Pages

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Next Time Bring a Seiko for Space Travel

Or a Casio.  Or maybe even a Citizen.  Have any Citizen watches been to space?  I don't know.

Anyway. Happened across this video of astronaut Don Pettit making a repair to his Omega Speedmaster Professional X-33 while aboard the International Space Station.  Not only did the crown break, but one of the buttons actually detached from the watch and was found later in a filter.

Now the video is a demonstration of Don Pettit repairing his watch under zero gravity conditions with a random assortment of tools.  I think I can hear the Omega fan bois already posturing with the, "Fuck yeah!  Omega X-33 is so cool you can fix it in outerspace with duct tape and a Leatherman!".  However, I may be in the minority which thinks that this the watch should not have broken in the first place and it is not a very impressive demonstration by a watch designed for use in space. Floating debris actually poses a significant risk for critical damage of space station equipment.

Don't get me wrong.  I think the X-33 is a cool watch.  But if I had one and happened to be going to space, I think I'd leave it on terra firma and bring something more reliable instead.

Kudos to Dan Pettit.

Omega Fail.

No comments: