Hidden gems from the Russian Space photo archives

Here's real gem, B&W together with color footage of both cameras outside the Voskhod-2 spacecraft in March 1965... the first spacewalk.
It certainly looks like both Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev wore their white dial Strela "Arrow" pilot's watch underneath the Berkut spacesuit...
So the Omega Speedmaster 105.003 was the first to be exposed to outer space with 4 wristwatches exposed on Gemini IV in June 1965 !
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A great resource for spotting wrist watches as this book has superb photographs of each Russian spaceflight mission recovery operations !
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1994 - 2019 = 25 years FORTIS in spaceflight ... Photos at: https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/archive
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They both had the same first encounter experience.

Sigmund Jähn's death on Saturday (Sept. 21) was announced by the German Aerospace Center (Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR). East-German pilot Sigmund Jähn was the first European to fly in space (Soyuz 31 in August 1978)... RIP
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Cosmonaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, the first person to walk in space, died at the age of 85
Here's a 1975 photo of Leonov in white Sokol spacesuit, wearing one of three Omega Speedmasters he flew on Apollo-Soyuz in July 1975...
RIP among the stars
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Those who have read my articles know that also Soviet-Russian pilots were keen on Rolex pilot watches.
In 1971(Soyuz-10 training) and in 1974 (ASTP-training in USA) cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov was pictured wearing a Rolex GMT-master Pepsi.
Here's a 1974 photo of Russia's third cosmonaut Adriyan Nikolayev in his military uniform, wearing a Rolex GMT-master, as Deputy Director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow Oblast
(Photo TASS in MoonwatchUniverse lecture on Spacefarers' wristwatches lecture)
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2019 is drawing to an end and as it was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Omega brought out a superb Gold Tribute Speedmaster chronograph based on the November 1969 Gold Speedmaster gifted to the NASA astronauts...
However most of us hoped that Omega would seize the 50th Apollo 11 anniversary to (finally) provide the "community" with at an update of some historical information about the use of the Omega Speedmaster in the US Space Progam. (e.g. detailed references and NASA numbers for each astronaut). Nothing to do about it... so it's again up to the forum to do some research and/or to write an open letter to Omega HQ 😁
2020 is going to be an important year and not only for Omega !
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thank you I had no idea the USSR used omegas

@neilbardsley
From memory, the first Omega on the Soviet-Russian side was used aboard Soyuz 14 in July 1974 = Flightmaster
An Omega Speedmaster Mark III followed on Soyuz 15 in August 1974...
For the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the Russian side was Soyuz 19 and during february 1974 training the cosmonauts got Omega Flightmaster watches. I'm currently checking if the Russian backup crew also got these watches... and how these got behind the iron curtain !
During the actual Apollo-Soyuz mission, in July 1975, a total of 11 Omega Speedmaster chronographs were space-flown, with the astronauts wearing older versions (105.012 and 145.012) while the cosmonauts wore "more modern" 145.022 Speedmaster versions...
Anyway the ASTP mission photos are a great source to checkout the Speedies and the bracelets & velcros used by both crews !
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Amazing color footage of the 1969 Soyuz 4 & 5 mission which featured an EVA between 2 capsules...
At 1:00 mark , I believe the 33 mm cream-dial Strela "Arrow" wristwatch of cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov becomes visible.
Remember during those early days, cosmonauts wore their wristwatches underneath the EVA spacesuit, here Yastreb "Hawk" spacesuit... Although at 1:20 it looks like cosmonaut Yevgeni Khrunov was wearing a wristwatch at his right wrist over the Yastreb spacesuit !
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Soviet-Russian spaceflight is of course about Russian made wristwatches... it doesn't always have to be about the Omega Speedmaster.
Here I'm listing those 1980s Soyuz missions during which the Poljot 3133 "Flight" chronographs were worn by cosmonauts.
We're talking about the version with 2 crowns + 2 pushers, which also came in OKEAH "Ocean" version for the Russian Navy.
Listing is for the grey dial Poljot 3133 version and my results are based on time-period walk-out photos taken at the Baikonour cosmodrome before boarding the launch vehicle;
Soyuz T-4 ( Vladimir Kovalyonok & Viktor Savinykh )
Soyuz 40 ( Leonid Popov & Dumitru Prunariu )
Soyuz T-5 ( Anatoli Berezovoy )
Soyuz T-6 ( Vladimir Dzhanibekov & Aleksandr Ivanchenkov )
Soyuz T-7 ( Leonid Popov & Aleksandr Serebrov )
Soyuz T-10 ( Oleg Atkov & Leonid Kizim & Vladimir Soloviyov )
Soyuz T-12 ( Svetlana Savistkaya )
Of course this type of Poljot can be seen in many training photos for Salyut-6 missions...
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a Cyrillic dial Poljot "Flight" 3133 chronograph as I would expect it to be worn by Soviet-Russian cosmonauts in the Salyut-6 & 7 era
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I mentioned Cyrillic dial as the photo here above apparently shows the Poljot worn by Berezovoy during the Soyuz T-5 mission... English dial ?!
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May 1982 Soyuz T5 cosmonaut Anatoli Berezovoy aboard the Salyut-7 space station. Note the grey dial Poljot chronograph on his left upper-arm
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Edit: I prefer Cyrillic dial Russian watches but what's your idea on a cosmonaut wearing an English dial chronograph ?

And one more example, this is the Soyuz T-10 crew in 1984, cosmonauts from left to right:
Oleg Atkov, Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Soloviyov in Sokol KV-02 spacesuits. Note each cosmonaut wore a Poljot 3133 on the left forearm :
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Detail of Oleg Atkov's forearm with the Poljot "Flight" 3133 chronograph and some quartz watch on his left wrist...

As we don't get any information from Omega, I'm finalizing my article on the Omega Speedmaster & Flightmaster behind the Iron curtain...
While I was checking hundreds of photos, I came across these Russian-made wristwatches, which are amazing looking chronographs 😉
So here we go for the 31659 Shturmanskie chronographs, made from 1986 and worn during missions aboard the Russian Mir space station.
It's the grey dial regular chronograph ( 1 crown 2 pushers ) we're looking for as there was also a (non-flown?) 2 crown + 2 pushers version!
Again, my listing is based on time-period photos showing the crews moments before boarding the Soyuz launch vehicle at Baikonour cosmodrome:
FEB 1987 = Soyuz TM-2 ( Yuri Romanenko )
DEC 1987 = Soyuz TM-4 ( Vladimir Titov )
AUG 1988 = Soyuz TM-6 ( Vladimir Lyakhov )
DEC 1990 = Soyuz TM-11 ( Viktor Afanasiyev & Toyohiro Akiyama - Japan )
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Example of a Russian made grey dial Shturmanskie 31659 chronograph with the Russian Air Force crest and date window.
it looks both green lume and white lume versions were produced.... with the white lume being earliest versions? Four-digit serial = pre-1989
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December 21, 1987 the Soyuz TM-4 crew is about to board their launch vehicle. In front, Vladimir Titov wore a Shturmanskie 31659 chronograph

This is amazing to see—being from the USSR I find this both fascinating and humbling. Very proud of our history.

Thanks for sharing.

Since childhood, the (Soviet-) Russian space program, both manned & unmanned, has been a fascination of mine...
Writing to Starcity and getting, sometimes after a 10 months or longer wait, a few (autographed) cosmonaut crewphotos was a thrill.
In 2016 I even reached out to the Omega team with some amazing spaceflight photos, but they were too busy with preparations for 60 years Speedmaster for the 2017 anniversary year. It rekindled my writing passion and I wrote 5 articles in a row between 2016 and 2019...
Omega has its own program so I shared some stuff via the MoonwatchUniverse photo blog and nowadays get requests to cooperate on several publications among which some amazing books.
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However the Russian-made & space-flown watches and chronographs deserve more attention, and for those " space nerds " I would like to point out the Space Watches Facebook group where a group of enthusiasts share information as the moderator wants to complete a full spreadsheet of all wristwatches flown on each & every spaceflight mission !