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Astronauts wore Rolex GMT's and not just Speedmasters. Say it isn't so...

TLIGuy
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SpeedyPhill SpeedyPhill
@dscoogs
As I mentioned above... indeed a Speedmaster instead of the Rolex GMT he actually wore underneath the spacesuit

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Here's what looks like a 1969 photo of astronaut Alfred Worden after a T-38 flight... At that moment he was back-up CMP for Apollo 12 and would fly aboard CSM Endeavour during Apollo 15 in August 1971...
Note the Snoopy figurine sticker on the helmet... At his left wrist a Rolex GMT-master Pepsi ... what do You think 😕
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Rolex_MoonwatchUniverse.jpg

I looked at this picture awhile back. Yes, I believe it is a GMT with a Pepsi bezel as well.
 
dscoogs
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Man, I am not a Rolex person but starting to warm up to these GMTs thanks to this thread.
 
TLIGuy
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dscoogs dscoogs
Man, I am not a Rolex person but starting to warm up to these GMTs thanks to this thread.

I wasn’t a Rolex guy either until I tried one on. A nice condition late 60’s 1675 Pepsi GMT is a beautiful watch. Mine is my daily wearer. In the end, if I could only have one watch moving forward I would keep the GMT.
 
sdre
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TLIGuy TLIGuy
I wasn’t a Rolex guy either until I tried one on. A nice condition late 60’s 1675 Pepsi GMT is a beautiful watch. Mine is my daily wearer. In the end, if I could only have one watch moving forward I would keep the GMT.
Likewise. If I ever had to sell eberything, the GMT will be the one to stay.

IMG_20190518_083702_141.jpg IMG_20190428_191736_209.jpg IMG_20190424_064440_657.jpg
 
ext1
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Honestly!! Nowadays after having discovered the charm of 1675 I keep wondering why I went for 5513 first... sigh...
 
Hoddspur
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Love these and to know a GMT has been worn in space makes it even better👍
 
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SpeedyPhill
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Yep, in fact this topic triggered me to dump the Speedies and go for one high quality watch from another make... can only wear one on the wrist !
😁
 
ext1
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So recently I saw this on the well known "Rolex an unauthorized history" book, my friend had it.

It didn't have much on the GMTs but it had this!!

62117631_2089587561342072_649740393386082304_n.jpg 62030895_697649603988624_4197965867641733120_n.jpg

So I'm looking at apparently what was given to Rene Jeanneret of Rolex from Swigert. Rolex apparently then displayed it on their Geneve office. Asked friend what GMT this is. Friend says 'oh that's a gilt GMT. Has to be, GMT hand arrow is small". Wow! Swigert had taste. Good man.
 
SpeedyPhill
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Just watched a nice & interesting video about wrist watches in space and I would like to share my remarks here 👎
Added some time markers in bold :
2:30 The first wristwatch in space was a PODEBA "Victory" worn by space dog Chernuchka "Blackie" on March 9, 1961... the dog survived the trip onboard Sputnik-9 as dog "Laïka" didn't on Sputnik-2 in November 1957 ... cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin wore a n Air Force pilot's watch 17 jewels SHTURMANSKIE "Navigator" on Vostok 1 - April 12, 1961
3:02 The STRELA "Arrow" was not worn in open space but underneath the Berkut space suit of Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965... so the Omega Speedmaster was first in open space as 4 Speedies were exposed to outer space on Gemini IV - June 3, 1965
8:02 the Accutron Astronaut tuning fork wristwatch got most flight time aboard the X-15 hypersonic research rocket plane 1961 to 1968
Of course it was also used by Cooper on MA-9 in May 1963, by Grissom & Young on Gemini III in March 1965 and Norm Thagard on STS-7 "Challenger" in June 1983
11:47 a bold claim that the Apollo 8 astronauts Borman & Lovell carried Rolex GMT-master watches to the Moon... they did use these in training but Jack Swigert was the first to carry a Rolex GMT to the Moon on Apollo 13 - April 11, 1970
Both Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa wore their Rolex GMT-master on Apollo 14 and Ron Evans carried his Rolex GMT Pepsi aboard Apollo 17
14:04 the FORTIS Cosmonauts chronograph was first used in open space by the Soyuz TM-19 (Mir-16) resident crew on September 9, 1994 ... The signed Orlan glove in the book was used by the Mir-18 crew in May 1995.. So here's a fun fact: 1994-2019 = 25 years FORTIS in space !!!
Sorry, but couldn't help it... something wrong on the internet etc...
☕
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SpeedyPhill
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As we mentioned almost a year ago... Canadian Dr Dafydd Williams talking about Rolex worn underwater in NASA NEEMO and aboard the ISS...
Amazing stuff 👍
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SpeedyPhill
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This August, Apollo 13 Command Module Pilot John Jack Swigert would have celebrated his 88th birthday... May 1970 photo, astronaut Swigert wearing his Rolex GMT-master Pepsi wrist watch...
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Rolex_MoonwatchUniverse.jpg
 
SpeedyPhill
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@The Master of Speed post about a Rolex Daytona aboard space shuttle Atlantis falls right into in my long quest to find out, which was the very first Rolex worn aboard a Space Shuttle mission:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/1989-sts-34-astronaut-mcculley-rolex-daytona-6263.100741/

This Daytona has been on our radar for some time now and here is a bit background on my modus operandi
First I have made a list of all astronauts who wore a Rolex in their official NASA portrait, these portraits were made by Astronaut selection group and most astronauts got a candidate portrait and a mission portrait ( Post Apollo portraits: Carter, Gregory, Hammond, Henricks, etc... ).
Then check available STS mission photos specifically for these astronauts and sometimes bump into " something interesting " such as the 1985 Challenger photo below, which on first quick sight, seems to be a GMT-master with serrated edge of the bezel ... but it was a Seiko Alarm chronograph which came with teeth on its bezel in 4 places 🤔
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1985_51B_Thornton.jpg
 
RedMac
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TLIGuy TLIGuy
I wasn’t a Rolex guy either until I tried one on. A nice condition late 60’s 1675 Pepsi GMT is a beautiful watch. Mine is my daily wearer. In the end, if I could only have one watch moving forward I would keep the GMT.
All you pilots are the same. If I kept one watch it would be my Omega Snoopy 1. It has accompanied me to some interesting places in the world and my wife gave it to me as a birthday present. If I got rid of it she would kill me and that is reason enough to keep the watch.
 
SpeedyPhill
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60 years ago, September 17 North American Aviation chief test pilot Scott Crossfield (the first pilot to fly at twice the speed of sound in 1953) made the first powered flight with the rocket-powered hypersonic research X-15 aircraft. Between June 1959 and December 1960, Crossfield made 14 free flights with the X-15 space probing aircraft. He was one of only 12 pilots, among whom Neil Armstrong & Joe Engle, to fly the legendary X-15...
Although the X-15 achievements were overshadowed by the Mercury astronauts, both X-15 test pilots and the seven Mercury astronauts were issued Bulova Accutron tuning fork wristwatches as discussed in other topics on this forum...
Here a September 1959 press briefing photo of Scott Crossfield describing the tight fit of his helmet on the Davild Clark pressure suit. Crossfield tweaked the design of the outer layer of the suit to be shiny silver coated in order to appeal to the press (see the cover of January 1958 LIFE magazine). Note he was wearing his personal Rolex GMT-master pilot watch. In the lower photo he was holding a Topping scale model of the X-15...
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crossfield_Rolex.jpg Testpilot_Crossfield.jpg

1960s Topping scale models of the X-15 hypersonic research aircraft (MoonwatchUniverse)
MoonwatchUniverse_USAF.jpg
 
SpeedyPhill
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interesting interview... Chuck Yeager and Wally Schirra wearing a Rolex ☕
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pkaye6
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Very interesting thread, thank you for posting.
 
RedMac
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SpeedyPhill SpeedyPhill
60 years ago, September 17 North American Aviation chief test pilot Scott Crossfield (the first pilot to fly at twice the speed of sound in 1953) made the first powered flight with the rocket-powered hypersonic research X-15 aircraft. Between June 1959 and December 1960, Crossfield made 14 free flights with the X-15 space probing aircraft. He was one of only 12 pilots, among whom Neil Armstrong & Joe Engle, to fly the legendary X-15...
Although the X-15 achievements were overshadowed by the Mercury astronauts, both X-15 test pilots and the seven Mercury astronauts were issued Bulova Accutron tuning fork wristwatches as discussed in other topics on this forum...
Here a September 1959 press briefing photo of Scott Crossfield describing the tight fit of his helmet on the Davild Clark pressure suit. Crossfield tweaked the design of the outer layer of the suit to be shiny silver coated in order to appeal to the press (see the cover of January 1958 LIFE magazine). Note he was wearing his personal Rolex GMT-master pilot watch. In the lower photo he was holding a Topping scale model of the X-15...
.
crossfield_Rolex.jpg Testpilot_Crossfield.jpg

1960s Topping scale models of the X-15 hypersonic research aircraft (MoonwatchUniverse)
MoonwatchUniverse_USAF.jpg
 
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