Why does Buzz Aldrin wear two watches
Why does Buzz Aldrin wear two watches – NASA tested three of the best watchmakers’ chronographs over 60 years ago to see how well they handled significant pressure and temperature changes. The competition was won by Omega’s “Moonwatch” Speedmaster.
Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, shared a photo of his celebratory supper on Twitter on Sunday, July 16. Aldrin was the lunar module’s pilot during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, which launched from Merritt Island, Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre on July 16, 1969.
Nearly 110 hours later, mission leader Neil Armstrong delivered the famous “The Eagle Has Landed” announcement and accomplished his “giant leap for mankind” by stepping foot on the Moon. Aldrin, who at the time went by the first name Edwin, followed him. Michael Collins, the third astronaut on board, guided the command module Columbia around the Moon as the lunar module touched down.
But the Apollo 11 mission is not the subject of this tale. It concerns a photo that Buzz Aldrin, the mission’s lone survivor and 93 years old, shared on the 54th anniversary of their historic Moon landing. or rather, a peculiar aspect of that image.
Buzz Aldrin’s Moonwatch
Aldrin is eating a massive plate of steak and eggs while sitting in an Apollo 11 T-shirt. However, he has three wristwatches on, two on his left hand and one on his right. All of the timepieces are various models of the Omega Speedmaster. Aldrin wore an Omega Speedmaster when he set foot on the moon, giving rise to the nickname “Moonwatch” for the timepiece.
Although the particular watch that Aldrin wore on the flight was lost, its legacy has lasted ever since. The Omega Speedmaster is still manufactured today, and its variations are some of the most sought-after timepieces among collectors.
NASA Calls for Watches
The Speedmaster wasn’t made specifically for the Apollo 11 mission by Omega, a Swiss watchmaker that is now a part of the Swatch Group, the largest watch firm in the world. The Speedmaster was already in production in 1957, four years before President John F. Kennedy established for America the national aim of achieving a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
The timepiece, a chronograph, was primarily used by race car drivers and pilots to track fuel consumption and trajectory. In addition to telling the time, it could also be used as a stopwatch.
NASA engineer James H. Ragan wrote to several well-known watchmakers in 1964 asking them to deliver “high-quality chronographs” together with their quotes and specification papers so that the space agency’s astronauts could choose a watch that was approved. Rolex, Omega, Longines, and Hamilton, an American manufacturer at the time, were the four brands that answered.
After suggesting a pocket watch chronograph as opposed to the wristwatch that NASA required, Hamilton was eliminated.
Subsequently, “Mr. Ragan went on and procured 3 to 4 pieces per brand (Longines-Wittnauer, Rolex, and OMEGA), and the legendary tests were carried out with these pieces and under these three brands,” an article from the online watch publication Monochrome stated in an August 2014 report. All of the watches were mechanical timepieces, as opposed to the quartz watches of today that utilise a battery to tell the time.
The Monochrome report stated that the watches went through a set of procedures known as the “Qualification Test Procedures, which included 11 different tests.”
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