The wristwatches of Artemis II astronauts: Omega Speedmasters and possibly some Breitling Cosmonautes

When the Atemis II launched on 1 April for a trip to the moon and back, it marked the first time in 54 years that a crewed mission set off to travel to Earth’s satellite. Nasa’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972, which put two American astronauts on the lunar surface, was the closing chapter of that particular era of manned space exploration.

And although the crew of Artemis II will only be doing a flyby—it is slated to occur on 6 April—there is one piece of historical continuity with 1972 that is still present and correct: the watches that the astronauts are wearing.

Crew members Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are all sporting the Omega Speedmaster, a watch that is indelibly etched into the history of the Apollo missions of the late 1960s and early 70s. While the famous Omega Speedmaster “Moonwatch”, a mechanical chronograph, was a part of the official space kit of the Apollo missions, the Artemis II astronauts are sporting an updated ana-digi version of the watch, the Omega Speedmaster X-33. It is clear that the Speedmaster line is still a part of Nasa’s official kit.

The original Speedmaster Professional was chosen by Nasa in 1965 as the official watch handed to its astronauts with their other gear. It was an important timekeeping and timing device (since it is a chronograph), and it achieved iconic status when US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore it on the lunar surface in 1969.

The X-33 Ref. 3291.50 was launched in 1998, and was nicknamed the “Marswatch” at the time. It also was the second Speedmaster—after the original—to be certified flight-qualified by Nasa. Although the X-33 no longer is in general production (although one expects that to change now!), it is clearly still a part of Nasa’s space kit.

The Speedmaster isn’t the only iconic Spacewatch associated with the Artemis II mission. At least three of the astronauts are also in possession of a special edition Breitling Cosmonaute, and these watches too may be in space right now. The Cosmonaute, an aviation chronograph watch, became associated with space exploration in the early 1960s, especially when US cosmonaut M. Scott Carpenter wore a specially-designed model to space on the Aurora 7 rocket.