Land, Air and Sea (But Not in Space)

[BristolCavendish]

Despite its outstanding performance on land, in the air and underwater, Rolex was never selected by NASA for its space program and I used to wonder why. Apparently the Omega Speedmaster outperformed the Daytona in a series of rigorous tests which also included several other watch brands. Unbeknownst to me, the Russian space program also chose Omega over Rolex.

Came across this article/thread which lists and describes the parameters of the tests. While all of the watches failed in one respect or another, the Rolex Daytona actually stopped working as the second hand warped and wrapped itself around the other hands during an extreme pressure test. It was the only watch of the group to do so.

Linked/FYI is the thread that pretty much covers the NASA testing procedures and their subsequent decisions pertinent to 'space watches'.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/20759...t+the+daytona-

[Alcan]

Top 5 Reasons Why NASA Will Never Flight Qualify a Rolex

1. NASA would be put on a three year waiting list when attempting to buy a Rolex for qualification testing from a Rolex AD in Houston.

2. The Rolex AD would then tell NASA that Rolex is introducing a new model of the watch the following year.

3. Buying the watches and then giving them to the astronauts would be "intervention by a third party" and void the Rolex USA warranty.

4. The astronauts would be unsure about what they should do with the caseback stickers.

5. Despite NASA's effort to tape, nail polish, and plastic wrap the Rolex watches, the astronauts would scratch them.


Actually, here's what happened:

The initial tests of the watches under consideration was done in 1965. The comparitive evaluations were were narrowed down to Longines, Omega and Rolex. (Omega movement: Omega 321 , Rolex movement: Valjoux 72 , Longines: Longines 13 ZN)

The Valjoux movement in the Rolex watch tested was a manual wind movement, rotor winding was not a consideration. Rolex did not introduce an automatic movement for the Daytona until 1988 when they released the reference 16520, Rolex cal 4030 (Zenith cal 400)

Test results:

Omega Speedmaster: gained 21 minutes during decompression test and lost 15 minutes during the acceleration test , the luminescence of the dial was lost during the test.

Rolex Daytona : stopped running on two occasions during the relative humidity test and during the high pressure test when the sweep second hand warped and pressed against the other hands.

Longine Wittnauer: Crystal warped and disengaged during the high pressure test , same fault occurred during the decompression test.

Final conclusion : the Omega chronograph performed satisfactorily

In 1965, NASA chose the Omega Speedmaster Professional as the official chronograph for the space program.

[1William]

Good answer to the question. Thanks.

[MonBK]

Read all about it here:

http://www.rolexmagazine.com/search/label/NASA

[Knappo 1307]

.

[jfp2476]

Well thank goodness I'm not going into space anytime soon. Would have hated to have to leave the Rolex behind.

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[MonBK]

Originally Posted by Knappo 1307

.

That looks like a dot in space Jason.

[landroverking]

While never official there have been Rolex in space.
Omega has done a great job marketing.
Without the Quartz watch the Accutron Astronaut would one of be the watches to be still used.
Accutron clocks where in each space capsule.

[Knappo 1307]

Originally Posted by MonBK

That looks like a dot in space Jason.

You stole my thunder with your post..

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by Knappo 1307

You stole my thunder with your post..

My apologies.

[incontrol]

Good stuff.


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[droptopman]

Interesting. I wonder how the modern watches test?

[Exploradori]

Very interesting. Thanks


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[breitlings]

NASA is not america's only space agency nor the only ones who go to space. NASA is like the PR tip of a highly classified (space) iceberg

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by Alcan

Top 5 Reasons Why NASA Will Never Flight Qualify a Rolex

1. NASA would be put on a three year waiting list when attempting to buy a Rolex for qualification testing from a Rolex AD in Houston.

2. The Rolex AD would then tell NASA that Rolex is introducing a new model of the watch the following year.

3. Buying the watches and then giving them to the astronauts would be "intervention by a third party" and void the Rolex USA warranty.

4. The astronauts would be unsure about what they should do with the caseback stickers.

5. Despite NASA's effort to tape, nail polish, and plastic wrap the Rolex watches, the astronauts would scratch them.

#6. 'Flipping Rolexes' in outer space would prove problematic (along with the potential distractions of confirming crown alignment and variations in case size diameters).