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the apparent movements of heavenly bodies
Even though modem science lias smce proved
that the Ptolemaïc geocentnc view of thmgs is
maccurate watchmakers nevertheless continue
to be fascinated b) the planets
Patek Philippe s celebratcd Sky Moon
Tourbillon (price on rcqucst pictured on last
page) nas a celestial dial as well as one that
displays hours minutes days and months
while Van Cleef & Arpcls s Midnight in Paris
(£54 DOO pictured on last page) shows the exact
constellation of stars abovc the Place Vendome
at midmght Mavenck brand Romain Jerome
lias taken to including moondust iii its
timepiects (pictured right from£6900) Even
robustly contemporary makers cannet escape
the centuries old lure of the cosmic bodies
about five years ago Richard Mille
unveiled his Planetammi^efleWrm
(price on request) that seemed to fuse
an almost Galilean aesthetic with the
hi tech funkiness we have come to
expectofhim And another
champion of the extreme tech
look Max Busser lias brought
out a \cry idiosyncratic
moonphase called the MB&F
MoonMachme (£72 500
pictured above) with
Finmsh watchmaker
Stc pan Sarpaneva
Givcn that watchmakers
have been attracted by space
for so long it is logical that
Gene Roddenberrys final
frontier should become the
next bdttleground After all
the deepest depths oi the
oceans have been claimed by
Rolex which has sent watches
to the bottom of the
Mananas Trench Above water
Panerai is active in regattas and
yacht clubs On the roads TAG
Heuer has an enviable track record
in motorsports and Hublot recently
signed a deal with Ferrari
Meanwhile in the skies
Breitling is under aenal
attack from IWC s Top Gun
timepieces (from £9 750) and
the Pilot range by Zenith
(from £4 700)
Thisyear the contcst has
moved into orbit with both
Breitling and Omega carly
entrants in the horological
space race launching
new cosmic models
Breitling was chere at the start of America s hall
century of spacefanng when Scott Carpenter blasted
cif aboard the Aurora in May 1962 He may have been
setting off a year later than the Soviet Union s Yuri
Gagann but Carpenter had the good fortune to be
equipped with i special version of the Breitling
Navitimer With its unique circulai slide rule operated by
means of the rotating bezel a pilot could calculate rate of
ascent descent and fuel burn rnaking it in effect a
wnst worn mechamcal computer For anyone entermg
the unknowri it was a remarkable multifonction
wristwatch and a useful back up to on board systems
The watch worn by Carpenter was fitted with a
24 hour dial on which the minute hand moved in the
samc way as any normal watch but the hour hand made
just one circuit per day meamng that for example at
noon the hands took the position usually associated with
six o dock The rationale was that orbiting the globe in
space and seeing the sun rise and set several tunes
could givç the impression of many days passing in a
single 24 hour penod causing confusion for the pilot
MB&F and Stepan
Sarpaneva MoonMachme £72500.
Romain Jerome Moon Dust Red Mood,
£18500 Felix Baumgartner wears a
Zenith Stratus F (y bac k strikmg luth
£6700 Omega Speedmaster Professional
Apollo XVM 40th Anniversary E4550
This year, the contest has
moved into orbit, with
Breitling and Omega
early entrants in the
horological space race
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The tirnepiecc was designed to prevent the wearer
losmg all scnsc of time To honour half a century of this
classic space watch Breitling launched a tribute model
in May powered by its new in house calibre
Having got off to a slow start against the USSR in
manned space travel the US threw its resources into
makmg good on JFK s pledge to put a man on the
moon before the décade was out and when man finally
went lunar in the summer of 1969 be was wearmg an
Omega Speedmaster The Speedmaster achieved such
cuit status as a resuit that it is frequently known as
the moon watch and in récent years Omega has found
a reason to release another limited edition
Omega for coliectors Thisyear it is apiececelebratmg
Apollo 17 with the insignia of the 1972 mission in
sterling silver on the dia! (£4 550 pictured abovc)
The early 1970s probably marked the height of space
excitement - moon mania even featured in a mghtclub
scene in The French Connection in which the Three
Degrees performed thcir hit Everybody Gets to Go to
the Moon Howcvcr the euphoria of the first lunar
Eléments de recherche : Presse étrangère
landings gave waj to the knowledge
that it would be a while before anyone
vvould be setting up home there
Nevertheless watches continued to
be a part of the story
For instance as well as its tribute
model to the 40th anniversary of
Apollo 17 this year Omega has launched
the Spacemaster Z 33 (£3 720) a suitably
spacefarer chic multifunction quartz
watch that captures something of that
carly space age optimism by borrowmg
from the elliptical case shape of the Pilot
Lme watches of 40 vears ago It has four
push pieces to activate a vanety of tuning
functions including a countdown feature
and perpétuai calendar but while the
name is sufriciently extraterre str lai
Stephen Urquhart president of Omega admits that
with the refocusing of Nasas activites this watch is
unhkel) to be headmg into orbit any time soon We
have regular contact with Nasa and I visit ever)
couple of years but while we are still a part of the space
legacy we have no pending rnatters for the moment
lie explams The Spacemaster Z 33 is engmeered for
pilots rather than astronauts with input from US
squadrons and the Swiss airforce
In contrast Breitling has a watch named the
Aerospace (£3 100) that was used by astronauts for a
series of missions from the mid 1990s until the
begmning of the current century Where Breitling s
reissued Cosmonaute (£6 060 pictured on first page)
honours the rôle of clockwork in the conquest of space
the Aerospace has been an integral part of more récent
activites in the European space programme Breitling s
vicepresident Jean Paul Girardin is nghtlyproud
that an examplc of the watch is on display in the
Science Muséum in Paris as part of the collection of
instrumentation used by French astronauts The
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Aerospace has been in the
Breitling collection for many years,
and Girardin neither confïrms nor
dénies that a new version of the
model is imminent
But if we are to have one soon, it
will surely benefit from the lessons
learnt by the current model, winch,
says Girardin, has been constantly
upgradcd and improved thanks in part
to its mvolvement in space "We had
sonic requests regardmg the fonctions
For instance, when the countdown
tuner reaches zero it stops and there
was a reqmrement for a count-up
fdtihty from zero to give a total mission
time" hc explains
Additionally, the quartz
movement was upgraded
to "Superquartz" and the
backlightmg was made
NVGfNight Vision
Goggle) compatible,
meanmg that, as well as
being legible in poor light
with the naked eye, it
could be used by someone
wearmg night vision
goggles without being blmdingly bnght
Differences in visibihty were not the only extreme
variations Breitling had to acLommodate Given that the
watch ncedcd to be suitable for wear both outside the
space suit and on the wrist itself, the strap had to be
made adjustable with a special Velcro fastening
In Russia, watches by Fortis, winch célébrâtes its
centenary this year, have long been part of the
cosmonaut's officiai equipment, docking up around
100,000 Earth orbits smce 1994, and the brand is
first commercial space vehicle to dock
at the International Space Station The
trip was to commemorate the fact that,
50 years carlier, a Heuer stopwatch had
been part of John Glenn s equipment
when hc orbited the Earth in 1962
Meanwhile, TAG's LVMH stablernate Zenith backed the
attempt of Felix Baumgartner (pictured on previous
page) to perform a freefall parachute jump from the
edge of space as the mtrepid Austrian skydiver
successfully endeavoured to break a record that has
btood for more than half a century
All this interest in the cosmos would seem to imply
that a new space race is hottmg up, in winch the
competitors are the gréât chronograph blouses of
SwiLzerland, and the ultimate objects e is to establish
the first extratcrrestnal watch shop *
Prom far icf t Van Cleef &
ArpelsMidmght in Paris,
£54,000. Patek Philippe
Sky Moon Tourbillon,
price on request
The watch needed to be
suitable for wear outside
the space suit and on the
wrist, so the strap had a
special Velcro fastening
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already lookmg beyond orbital service to a rnanned
mission to Mars In preparation, Fortis was the officiai
watch ot Mars500 (£2 980, pictured on first page), a
joint European, Russian and Chinese simulation of a
manned mission to the planet that took place last year
In this, Fortis is demonstrating good sensé, because
space is gerling quite crowded when it cornes to
watches This year, TAG Heuer put its Carrera Calibre
ISS? Spacex chronograph (£4,475, pictured on first
page) into orbit on board the Dragon spacecraft, the
Eléments de recherche : Presse étrangère
SPACE CRAFTSMANSHIP
Breitling, 020-7637 5167 www breitling com and stockists
Fortis, 01423 504123 www fortis watches com Harrods, 87 135
Brompton Rd London SW1 (0207730 1234 www hai rotis com)
Hublot Boutique, jl New Bond St London wi (020 3214 9970,
www hublot com) IWC, 0845 337 1868 www iwc com and Hai mds
and srockists Kronometryl999,106 New Bond St London Wi
(020 7499 1434, www kronometrvl999 com) Marcus, 170 New
Bond St London WI (020 7290 6500 wwwmarcuswatchesco uk)
Max Bûsser, www mbandf com and Marcus and stockists Omega,
12 Old Bond St, London WI (020-7491 8113 www omegawatches
com) Panerai, www panerai com and Harrods Patek Philippe,
15 New Bond St London WI (020 7493 8866, www patek com)
Richard Mille, www richarville com and Harrods and stockists
Rolex, www i olex com and Harrods and stockists Romaine
Jerome, www rornamjerome ch and Kronometry 1999 TAG
Heuer, Westfield Shopping Centre, Ariel Way London W12 (020
8735 4070, www tagheuer com) Van Cleef & Appels, 9 New Bond
St, London WI (020 7493 0400, wwwvancleef arpets com)
Zenith, 01204 424051 www zen th watches com and stockists