Today, during this last #SpeedyTuesday of 2019 we have discussed some spaceflight related items and thought it would be interesting to elaborate on the subject of wearing wristwatches, under a sleeve... of a spacesuit.
It is well-known that cosmonauts on the early one-person Vostok flights (Gagarin, Titov, Tereshkova,...) wore a Sthurmanskie "Navigator" wristwatch over the left forearm of their orange Zvezda SK-1 pressure suit.
So the very first wristwatch worn under a sleeve of a spacesuit must have been the manual winding 33mm Strela "Arrow" chronograph worn by Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev during Voskhod-2 in March 1965.
Photos and TV footage of the preflight walkout, bus transport and getting into the launch vehicle show both cosmonauts in their bulky Berkut "Eagle" spacesuits with no watches visible. Even digital enhanced TV images of the spacewalk don't show a wristwatch...
During the recovery, white cream dial Strela watches were clearly seen on the wrists of both cosmonauts. There's great recovery footage as it was an important mission and the capsule landed 2000 kilometers off target in the Taiga snow forest...
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Strela became know as the Soviet-Russian Speedmaster

More on Russian watches:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/hidden-gems-from-the-russian-space-photo-archives.65152/

 

During early Soyuz missions, a three cosmonaut crew often flew in woolen flight garments as the Russian spaceflight program paid more attention to the development of the Krechet "Gyrfalcon" spacesuit for their manned Moonprogram. Moreover, the available Yastreb "Hawk" full pressure spacesuit was too large to be worn all the time in the tight Soyuz capsule.
In January 1969, both Soyuz 4 (1 cosmonaut) and Soyuz 5 (3 cosmonauts) were launched to test the transfer of cosmonauts from one vehicle to the other by spacewalking in a Yastreb spacesuit. Cosmonauts Yeliseyev and Khrunov transferred from Soyuz-5 to Soyuz-4 and then returned to Earth aboard their new spacecraft. TV footage shows the cosmonauts wore the 33 mm Strela chronograph underneath the Yastreb...
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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33 mm Strela "Arrow" caliber 3017 19-jewels chronograph and a Sokol spacesuit glove

 

After the fatal flights of Soyuz-1 (April 1967) and Soyuz-11 (June 1971) the Russians developed a lightweight rescue suit to be worn by the cosmonauts so in case of depressurization they could safely return to Earth. These Sokol "Falcon" spacesuits were introduced in September 1973 on the Soyuz-12 mission as both cosmonauts wore a Sokol-K version of the rescue spacesuit.
The Sokol-K spacesuit was also worn by Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov on Soyuz-19 (ASTP) in July 1975...
As in very low "zero" gravity conditions the cosmonauts' spine erects it wasn't easy to pull the half-frame helmet over their head upon return. So over the Sokol-KM and the Sokol KV-01, the upgraded Sokol KV-02 spacesut was introduced on Soyuz T-2 in June 1980. This type of spacesuit came with GP-7A gloves and later GP-7S gloves (October 2004) and is still used for today's missions to the ISS.
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Soyuz 19 cosmonauts Kubasov and Leonov pose during training n their Sokol-K spacesuits. Note Alexei Leonov was wearing an Omega Flightmaster chronograph which easily fitted underneath the 85mm diameter Sokol glove of his spacesuit. Also note the distance from watch to the bayonet blue ring closure at the sleeve of the spacesuit.
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Russian ASTP commander, Alexei Leonov wore an Omega Speedmaster during training for the mission in spring 1975. The Speedmaster fitted easily underneath the Sokol-K sleeve as the glove have a 85 mm diameter...
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July 15, 1975 the Soyuz-19 cosmonauts before entering the launch vehicle. Note both Leonov and Kubasov wore a Speedmaster over the left forearm but also on their left wrist underneath the Sokol-K spacesuit. The Soyuz and Apollo flights launched within seven-and-a-half hours of each other on July 15, and docked on July 17... after 47 hours both craft undocked.

 

On the American side, Gemini program astronauts wore their watches over the spacesuit. Even on the long-duration Gemini VII, when the larger lightweight G5C spacesuits were worn, Borman and Lovell wore the Omega Speedmaster on black velcro over the forearm.
During the July 1966 Gemini 10 mission, both John Young and Michael Collins might have been the first to try out if an Omega Speedmaster chronograph could be worn underneath the Gemini spacesuit. Pre-mission walkout photos show Collins without a watch over the spacesuit.
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We have to wait for 1968 to see a wristwatch being worn underneath an Apollo spacesuit as Apollo 8 Lunar Module Pilot William Anders was seen wearing a Hamilton (?) pilot watch during training for the first circumlunar mission.
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To be 100% sure about an Omega Speedmaster being worn underneath an Apollo spacesuit, we have to wait until May 1969 for Apollo 10, were both CMP John Young and LMP Eugene Cernan wore an Omega Speedmaster on steel mesh bracelet underneath their A7L spacesuit.
Onboard TV footage of the astronauts in CSM "Charlie Brown" clearly showed the shiny JB Champion steel mesh bracelets.
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The Apollo glove inner-ring diameter was 90 mm, comparable to the Russian Orlan EVA spacesuit gloves. Ample space to wear an Omega Speedmaster chronograph...

 

Training shows Michael Collins enjoyed wearing the Omega Speedmaster on JB Champion steel mesh bracelet... underneath the A7L Apollo spacesuit...
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By november 1969 we see Apollo 12 CMP Richard Francis Gordon effectively wearing an Omega Speedmaster underneath his Apollo spacesuit during suitup before launch on November 14, 1969. His Speedmaster on shiny steel mesh JB Champion bracelet can still be clearly seen aboard the MQF on aircraft carrier USS Hornet on November 24, 1969...
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April 11, 1970 astronaut John Jack Swigert choose to wear his personal Rolex GMT-master 1675 Pepsi underneath his spacesuit during Apollo 13
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November 22, 1989 naval aviator/physician Manley Sonny Carter during suitup for the STS-33 space shuttle mission with orbiter Discovery.
During this 5 days classified DoD flight, Carter wore his personal Rolex Datejust on jubilee bracelet... and yet another wristwatch. Note on the table, a NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster on long black velcro to go over the forearm of the orange "pumpkin" spacesuit...
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Spacesuit gloves can crush the wearers fingernails sometimes causing the nails to come off. I wonder of the wrist area of the gloves can cause a problem with the wrist bands of watches worn inside the suit. Either way I don't think I'd want a linked metal band on my wrist.

 

The most famous " wristwatches underneath a spacesuit " photos were taken during suitup of the Apollo 14 mission on January 31, 1971
Suitup TV footage and NASA photos clearly show both CMP Stuart Roosa and LMP Edgar Mitchell wearing extra (personal) Rolex wristwatches underneath their Apollo A7L...
Note Edgar Mitchell on the right winding the watches, while a few suit technicians also showed an interest in the proceedings
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Apollo 14 LMP Edgar Mitchell winds his personal Rolex GMT-master 1675 Pepsi wristwatch and puts it on his right wrist...
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Astronaut Edgar Mitchell tucked the Pepsi underneath the fireproof forearm underwear and puts on a second Rolex wristwatch on his left wrist
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Both Rolex wristwatches neatly tucked underneath the fireproof underwear, Mitchell awaits to put on the gloves and glass pressure helmet before getting the go to stand up and walk to the astrovan...

 

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Indeed, today's regulations for spacewalks aboard the ISS - International Space Station stipulate that American astronauts are forbidden to wear any jewellery/watches underneath the space suit aka Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit during a spacewalk!
Anyone interested in trying on spacesuit gloves or reading any of my articles or chapters for books on the subject can PM me
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This being said, the Russians still have more relaxed regulations.... even for EVAs in the Orlan spacesuit.
Of course, since July 2011 the Soyuz remains the only vehicle to reach the ISS and all cosmonauts can wear an extra wristwatch underneath the Sokol spacesuit. Mostly a manual wind Omega Speedmaster is worn over the left forearm of the Sokol rescue spacesuit with an Omega X-33 on the wrist... and mostly a third timepieces on the other wrist...
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December 2015 English ESA astronaut Tim Peake... Omega Speedmaster over forearm, X-33 on wrist and a third timepiece on other wrist

 

Both the Sokol GP-7A and Sokol GP-7S gloves have an 85 mm innerring so wearing a wristwatch is not a problem.
Note in the photo below what ample space there exist between the wrist and the point where the glove attaches to the spacesuit sleeve.
Prelaunch suit-up photos show astronaut Ronald GARAN in 2011 and female cosmonaut Elena SEROVA in 2014 clearly wearing 3 wristwatches
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This is a righthand Sokol GP-7S glove like those used on the ISS today...
It has a 85 mm innerring and ample of space to wear a Speedmaster, even with the crown & buttons towards elbow.
My hand can be easily moved without the chronograph hitting the blue steel ring of this spacesuit glove, of which ISS crewmembers carry 2 pairs !

 

US Apollo-Soyuz crew during countdown demonstration test training and commander Stafford during actual suit-up for launch on July 15, 1975...
Note each of the astronauts wore an Omega Speedmaster chronograph on the wrist underneath the spacesuit.
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European astronaut Alexander Gerst wearing a 45 mm HALDA "space module" digital chronograph loaded with mission software (2014)
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This concludes the last #SpeedyTuesday of 2019 and it's clear wristwatches can be worn under a variety of spacesuits !
Quod erat demonstrandum

 

There's no doubt that Omega had a marketing coup when their Speedmaster was chosen by NASA as standard issue on many space missions. The unsung hero in the whole space missions saga has got to be Bulova, where many of their horological instruments were essential, where accurate timing was required. Their Bulova Astronaut watch was used by a number of astronauts, including Gordon Cooper (in the picture below), who wore one while orbiting the earth on a number of space missions.

The tuning-fork technology that Bulova invented, was nothing short of miraculous for its time and is worth researching further. (My 2 watches are in the last picture.)

 

I was watching the Speedy Tuesday Singapore video. The panel started to question if one could wear a watch under their spacesuit. That issue was a surprise to me, because I talked with Edgar Mitchell, Gene Cernan, Tom Stafford, Dave Scott and a bunch of Shuttle astronauts like Rick Mastracchio about wearing watches under their suits. They did. Actually Gene told me that Ron Evans wore his personal watch under his suit and carried one in his PPK bag (which is listed in the NASA reviewed Apollo 17 PPK list generated by Jim Fletcher).
I own a complete Sokol suit (one of Shannon Lucid's training Sokol suits) with gloves. I will put on various watches, as well as some EVA wristbands and glove liners and put my arm into the suit to check it out. I can even use a few different space flown watches (Omega, Fortis, Stremankie) to add more authenticity to the experiment. Give my a few days.

 

I remember reading of a glove springing a leak during an extreme high altitude bail out, from a balloon I think it was.
Apparently the suit used sealed the glove area separately from the rest of the sleeve preventing full decompression of the suit. The man this happened to said it was incredibly painful and if he hadn't reached a lower altitude quickly he could have lost that hand.
There was a Youtube video of a man in a spacesuit having a sudden loss of pressure in a vacuum chamber. He was unconscious in a second or two and only quick action by a safety technician saved him from death or brain damage.

I have an old National Geographic magazine with a cover painting of a very hairy bailout from one of these high altitude balloons. One pressure suited figure is hanging onto cables while trying to kick the other guy free from where he is stuck in the hatch. The balloon itself had blown out and the capsule was plummeting to the ground at a high rate of speed. The suits they wore were very much like spacesuits.

I would hazard a guess that the gloves being more exposed to abrasions and probably of much thinner material they'd replace these at any sign of wear. Better safe than sorry.

 

@WatchCheck
Bulova Astronaut tuning fork watches were worn by 7 of the 12 X-15 testpilots, later by G. Cooper on MA-9 and by both V. Grissom & J. Young on Gemini III in 1965. In 1983 astronaut Norm Thagard wore a Bulova Astronaut on STS-07 aboard space shuttle Challenger

@RedMac
Indeed on #SpeedyTuesday Singapore there was a huge elephant in the room: Apollo 15 David Scott's 88510 Bulova chronograph
Worn during EVA-3 near Hadley Rille and sold at auction for US $ 1.3 million in 2015
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/moon-watch-sells-for-$1million
Looking forward to Your testing of hardware & wristwatches !

@Professor
Must have been USAF Colonel Jo Kittinger in 1959 during Projet Excelsior
All astronauts/cosmonauts flying with Soyuz to the ISS carry 2 pairs of Sokol gloves. Both the larger EVA Orlan gloves and Sokol gloves have a limited use and are kept as mission mementos by the crewmembers

Large Orlan spacewalk glove and smaller Sokol GP-7A with rubber fingers compare their size to the Speedmaster chronographs...
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That was Joe Kittenger who lost pressure in his right glove during the ascent to 103,000 feet on his third jump on Project Excelsior. His hand swelled badly during the ascent, but he hung on until reached close to 103,000 feet. The USAF was using helium balloons to reach high altitudes to determine the feasibility to a very high altitude aircraft ejection. You are also talking about the NatGeo Army program called Explorer in 1934. The fabric on the balloon tore and the gondola crashed to the ground.

 

"Indeed on #SpeedyTuesday Singapore there was a huge elephant in the room: Apollo 15 David Scott's 88510 Bulova chronograph
Worn during EVA-3 near Hadley Rille and sold at auction for US $ 1.3 million in 2015
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/moon-watch-sells-for-$1million
Looking forward to Your testing of hardware & wristwatches !"

Yes, I heard the comments about there being no other wristwatches on the Moon. Those were surprising comments. I had the Bulova chronograph in my hands and took a few photographs of the watch before it was given to RR Auction for the sale. The watch and the Velcro strap were very dusty. ;-)