There is a claim out on t'internet that only the first 100 X-33 Skywalker watches were manufactured with the inscription, 'TESTED AND CERTIFIED BY ESA' and that it was swiftly replaced with 'TESTED AND QUALIFIED'. Mine is 'TESTED AND CERTIFIED' but I do not believe that it is from the first 100. I'm interested in the percentage of owners that have the various inscriptions to try to establish whether the statement is true or not. Thanks for any responses.
TESTED AND QUALIFIED. Which is irritating because I bought the very first one my ad received in 2014.
Mine is a regular “Qualified by ESA” version. Nothing special about mine, other than the circumstances of the acquisition. As part of the agreements between Omega and ESA for the qualification of the watch in ESA’s ESTEC Test Center in Noordwijk, Omega made available a number of the watches to ESA staff and contractors at a very special price. These were allocated to ESA personnel in 4 batches, a few months apart, between 2015 and 2016. The watches were to be requested by email to a dedicated account within ESA on specific announced dates and after 14:00 EST. And the batch was allocated on a first come/first serve basis. The first batch was “sold out” in hours, by the time of the last batch you had to get your email through between 14:00 and 14:01 !!! Once confirmed, you had to pay for the watch directly with a bank transfer to Omega in Bienne, in Swiss francs. And the price was, let’s say, VERY appealing… I got mine in May 2016. I was expecting to see some special mark, a “NOT FOR SALE” or something, but there is just a normal serial number. We were requested to sign a “not going to sell it” agreement, though. Anyway, my perfectly common Skywalker, but very special to me.
...For now, 33% of "Certified" among OF members... Still looking for the 97 others... (If the "100 first hypothesis" is confirmed...)
Not adding anything to this discussion other than to say... this is a sick looking watch. It's really grown on me over the years.
I have advertised mine for sale if interested. And to all other Solar Impulse owners, who would like to have Skywalker titanium bracelet - I can also sell the bracelet separately. Here link: https://omegaforums.net/threads/ome...lse-limited-edition-titanium-bracelet.142839/
Does anybody happen to hold specifics on what the certification or qualification regime entailed, measured as part of either process (if actually different)?
Don’t worry, guys, I’m sure you can still wear them on your space missions whether they’re qualified or certified.
In the aeronautic world, "certification" means that your work is validated by an independent authority according specifications you don't write yourself. "Qualification" is an internal validation, according specifications you define yourself (or internally, like your Quality Control Department for example). (Sorry if I didn't understand correctly your question... )