impact on the quality of the Block II spacecraft which were actually flown to the Moon.

Aside from that, Gus Grissom himself wrote: "the conquest of space is worth the risk to life" - few people were better qualified to comment.

[AIDM]

Cheers chaps...

Aside from that, Gus Grissom himself wrote: "the conquest of space is worth the risk to life" - few people were better qualified to comment.

Nice quote PC, I hope I am still around to watch the next big push in manned space exploration develop - if and when it ever does!

Here is a final pic of the Ed White on a slightly less 'space' orientated strap - Heuerville Rally!



Rob

[Tam]

I've only just found this - many thanks for posting such a useful and interesting thread. Also, hope you're enjoying your watch.

[Henk Hoving]

GREAT article, many thanks for sharing!!

[Jack Norman]

Very enjoyable and informative post.

Does anyone know the movement number in Ed White's original 105.003?

[Huertecilla]

The soviest were indeed first and Leonov wore a black dialed Poljot ´Strela´. The ´Strela´ name has its origin in this spacewalk.



The first watch is space was, like the first human, also soviet. It was the time only Poljot Sturmanskie of Gagarin which has evenr since been reproduced/homaged in a myriad of ´Gagarin Sturmanskie´ watches.

It is almost sure that the Strela was worn outside of the space suit as the cosmonauts really used their watches as personal timer. Gagarin too had his humble Poljot on the outside:



To put it in perspective, the outside is not at all that tough on a watch; it is only a vacuüm. Only -1 bar relative to the cabin.

All in all, the only space first the swiss watch industry can truthfully boast on is to get a wristwatch on the moon which for the wátch is no different than the sapce walk.The rest is just the power of marketing and certainly at that time is was not all that truthfull.
Like Rolex was better at this than Omega, the Swiss completely outshone the soviets as did the US publicity machine despite winning basically nothing. The soviets put a remote (earth) controlled vehicle on the moon which was agruably MUCH more of a feat.

So, the Strela is the aptly named réal star.

The contribution by the OT however is just as much appreciated. Thanks.

[dkpw]

To put it in perspective, the outside is not at all that tough on a watch; it is only a vacuüm. Only -1 bar relative to the cabin.

One would also have to take into account temperature and temperature changes experienced by a watch - I think they might be quite tough?

-250°F to +250°F according to NASA.

[humphriespaul]

Having just come across this thread (awaiting delivery of my new Speedy - very very excited), I just wanted to echo the other comments. Thank you for such a great post and the time it took you to compose it. One of the better things about the internet is finding fora like this. Very happy to be a member.
Best wishes
P

[Dean in Canuckistan]

Fantastic post - thanks for taking the time to put that together for us.

Wearing my 3570 today, and all the more happy to be doing so now.