Hidden gems from the Russian Space photo archives

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LOL ... creating the spreadsheet of all wristwatches used in all spaceflight missions since 1961 will hoepefully kill some germs 😉
 
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Without starting a seperate topic, I'm looking for people who have some knowledge of Russian quartz wristwatches...
In my lecture there's only one slide as... I only know a few names such as Elektronika
Maybe there's even a book on the subject ?
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With all the recent mumbo-jumbo & gibberish talk about Omega watches in spaceflight, we forget that the Russian spaceflight program was much more interesting... wristwatch-wise !
During the first 25 years of American spaceflights, we barely counted 12 different wristwatches worn by astronauts & mission specialists...
For that same period, it's a complete other story on the (Soviet-) Russian spaceflight program with a multitude of watches being worn by cosmonauts and their 12 Interkosmos partners !
Count there were no US spaceflight missions between mid-1975 and April 1981 while in that period the Russians had 21 missions with cosmonauts regularly wearing 3 wristwatches each...
This May 1981 pre-launch photo of Soyuz-40 Interkosmos Romania shows 5 wristwatches !
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(Photo: TASS/RKA/Roscosmos)
 
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Very interesting point / good photo. I had poor experiences with early (cheap) LCD display quartz (related to temperature). One watch display only worked if I put the watch in the Fridge after it I wore it during a hot summer.
 
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Just some photography of Green lume dial 3133 Poljot and 3133 Shturmanskie chronographs as used in the Soviet-Russian Salyut 6 & 7 era
(Photo: MoonwatchUniverse)
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Here's a more complete story of an Omega Speedmaster on display in the Omega museum in Bienne...
I have seen this Omega Speedmaster 125 chronograph several times on display, without information or with different text plates so I knew the story couldn't be complete... So MoonwatchUniverse investigates...
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The well-known Omega Saga, a huge hardcover book published by Omega in 1998 on the occasion of their 150th anniversary, should contain some information as the Omega Speedmaster 125 was produced in 1973 to celebrate 125 years Omega since 1848. The Omega Speedmaster 125 chronograph in question is mentioned on page 394 with the description is was flown aboard Soyuz 27 in January 1978 by cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov. The paragraph mentions cosmonaut Dzhanibekov visited the Omega museum on April 19, 1991 and donated the space-flown chronograph to the museum in Bienne.
Fast forward a decade and the spaceflown Omega Speedmaster 125 got a nice display in the Omega museum (Photos date from 2010 and 2016)
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Russian Air Force General and cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov flew on 5 Soyuz spaceflight missions, here's my overview of the wristwatches he wore on each flight:
1978 Soyuz 27 = a black 24 hrs dial Shturmanskie ?
1981 Soyuz 39 = a manual wind Omega Speedmaster chronograph
1982 Soyuz T-6 = a grey dial Poljot "Flight" 3133 chronograph + Omega Speedmaster 125
1984 Soyuz T-12 = the same Omega Speedmaster 125
1985 Soyuz T-12 = the same Omega Speedmaster 125 + quartz LCD watch
These claims as good as possible shown in time-period photographs ( all photos: TASS/RKA/Roscosmos )
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Soyuz T-6 Dzhanibekov wearing the Omega Speedmaster 125 while filming Jean-Loup Chrétien aboard Salyut-7
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Soyuz T-12 crew pre-launch Baikonur ceremony, Dzhanibekov wore the large flat Omega Speedmaster 125 on the brown strap.
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Soyuz T-13 cosmonauts on their way to the launchpad, Dzhanibekov wore the Omega Speedmaster 125 on the brown strap June 6, 1985
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Vladimir Dzhanibekov returned to Earth on September 26, 1985, the Omega Speedmaster 125 dangles over his left forearm, quartz at wrist
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Omega museum might update their plaques as this Omega Speedmaster 125 chronograph was space-flown for 131 Days 20 Hours 16 min
🙄
#MoonwatchUniverse
 
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Thanks, as with NASA photos, for each good photograph there're at least a dozen frustrating ones, where cosmonauts look at their watches or keep their wrists under a table...or both in one picture as this Soyuz 16 photo.
However, soon to come, the intriguing article "" How Omega wristwatches got behind the Iron curtain "" with estimates on Omega wristwatches delivered into the early 1970s Soviet-Russian space program 😗
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As a reference photo-collage: Grey & Black dial Poljot " Flight " 3133 chronographs...
As military pilots, Soviet-Russian cosmonauts mostly wore the non-colored or colored Air Force wings dial versions
It looks lik the military 31659 Shturmanskie "Navigator" chronograph came with white lume only... not listed in this collage;
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As a reference photo-collage: Grey & Black dial Poljot " Flight " 3133 chronographs...
As military pilots, Soviet-Russian cosmonauts mostly wore the non-colored or colored Air Force wings dial versions
It looks lik the military 31659 Shturmanskie "Navigator" chronograph came with white lume only... not listed in this collage;
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Bottom right is a modern russian reissue, russian movement but I suspect chinese case and dial (case is quite different).
Top right is a 31659 (3133 with hacking stop): lume is 😒. The most common 3159 should look like this :


Those use a whitish lume, only one early version uses green lume but its authenticity is open to debate.

Other 31659 variants from 1987-1991 have a different dial color (dark grey, or blueish):



Also, you are missing this 3133 😜:



For the VMF, but I think it was used in space flight too (can't find the reference).
 
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@S.H.
Your remarks are correct !
Indeed the 3133 OKEAH "Ocean" issued to the Russian Navy was used by Russian Navy officer Cosmonaut Valeri Rozhdestvensky on Soyuz 23 in October 1976 ... a mission known for its near-catastrophic re-entry and landing on the frozen Tengiz lake during a snow storm !
 
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Russian cosmonauts did take time to photograph a FORTIS automatic chronograph floating in micro-gravity conditions:
floating onboard ISS Zvezda module
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floating onboard ISS - Cupola , an ESA-built observatory-dome module with 7 windows attached to the ISS in 2010
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Just to showcase the level of detail MoonwatchUniverse gets by scanning old time-period black & white photographs...
Clearly a 2 crowns 2 pushers Poljot 3133 grey dial with non-colored Air Force wings ... next to the Sokol space suit pressure valve 👍
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Just to showcase the level of detail MoonwatchUniverse gets by scanning old time-period black & white photographs...
Clearly a 2 crowns 2 pushers Poljot 3133 grey dial with non-colored Air Force wings ... next to the Sokol space suit pressure valve 👍
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Very nice! Any idea of what the strap may look like?
 
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January 29, 1998 Russian-Kazakh cosmonaut Talgat Musabayev followed by French cosmonaut Léopold Eyharts walk to the Soyuz TM-27 launch vehicle... Musabayev was head of the Mir-16 resident crew and performed 6 spacewalks during 207 days onboard the Mir space station in 1998. (Photo: TASS/Roscosmos)
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March 31, 2020 during the first Omega Instagram Live video streaming event, Omega Heritage manager Petros Protopapas talked about the Omega Speedmaster chronograph used by Talgat Musabayev on six spacewalks between January and August 1998.
Musabayev had the Speedmaster covered in Scotch-tape in order to protect the plexiglass a bit more during the harsh spacewalk events...
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(Photo: Omega Museum)
 
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March 1981, Soyuz T-4 crew cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Viktor Savinykh were the last mission to the Salyut-6 space station...
Note both cosmonauts wore a grey dial Poljot "Flight" chronograph over the left forearm of the Sokol KV02 space suit. (Photo: TASS)
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