Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-23-2011 12:14 PM
Dutch watchmaker Roland Oostwegel has created a new space-certified timepiece for André Kuipers to wear while aboard the International Space Station.
Despite the brevity of his 2004 mission, Kuipers said that he lost track of time while in space. To help address this, Dutch watchmaker Roland Oostwegel created the "R.O.1 SPACE Special Edition," a timepiece that features a dial that displays mission elapsed time in days and weeks.
Kuipers launched with the special watch, which like all his and his crewmates' other equipment had to be certified for use on the station. Fabricated out of carbon-fiber so it is lightweight, the watch also features a sub-dial display for the time it takes for the space station to circle the Earth, 91 minutes and 59 seconds.
Roland Oostwegel also created a limited edition series based on the watch made for Kuipers.
To celebrate Kuipers' mission and the first Dutch watch in space, Roland Oostwegel also created a limited edition series of similar watches for those on the ground. Unlike Kuipers' "special edition" timepiece though, the stainless steel, titanium, gold, and ceramic Earth-based versions swap out the mission elapsed time feature for a day and date calendar display.
The limited edition R.O.1 SPACE watches start at €4900 (about $6,400).
garymilgrom Member
Posts: 1966 From: Atlanta, GA Registered: Feb 2007
posted 12-23-2011 01:33 PM
Before I mail my check can you tell me which displays are devoted to MET and which to orbital time?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-23-2011 01:56 PM
The mission elapsed time display (in weeks and days) is at the 3 o'clock position (on the version being sold to the public, it is replaced by a calendar day and date display).
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-01-2012 12:20 PM
Amsterdam Watch Company has shared this set of photos of the R.O.1 SPACE watch on Flickr.