Apollo 15: David Scott's Bulova and the case of the missing crystal...

kkt

It seems unlikely. The astronauts had more on their minds than getting a kickback from a watch company.

Evitzee

These guys were inundated in requirements to do their jobs, I doubt most Speedmasters were really relied upon during their intense mission activities. It's only us goofballs 50+ years later who want to believe the space program was completely dependent on the Omega Speedmaster.

DoctorEvil

My question is this:
Could Scott have deliberately damaged his Speedy so that he would then have an excuse to wear the Bulova on the moon?

Professor

Two thousand years from now the orthodox Bulovites and Omegavista heretics will engage in a bloody centuries long conflict over this question.

pdxleaf

Glad to see another space enthusiast. It's a fun area to explore.

I recently "heard" that crystals had popped off on other speedys. Unfortunately, i don't recall the source. I have recently watched a few youtube videos with old interviews from other missions, as well as podcasts. I can't remember which one I heard it on. So without a source, this is only hearsay. However, with a bit of digging I suspect you will find that this didn't only happen to Scott's watch. They tended to get knocked about and it happened, especially in a bulky suit in tight quarters.

Stamps and flags were certainly recognized as having value, but watches weren't as recognized as collectibles at that time. They did recognize the value of anything on the lunar surface, which is why the lunar module crew often carried items to the surface for their crewmates in orbit on the command module. However, it's doubtful anyone would have anticipated a watch going for a million or more.

It's ironic that the capitalist nation was so strict about making some side change whereas the USSR had a more liberal policy that allowed Cosmonauts to hang onto gear. You'd think it would be the other way around.

Be judicious in applying today's standards and knowledge to that different era. It is certainly curious and interesting, but a kickback is a strong charge.

Cheers.

SpeedyPhill

AFAIK there's no official report of the hesalite failure during Apollo 15... but there's an official report for the hesalite failure during Apollo 16 !
Moreover, there're photos showing Charlie Duke wearing the Speedmaster without hesalite during lunar EVA near the LRV
MoonwatchUniverse article excerpt:
📖
The Omega Speedmaster performed flawlessly and only two incidents were reported;
David Scott (Apollo 15 lunar EVA 2) and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16 lunar EVA 3 ).
After the mission, both astronauts reported that the hesalite glass had popped off from the watch, after which its stopped running.
The anomaly about Duke's watch was summarized in the Apollo 16 mission report;
At depressurization, just prior to the third lunar extravehicular activity, the Lunar Module Pilot noted that his chronograph crystal was gone. The chronograph hands and face were not hit. However, about 12 minutes later the movement stopped. Most likely, warpage caused by thermal cycling allowed the differential pressure across the acrylic crystal to pop it out of the case. The exposure to and penetration of lunar dust contamination about the Lunar Module Pilot's sleeves probably caused the failure of the chronograph movement.
These chronographs are certified to a maximum temperature of 160° F. Testing has demonstrated that in the range of 190° F, the crystal is weakened to the point where internal pressure can push the crystal off. For the chronograph to reach a temperature of 190° F, direct continuous exposure to incident solar radiation normal to its surface is required for approximately 12 minutes.
These chronographs are tested at the Manned Spacecraft Center when received, again before shipment to the Kennedy Space Center and again just prior to flight. The Apollo chronograph is a secondary timing device and is not critical to mission success or crew safety. There are no plans for corrective action.

Professor

Since the actual cause of the moon watch losing its crystal are well know and research, and so well understood that an external case was developed to protect the watches from similar failures in the future, this conspiracy theory is as hair brained as it gets.
Unlike my revelation that the Moon is flat as a pancake, since it has a darkside and a light side and solid spherical objects have only one side, that being the outside.

BTW
The Newman Daytona fetched such a high price because he wore it on the Moon during his secret CIA funded lunar mission as Elvis Presley's co pilot.

DoctorEvil

Bulova at the time was an American owned watch company that had tried unsuccessfully to pressure NASA into ditching the Speedmaster and using its watches instead as the official astronaut's watch. In the interview with Scott, he said that Bulova had given him this watch to "evaluate" in space.

rcs914

And of course the funny thing about this is that the watch in question is really a re-branded Universal Geneve and no more "American" than the Speedmaster that they were trying to replace.

SpeedyPhill

These Speedmaster chronographs got serviced, some original 105.003 cal 321 models even got a replacement 861 movement in them 😲