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103-573: The watch was introduced to the market in 1974 under calibre 1511, having an unrivalled accuracy of 12 seconds per year thanks to the revolutionary 2.4 MHz quartz circuit. in 1976 the calibre 1516 Marine Chronometer was introduced with smaller case dimensions and altered movement, although performance remained the same, sales began in 1974 and the watch remained in Omega line up until 1978. Famous owners of Omega Marine Chronometers have included Jaques Cousteau and Eric Tabarly . The first prototypes of

206-474: A PBY Catalina flying boat crash in the Tagus river near Lisbon. Cousteau was deeply affected. He called his eldest son, the architect Jean-Michel, to his side. This collaboration lasted 14 years. From 1980 to 1981, he was a regular on the animal reality show Those Amazing Animals , along with Burgess Meredith , Priscilla Presley , and Jim Stafford . In 1980, Cousteau traveled to Canada to make two films on

309-617: A "pen anti-semite" who edited the collaborationist newspaper Je suis partout ( I am everywhere ) and who received the death sentence in 1946. However, this was later commuted to a life sentence, and Pierre-Antoine was released in 1954. During the 1940s, Cousteau is credited with improving the Aqua-Lung design which gave birth to the open-circuit scuba technology used today. According to his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure (1953), Cousteau started diving with Fernez goggles in 1936, and in 1939 used

412-531: A base movement of the Omega 3220, a Dubois Depraz chronograph module is mounted on top. The Speedmaster has also seen iterations within motor racing, in particular the Automatic 'Racing' models. Originally this differ from the Professional models having a slightly smaller 38mm and 40mm cases and an automatic movement, as opposed to the professionals 42mm case and manual wound movement. Michael Schumacher

515-412: A basis a Quartz Marine Chronometer clock movement was designed with a high-frequency 4.19 MHz (2 or 4,194,304 Hz) quartz oscillator that should be capable of an accuracy of approximately ± 0.01 second/day. Where quartz elements were usually lens-shaped, this one was barrel shaped. It had very low ageing properties, a low thermic coefficient, and was able to function between -10 and +60˚C. The timepiece

618-488: A caliber 861-based movement has been continuously produced since. The tritium -powered phosphorescent lume on the hands and index markers of the original watches were replaced at the end of the 1990s with non-radioactive pigments, but the fundamental design, dimensions, and mechanism of these watches have remained unchanged. In this form, the basic Speedmaster line has remained flight-qualified for NASA space missions and EVAs, after re-evaluation by NASA in 1972 and for use in

721-568: A depth of 350 meters. The successful experiment was quickly repeated in 1965 with two vehicles which reached 500 meters. In 1957, he was elected as director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco . He directed Précontinent, about the experiments of diving in saturation (long-duration immersion, houses under the sea), and was admitted to the United States National Academy of Sciences . He was involved in

824-483: A designated workshop. Most recently, in January 2021, Omega announced it would update the standard-production Speedmaster Professional with a new movement and a subtle design refresh, including a step dial and dot-over-90 bezel. Calibre 1861 has been officially discontinued, replaced with calibre 3861, featuring a co-axial escapement and Master Chronometer certification. Omega Speedmaster Automatic (informally known as

927-549: A first campaign in the Mediterranean on board the sloop Élie Monnier , with Philippe Tailliez, Frédéric Dumas, Jean Alinat and the scenario writer Marcel Ichac. The small team also undertook the exploration of the Roman wreck of Mahdia (Tunisia). It was the first underwater archaeology operation using autonomous diving, opening the way for scientific underwater archaeology. Cousteau and Marcel Ichac brought back from there

1030-405: A gold Omega Speedmaster ref. BA 145.022 as gift. These were the first ever gold Omega Speedmasters, and only 1,014 of these Omega Speedmasters were ever made. Nixon's was engraved: “RICHARD M. NIXON”, “to mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time”, and “PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES”. He famously refused the gift citing its high value. In 1970, after Apollo 13 was crippled by

1133-548: A heart attack on 25 June 1997 in Paris, two weeks after his 87th birthday. He was buried in the family vault at Saint-André-de-Cubzac , his birthplace. An homage was paid to him by the town by naming the street which runs out to the house of his birth "rue du Commandant Cousteau", where a commemorative plaque was placed. Omega Speedmaster#Apollo program Omega Speedmaster is a line of chronograph wristwatches produced by Omega SA . While chronographs have existed since

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1236-657: A legal battle with his son Jean-Michel , who was advertising the "Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort" in the South Pacific, to prevent him from using the Cousteau name for business purposes in the United States. This resulted in Jean-Michel Cousteau being ordered by the court to not encourage confusion between his for-profit business and his father's non-profit endeavours. On 11 January 1996, Calypso

1339-678: A literal meaning: We are all in the same boat." Jacques Cousteau Cousteau was born on 11 June 1910, in Saint-André-de-Cubzac , Gironde, France, to Daniel and Élisabeth Cousteau. He had one brother, Pierre-Antoine . Cousteau completed his preparatory studies at the Collège Stanislas in Paris. In 1930, he entered the École navale and graduated as a gunnery officer. However, an automobile accident, which broke both his arms, cut short his career in naval aviation. The accident forced Cousteau to change his plans to become

1442-515: A much more competitive quartz market and changes in fashions and watch design had limited the Marine Chronometers marketability. Of the 7000 examples of the 1516 Marine Chronometers made approximately 10 examples were made in 18K yellow gold with integral yellow gold bracelet and 18K white gold plaque and bezel. There are currently 2 known examples of the 18K Marine Chronometer in private hands. The 18 carat watches were commissioned and

1545-569: A naval pilot, so he then indulged his passion for the ocean. In Toulon , where he was serving on the Condorcet , Cousteau carried out his first underwater experiments, thanks to his friend Philippe Tailliez who in 1936 lent him some Fernez underwater goggles , predecessors of modern swimming goggles . Cousteau also belonged to the information service of the French Navy , and was sent on missions to Shanghai and Japan (1935–1938) and in

1648-496: A pocket watch and was disqualified from consideration, leaving three contenders: Rolex , Longines - Wittnauer , and Omega. These watches were all subjected to tests under extreme conditions: All chronographs tested were mechanical hand-wound models. Neither the first automatic chronograph nor the first quartz watch would be available until 1969, well after the space program was underway. The evaluation concluded in March 1965 with

1751-554: A removable anodized aluminum housing to shield the watch from a wider range of temperatures. In 1971 and 1973, Omega turned to automatic mechanisms on the Speedmaster Automatic MkIII and MkIV models alongside Speedsonic Electronic Chronometer Chronograph (marketing as a Speedmaster) other non-Speedmaster Chronographs such as the Omega Bullhead . However, none of these proved as popular or long-lasting as

1854-555: A second per day. All 1000 watches were certified as Marine Chronometers and presented with certificates showing their individual performance over the 63-day period. The Marine Chronometer calibre 1511 was presented in a stainless steel case with integral bracelet with a solid 14-carat gold bezel and 14-carat gold plaque which bears the individual serial number of the movement. Of the 1000 calibre 1511 watches produced approximately 900 had solid 14-carat bezels and plaque and 100 had stainless steel bezels and plaques, specifically designed for

1957-599: A watch guy, I decided to strap the Speedmaster onto my right wrist around the outside of my bulky spacesuit. Aldrin's Speedmaster was lost during shipping when he sent it to the Smithsonian Institution , its reference number being ST105.012, although it is sometimes erroneously reported as a 145.012. To commemorate the success of the Apollo 11 mission, then-president Richard Nixon was presented with

2060-514: A wristwatch. The main movement of the watch was based on an Omega calibre 1343 Elan series but designated as 1522 it utilised a revolutionary 4.19 MHz micro quartz circuit, however there are only two known operational prototypes, one of which is now in the hands of a US collector and the other is in a collection in the UK. In total Omega produced a rumored 10,000 calibre 1500 family watches (around 2000 were in spares), although revolutionary their cost

2163-460: Is also evidence that Rolex GMTs were used as personal backup watches on the Apollo 13 & 14 missions. In addition to issued crew watches, Apollo 17 carried an additional Speedmaster to lunar orbit as part of the heat flow and convection experiment conducted by Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans . This watch was sold for $ 23,000 at a Heritage auction in 2009. In 1968, American insurance salesman Ralph Plaisted and three companions were

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2266-471: The Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957. From 1966 to 1976, he hosted The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau , a documentary television series, presented on American commercial television stations. A second documentary series, The Cousteau Odyssey , ran from 1977 to 1982 on public television stations. "The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has

2369-529: The Air Liquide company, following instructions from Cousteau and Émile Gagnan . When making Épaves , Cousteau could not find the necessary blank reels of movie film, but had to buy hundreds of small still camera film reels the same width, intended for a make of child's camera, and cemented them together to make long reels. Having kept bonds with the English speakers (he spent part of his childhood in

2472-819: The Saint Lawrence River and the Great Lakes , Cries from the Deep and St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea . From 1982 to 1984, Cousteau released a series of films on the Amazon with TBS . In 1985, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Ronald Reagan . He also released Cousteau/Mississippi , which won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Special . From 1986 to 1992, Cousteau released Rediscovery of

2575-564: The USSR (1939). On 12 July 1937, he married Simone Melchior , his business partner, with whom he had two sons, Jean-Michel (born 1938) and Philippe (1940–1979). His sons took part in the adventures of the Calypso . In 1991, six months after his wife Simone's death from cancer, he married Francine Triplet . Film]] in 1943, for the first French underwater film: Par dix-huit mètres de fond ( 18 meters deep ), made without breathing apparatus

2678-586: The lunar module as a backup, because the LM's electronic timer had malfunctioned. Buzz Aldrin elected to wear his, and so his Speedmaster became the first watch to be worn on the Moon. Later, he wrote of his decision: It was optional to wear while we were walking on the surface of the Moon ... few things are less necessary when walking around on the Moon than knowing what time it is in Houston, Texas. Nonetheless, being

2781-424: The "Moon watch". The watches used for Apollo 11's mission were the 1967 "pre-Moon" 321 versions. Chronographs were first developed for use in artillery for battle, but soon came to be indispensable for use in high performance machinery, specifically by pilots, but later also by race car drivers. Submariners, who also relied heavily on split second timing for what was essentially blind travel, were known for

2884-528: The 1510 and 1511 is fundamentally identical and all parts can be interchanged, the only difference in the two movements is the designation on the movement plate of either 1511 or 1510. It is rumored that the caliber 1510 was also sent to Besançon for certification, however despite being tested and performing to the same level as the Marine Chronometer was never certified. A number of the remaining calibre 1510 watches had individual numbers engraved on

2987-540: The 321, but replaced its column wheel switching mechanism with a cam and increased the beat rate from 18,000 to 21,600 vibrations per hour. Most Speedmaster Professional watches from 1968 to the present have used variants of this movement, including the modern rhodium-plated caliber 1861 and decorated exhibition calibers 863 and 1863. A standard Speedmaster Professional model with Plexiglas crystal, solid caseback with anti-vibration and anti-magnetic dust cover, tachymeter scale, without date or day complications, and powered by

3090-553: The CEPHISMER ( Centre Expert Plongée Humaine et Intervention Sous la Mer , Expert Centre for Human Diving and Undersea Intervention). In 1947, Chief Petty Officer Maurice Fargues became the first diver to die using an Aqua-Lung , while attempting a new depth record to 120 m with the GERS near Toulon. In 1948, between missions of mine clearance, underwater exploration and technological and physiological tests, Cousteau undertook

3193-696: The Carnets diving film (presented and preceded with the Cannes Film Festival 1951). Cousteau and the Élie Monnier then took part in the rescue of Professor Jacques Piccard 's bathyscaphe , the FNRS-2 , during the 1949 expedition to Dakar. Thanks to this rescue, the French Navy was able to reuse the sphere of the bathyscaphe to construct the FNRS-3 . The adventures of this period are told in

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3296-567: The Constellation Megaquartz. The watch came in a very similar case to the Marine Chronometer but without the plaque and 14K bezel, available in Stainless Steel or 18 carat gold. The Calibre 1510 was most famously produced with an aventurine crystal dial, nicknamed the ‘Stardust’. The watch came in a number of variations of dials: stardust (silver and gold), waffle dial in black, blue and brown and electric blue dial;

3399-563: The French market in response to French law at the time requiring visible hall marks on all gold. The 1511 Marine Chronometer was famously owned by Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and when introduced in 1974 had a list price of £761, by contrast the Moonwatch was on the market at £124.50 and the now coveted Omega Bullhead was only £114.50. Calibre 1510: A non Marine Chronometer designated watch with an accuracy of 1 second per month branded as

3502-525: The Gemini and Apollo Programs. James Ragan, a former NASA engineer responsible for Apollo flight hardware testing, contradicted this story, calling it a "complete invention". Instead, bids were officially solicited of several brands already familiar to the pilots who were joining the growing astronaut corps. Brands under official consideration included Breitling , Rolex , and Omega, as well as others that produced mechanical chronographs. Hamilton submitted

3605-531: The Mediterranean Sea by the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA). The CEA argued that the dumps were experimental in nature, and that French oceanographers such as Vsevolod Romanovsky had recommended it. Romanovsky and other French scientists, including Louis Fage and Jacques Cousteau, repudiated the claim, saying that Romanovsky had in mind a much smaller amount. The CEA claimed that there

3708-467: The Mediterranean, in particular at Grand-Congloué (1952). With the publication of his first book in 1953, The Silent World , Cousteau correctly predicted the existence of the echolocation abilities of porpoises . He reported that his research vessel, the Élie Monier , was heading to the Straits of Gibraltar and noticed a group of porpoises following them. Cousteau changed course a few degrees off

3811-491: The Megaquartz calibre 2400 series. The five calibre 1500 watches produced achieved the required 1 second per month accuracy through a stable (non thermo compensated) quartz resonator as part of an integrated circuit which divided the huge frequency to produce pulses which ran the electromagnetic motor. These watches were the first to feature a time zone adjuster, which allowed the hour to be adjusted without interfering with

3914-585: The Space Shuttle program in 1978. The current such model is reference 311.30.42.30.01.005 (since 2014). Omega has produced a large number of commemorative and limited edition variants of the basic "Moon watch" design, celebrating important anniversaries and events, emblazoned with the different patches for the space missions it was issued for, or evoking its motor sport roots with various racing patterns. It has also released many models made with various precious metals, jewels, and alternative dial colors for

4017-663: The Speedmaster Reduced) is a line of chronograph wristwatches based on the Omega Speedmaster and produced by Omega SA . The Speedmaster Reduced was first introduced in 1988 as a smaller, cheaper version of the Omega Speedmaster. With a case that measures 39mm in diameter it is smaller than its big brother the Speedmaster Professional which has a case size of 42mm. The Speedmaster Reduced went out of production in 2009. Starting with

4120-412: The Speedmaster's official qualification for space flight, astronaut Wally Schirra took his personal CK 2998 aboard Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7) on October 3, 1962. That same year, according to an apocryphal anecdote repeated by Omega press materials and trade publications, a number of commercial chronograph wristwatches were furtively purchased from Corrigan's, a Houston jeweler, to evaluate their use for

4223-722: The United States and usually spoke English) and with French soldiers in North Africa (under Admiral Lemonnier ), Jacques-Yves Cousteau (whose villa "Baobab" at Sanary ( Var ) was opposite Admiral Darlan 's villa "Reine"), helped the French Navy to join again with the Allies; he assembled a commando operation against the Italian espionage services in France, and received several military decorations for his deeds. At that time, he kept his distance from his brother Pierre-Antoine Cousteau ,

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4326-514: The World , also with TBS. On 24 November 1988, he was elected to the Académie française , chair 17, succeeding Jean Delay . His official reception under the cupola took place on 22 June 1989, the response to his speech of reception being given by Bertrand Poirot-Delpech. After his death, he was replaced by Érik Orsenna on 28 May 1998. In June 1990, the composer Jean Michel Jarre paid homage to

4429-403: The addition of a sapphire crystal (which had previously been mineral in the calibre 1511). The bezel on the 1516 was also bonded to the case and the 4 screws are purely cosmetic. The 1516 also had a slightly different positioning of the number plaque. The 1516 Marine Chronometer was produced in 7000 units and sales ran between 1976 and circa 1980, by which point the watch had priced itself out of

4532-462: The alpha hands and then less than one year later ST 105.003 with straight baton hands and ST 105.012, the first Speedmaster with the "Professional" appellation on the dial, with an asymmetrical case to protect the chronograph pushers and crown. All of the early Speedmasters used the same Calibre 321 movement, which was only replaced in 1968/1969 with the introduction of the Calibre 861 movement, used in

4635-537: The basic Speedmaster Professional "Moon watch". A variety of other types of watches have used the Speedmaster brand, including many different automatic day and day-date models, the tuning fork movement Speedsonic line, and the digital LCD Speedmaster Quartz (the Speedsonic and LCD Speedmaster where also prototyped in ten examples each under the Alaska project but not taken up by NASA). The digital-analog Speedmaster X-33

4738-465: The beta 21 (the first Swiss production quartz watch) introduced to the market the year previous. The calibre 1500 was Omega’s first in-house quartz movement developed under project leader John Othenin-Girard by SSIH . The development of the calibre 1500 and subsequent successors cost Omega 30 million Swiss Francs with the sole intention to produce a wristwatch of unparalleled accuracy and performance. This significantly improved performance in time keeping

4841-473: The calibre 1510 watches, most of which were around case design, there are a number in private hands as well as a selection of prototype case designs and dial variations at the Omega museum in Bienne, Switzerland. These prototype watches were no calibre variations but alternative designs for cases and dials which ultimately led to the production watch. By 1974 Omega had developed a more stable production version of

4944-510: The case back, this was to allow their identification during testing. It is most likely that this was a marketing decision by Omega so as not to degrade the marketability of the Marine Chronometer, for which Omega charged a £157 premium at the time (which was the same price as a brand new Omega Flightmaster on bracelet). In 1976 Omega refined the design of the Marine Chronometer and the Constellation (previous known as Calibre 1510) with

5047-632: The cases produced individually by the Fontana factory in Italy. The 18K integral bracelet was identical to that used on the earlier 18K calibre 1510 watches. In 1978 the French Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (French: Service hydrographique et océanographique de la Marine or SHOM) requested a Quartz Ships Chronometer to acquire a reliable autonomous time source independent of external satellite and radio signals. The goal

5150-545: The commander by entitling his new album Waiting for Cousteau . He also composed the music for Cousteau's documentary " Palawan , the last refuge". On 2 December 1990, his wife, Simone Cousteau died of cancer. Six months later, in June 1991, in Paris, Jacques-Yves Cousteau remarried to Francine Triplet, with whom he had a relationship since the early 1980s and two children, Diane (born in 1980) and Pierre-Yves (born in 1982). Francine Cousteau currently continues her husband's work as

5253-399: The creation of Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques and served as its inaugural president from 1959 to 1973. Cousteau also took part in inventing the "SP-350 Denise Diving Saucer" in 1959 which was an invention best for exploring the ocean floor, as it allowed one to explore on solid ground. In October 1960, a large amount of radioactive waste was going to be discarded in

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5356-453: The earliest quartz watches produced with an excellent accuracy, and to this day a serviced example will still be accurate to 1 second per month. Jaques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau , AC ( / k uː ˈ s t oʊ / , also UK : / ˈ k uː s t oʊ / , French: [ʒak iv kusto] ; 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented

5459-413: The early crewed Apollo program, and reached the Moon with Apollo 11 . Ironically, these and prior models are informally known as "pre-Moon" Speedmasters, since their manufacture predate the Moon landings and lack the inscription subsequent models carry: "The First Watch Worn on the Moon". Although Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong was first to set foot on the Moon, he left his 105.012 Speedmaster inside

5562-603: The film Épaves ("Shipwrecks") to Admiral Lemonnier, who gave them the responsibility of setting up the GRS ( Groupement de Recherches Sous-marines , Underwater Research Group) of the French Navy in Toulon . A little later it became the GERS ( Groupe d'Études et de Recherches Sous-Marines , Underwater Studies and Research Group), then the COMISMER ( Commandement des Interventions Sous la Mer , Undersea Interventions Command), and finally

5665-449: The films a "personalized adventure" style. This documentary television series ran for 10 years from 1966 to 1976. A second documentary series, The Cousteau Odyssey , ran from 1977 to 1982 on public television stations. In 1970, he wrote the book The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea with his son Philippe. In this book, Cousteau described the oceanic whitetip shark as "the most dangerous of all sharks". In December 1972, two years after

5768-475: The final lunar surface EVA, he wore a Bulova Chronograph (model number 88510/01 with velcro-strap part number SEB12100030-202 ) that was not part of the normal mission equipment and that he had agreed to evaluate for the company at the request of a friend. Because of the commercial interests involved and the revelation of the Apollo 15 postage stamp incident , NASA withheld Bulova's name for years afterward. There

5871-450: The first American spacewalk as part of NASA 's Gemini 4 mission, and was the first watch worn by an astronaut walking on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. The Speedmaster Professional remains one of several watches qualified by NASA for spaceflight, and is still the only one so qualified for EVA . The Speedmaster line also includes other models, including analog - digital and automatic mechanical watches. The Speedmaster

5974-473: The first confirmed expedition to reach the North Pole on snowmobiles . The team successfully used the same reference 145.012 Omega Speedmasters as the Apollo program along with sextants for navigation. Also in 1968, Omega transitioned the caliber 321 movement to the new caliber 861, also designed by Albert Piguet, with the introduction of the reference 145.022 Speedmaster. The 861 was very similar to

6077-490: The first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the Aqua-Lung , which assisted him in producing some of the first underwater documentaries . Cousteau wrote many books describing his undersea explorations. In his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure , Cousteau surmised the existence of the echolocation abilities of porpoises . The book

6180-691: The general situation in which we are involved is lamentable". In 1992, he was invited to Rio de Janeiro , Brazil, for the United Nations' International Conference on Environment and Development , and then he became a regular consultant for the UN and the World Bank . In 1993, a brief biography, as well as an introduction by Cousteau was featured in interactive educational software program Undersea Adventure , developed by former game developer Knowledge Adventure . In 1995, Cousteau became involved in

6283-593: The head of the Cousteau Foundation and Cousteau Society. From that point, the relations between Jacques-Yves and his elder son, who is 8 years older than Francine, worsened. In November 1991, Cousteau gave an interview to the UNESCO Courier , in which he stated that he was in favour of human population control and population decrease. Widely quoted on the Internet are these two paragraphs from

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6386-433: The highest of military specifications including anti-magnetic shielding. The clocks were all individually numbered on a brass plaque and ran on two standard 1.5 V AA type batteries . When changing the batteries they can be exchanged one by one to keep the time running. A set of batteries provided power for circa 2 to 3 years. The 4.19 MHz technology was also used in Omega's range of LED timing equipment and prototyped in

6489-422: The interview: "What should we do to eliminate suffering and disease? It's a wonderful idea but perhaps not altogether a beneficial one in the long run. If we try to implement it we may jeopardize the future of our species...It's terrible to have to say this. World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. This is so horrible to contemplate that we shouldn't even say it. But

6592-433: The introduction of the caliber 1516 Marine Chronometer and the documented introduction of the calibre 1515 in Constellation models. Although widely documented, the caliber 1515 has never been seen as available on the open market, although it does appear in Omega literature but appears cosmetically identical to the calibre 1516 but with a 1510/1511 circuit, however Omega didn't produce a non Marine Chronometer/ Constellation in

6695-407: The late 1800s, Omega first introduced this line of chronographs in 1957. Since then, many different chronograph movements have been marketed under the Speedmaster name. Astronaut Walter Schirra was the first person to wear one in space in 1962 during his Mercury-Atlas 8 mission. The manual winding Speedmaster Professional or "Moonwatch" is the best-known and longest-produced; it was worn during

6798-565: The luxury market. Over the years, Omega has also sought to improve functional aspects of the basic Speedmaster Professional. In 1969, it produced the Speedmaster Professional Mk II, with shrouded lugs and a flat, anti-reflective mineral glass crystal. In 1970, Omega launched the Alaska Project under Pierre Chopard, which changed the dial of the original Speedmaster Professional from black to white and created

6901-425: The minute or second hand, this is a feature, followed through into the production watch alongside the later introduction of a second trimmer. The design of the calibre 1500 was modular, which translated into the production watch, however the movement design and layout of the final calibre 1511 and subsequent calibre 1516 was completely different. One of the major flaws of the calibre 1500 was battery consumption (from

7004-519: The movement or operate at normal or double rate (the second hand advancing in ½ second increments for optimal timing of celestial objects angle measurements) with a locking knob to prevent accidental actions, power reserve switch with power indicator to check the battery condition, and a frequency regulator. The clock came commercially on the market in 1980 as the Omega Megaquartz Marine Chronometer at great expense, but

7107-461: The optimal course to the center of the strait, and the porpoises followed for a few minutes, then diverged toward mid-channel again. It was evident that they knew where the optimal course lay, even if the humans did not. Cousteau concluded that the cetaceans had something like sonar , which was a relatively new feature on submarines . In 1954, Cousteau conducted a survey of Abu Dhabi waters on behalf of British Petroleum. Among those accompanying him

7210-543: The original calibre 1500 Megaquartz. It was released to the market in two versions of 1000 units each. Calibre 1511: Marine Chronometer, this watch was certified at the Besançon Institute. All 1000 examples were sent to the Besançon in France for testing of their chronometer status and after 63 days of relentless testing (including temperature variation testing) the mean variation was less than two thousandth of

7313-419: The popular connection between the Speedmaster and space exploration. Speedmasters were issued to all subsequent Gemini crews until the end of the program in 1966. In 1966, Speedmaster reference 105.012 was updated to reference 145.012. These two models would be the two Speedmaster references known to have been worn on the Moon by Apollo astronauts, the original "Moon watches." Speedmasters were used throughout

7416-402: The previous 1511 Marine Chronometer however the screws holes on the main plate (to attach the movement to the case) were removed and replaced by a more traditional movement clamping system. The case design for the calibre 1516 looked cosmetically identical to that of the 1511 series and used the same 1209/202 integral bracelet, however it was a smaller watch in terms of height by 5mm and included

7519-649: The previous year in the Embiez islands in Var , with Philippe Tailliez and Frédéric Dumas , using a depth-pressure-proof camera case developed by mechanical engineer Léon Vèche, an engineer of Arts and Measures at the Naval College. In 1943, they made the film Épaves ( Shipwrecks ), in which they used two of the very first Aqua-Lung prototypes. These prototypes were made in Boulogne-Billancourt by

7622-435: The rarest of these variations is the blue waffle dial The total production run of calibre 1510 was also 1000 units, around 800 of which were produced in stainless steel with a variety of dials and 200 were produced in solid 18 carat gold with either stardust, solid 18 carat or electric blue dials. The original list price in 1974 for a calibre 1510 was £604 in stainless steel and £3275 in 18 carat gold. The movement in both

7725-617: The rupture of a service module oxygen tank, Jack Swigert 's Speedmaster was used to time the critical 14-second burn using the lunar module's descent propulsion system , which allowed for the crew's safe return. In recognition of this, Omega was awarded the Snoopy Award by the Apollo 13 astronauts for "dedication, professionalism, and outstanding contributions in support of the first United States Manned Lunar Landing Project." In 1971, Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott 's Speedmaster lost its Plexiglas crystal during EVA-2. For EVA-3,

7828-716: The sacraments of the Church, the strength of his passage towards eternity." In a chapter entitled "The Holy Scriptures and the Environment" in the posthumous work The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus , he is quoted as stating that "The glory of nature provides evidence that God exists". Cousteau said that just because fish are cold-blooded does not mean they do not feel pain, and that recreational fishermen only say so to reassure their conscience. Jacques-Yves Cousteau died of

7931-468: The sea floor. The projects are best known as Conshelf I (1962), Conshelf II (1963) , and Conshelf III (1965). The names "Precontinent", and "Continental Shelf Station" (Conshelf) were used interchangeably by Cousteau. A meeting with American television companies ( ABC , Métromédia , NBC ) created the series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau , with the character of the commander in the red bonnet inherited from standard diving dress intended to give

8034-442: The selection of the Speedmaster, which survived the tests while remaining largely within 5 seconds per day rate. Gus Grissom and John Young wore the first officially qualified Speedmasters on Gemini 3 on 23 March 1965. In June of that year, Ed White made the first American space walk during Gemini 4 with a Speedmaster 105.003 strapped to the outside of the left-side sleeve of his G4C space suit . In order to accommodate

8137-538: The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus invented in 1926 by Commander Yves le Prieur . Cousteau was not satisfied with the length of time he could spend underwater with the Le Prieur apparatus so he improved it to extend underwater duration by adding a demand regulator , invented in 1942 by Émile Gagnan . In 1943 Cousteau tried out the first prototype Aqua-Lung which finally made extended underwater exploration possible. In 1946, Cousteau and Tailliez showed

8240-453: The series's hallmark 12-hour, triple-register chronograph layout, domed Plexiglas crystal (named Hésalite), and simple, high-contrast index markers; but, unlike most subsequent Speedmaster models, it used Omega's broad arrow hand set. In 1959, a second version, CK 2998, was released with a black aluminum base 1000 bezel and later in 2998-2, tachymeter 500 bezel and alpha hands. This was again updated in 1963 by references ST 105.002, which kept

8343-424: The smaller case type and as such it is highly unlikely the 1515 went into production watches. The calibre 1516 movement however was different in design to the 1511, specifically around the main-plate, which was reduced in the size of the movement by 5mm to be able to accommodate the movement in a newly designed smaller Marine Chronometer case. The components of the movement remained fundamentally identical to those of

8446-663: The space suit, the watch was attached via a long nylon strap secured with Velcro . When worn on the wrist, the strap could be wound around several times to shorten its length. According to Omega, the company was surprised to learn of the Speedmaster’s role upon seeing a photograph of the EVA; however, ordering forms sent by NASA's Gemini 4 Flight Support Procurement Office to Omega's American agents in 1964 suggest that this anecdote may be exaggerated. These images would be widely used in Omega marketing materials from 1965 to 1967, establishing

8549-529: The tribute song " Calypso " on his album Windsong , and on the B-side of his hit song " I'm Sorry ". "Calypso" became a hit on its own and was later considered the new A-side, reaching No. 2 on the charts. In 1976, Cousteau located the wreck of HMHS Britannic , which had sunk on the 21st November 1916 after striking a mine in the Kea Channel , the 3rd and final of the three Olympic -class liners &

8652-408: The twin cells), although untested until recently when one of the prototypes came to market as a running watch in 2011. The owner, Omega collector Thomas Dick, tested the watch and concluded that the battery life of the twin (344) cells was approximately 5 weeks, however the accuracy when bench tested was 0.03 seconds per day, still equating to 12 second per year. There were numerous other prototypes of

8755-654: The two books The Silent World (1953, by Cousteau and Dumas) and Plongées sans câble (1954, by Philippe Tailliez ). In 1949, Cousteau left the French Navy . In 1950, he founded the French Oceanographic Campaigns (FOC), and leased a ship called Calypso from Thomas Loel Guinness for a symbolic one franc a year. Cousteau refitted the Calypso as a mobile laboratory for field research and as his principal vessel for diving and filming. He also carried out underwater archaeological excavations in

8858-411: The use of chronographs. The ability to time, and therefore calibrate, fuel consumption, trajectory and other variables allowed for both more efficient travel as well as better pilots and race car drivers. When President Eisenhower decreed that test pilots would be the only permissible option for Project Mercury , the inclusion of a chronograph of some sort was virtually assured. Three years before

8961-455: The versions for the Public (PE 5802 and PE 5806) do not have this extra protection. At the time of production, this was the most precise portable autonomous timepiece, second only to an atomic clock. The ships clock was supplied accompanied by an official "Quartz Marine Chronometer" certificate in a sturdy mahogany box with brass fitting and was very much a case of function over form and built to

9064-610: The volcano's last eruption, The Cousteau Society was filming Voyage au bout du monde on Deception Island , Antarctica, when Michel Laval, Calypso ' s second in command, was struck and killed by a rotor of the helicopter that was ferrying between Calypso and the island. In 1973, along with his two sons and Frederick Hyman, he created the Cousteau Society for the Protection of Ocean Life, Frederick Hyman being its first President. In 1975, John Denver released

9167-611: The younger sister to the RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic . He also found the wreck of the French 17th-century ship-of-the-line La Therese in coastal waters of Crete . In 1977, together with Peter Scott , he received the UN International Environment prize. On 28 June 1979, while the Calypso was on an expedition to Portugal , his second son Philippe, his preferred and designated successor and with whom he had co-produced all his films since 1969, died in

9270-776: The ‘1500 family’ quartz watch (which later developed into the Marine Chronometer) were presented at the Basel Fair in 1970 as calibre 1500, developed by Omega and the Battelle Geneva Research Institute. Known as the ‘Elephant’, there are rumored to have been only five examples of this watch made by Omega. The calibre 1500 ‘Elephant’ (known so because of the design of the movement with two large battery compartments resembling large ears) boasted an accuracy of 12 seconds per year, which equated to 1 second per month, five times more accurate than

9373-542: Was Louis Malle who made a black-and-white film of the expedition for the company. Cousteau won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956 for The Silent World co-produced with Malle. In 1957, Cousteau took over as leader of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. Afterward, with the assistance of Jean Mollard, he made a "diving saucer" SP-350 , an experimental underwater vehicle which could reach

9476-605: Was a timepiece for navigational purposes, like establishing longitude by chronometer , with an accuracy better than 1 second a month. Thirty-six watch and clock companies applied. Omega's entry used a calibre 1525 movement giving an accuracy of less than 5 seconds per year and was selected after a year of testing at sea by the French Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic service. With the Omega Marine Chronometer wristwatch movement of 1974 as

9579-409: Was adapted into an underwater documentary called The Silent World . Co-directed by Cousteau and Louis Malle , it was one of the first films to use underwater cinematography to document the ocean depths in color . The film won the 1956 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and remained the only documentary to do so until 2004 (when Fahrenheit 9/11 received the award). It was also awarded

9682-448: Was little circulation (and hence little need for concern) at the dump site between Nice and Corsica, but French public opinion sided with the oceanographers rather than with the CEA atomic energy scientists. The CEA chief, Francis Perrin , decided to postpone the dump. Cousteau organized a publicity campaign which in less than two weeks gained wide popular support. The train carrying the waste

9785-523: Was not originally designed for space exploration. Instead, it was introduced in 1957 as a sport and racing chronograph following on from the early chronographs of the 1920s and 1930s, including the Omega 28.9 chronograph , which was Omega's first small wrist chronograph, complementing Omega's position as the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games . The first Speedmaster model, the reference CK 2915,

9888-501: Was powered by the Omega Calibre 321 movement. This movement was developed in 1946 by Albert Piguet of Lemania , which had been acquired in 1932 by Omega's parent company, Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère , (SSIH). The "Speedmaster" name was coined from the model's novel tachymeter scale bezel (in brushed stainless steel ) and by the convention set by prior Omega brands Seamaster and Railmaster. The model established

9991-489: Was predominantly used for military application with the French Navy, who used the Marine Chronometer clock in the majority of their fleet. By that time, bearings could be taken by means of satellite navigation . Nevertheless, French Navy regulations still required an independently operated timepiece on board so that, in combination with a sextant, the ship’s position could be determined by celestial navigation. The Marine version (ref. PE 5801) has extra shielding against radiation,

10094-465: Was produced in 1998; it was qualified for space missions by NASA and flown on the Mir space station and Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-90 later that year. In September 2019, Omega introduced a reissue of the calibre 321. The new calibre 321 was designed to replicate the same mechanism and design as the original 321. The new calibre was manufactured with modern metals and computer-aided manufacturing in

10197-422: Was prohibitive and with the speed of development of quartz during the 1970s Omega wrote off much of the original R&D costs and towards the end of their production run Omega offered the remaining examples to Omega employees at 350 Swiss Francs, 1/10th of the retail cost. The Marine Chronometers and non Marine Chronometer calibre 1510 watches remain amongst the most significantly important Omegas ever made, one of

10300-433: Was rammed and sunk in the port of Singapore by a barge . The Calypso was refloated and towed home to France. Archbishop Jean-Marie Lustiger celebrated his funeral Mass at Notre-Dame in Paris. In his homily he stated, "Without betraying any confidences, Father Carré told me of his respect for Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He discovered in him a man of prayer whom he accompanied in his last months of his life, giving him, through

10403-465: Was stopped by women and children sitting on the railway tracks, and it was sent back to its origin. In the 1960s, Cousteau was involved with a set of three projects to build underwater "villages" ; the projects were named Precontinent I, Precontinent II and Precontinent III. Each ensuing project was aimed at increasing the depth at which people continuously lived under water, and were an attempt at creating an environment in which men could live and work on

10506-570: Was tested by the Neuchatel Observatory under rigorous conditions: temperature variations, thermal shocks, magnetic and electric fields, mechanical vibrations etc., which after 47 days of examination earned it the official quartz "Quartz Marine Chronometer" certificate. This is a higher standard than the Marine Chronometer (mechanical) by which standards the 1974 wrist Chronometer was tested. The ships clock featured an external electronic connection “1Hz – 1 V”, an electronic switch to stop

10609-469: Was to be achieved by the development of a circular quartz resonator that vibrated at 2,359,356 times per second (a frequency of 2,359,356 Hz or ≈ 2.4 MHz), by comparison the Beta 21 quartz resonator (which as a watch had an accuracy of 5 seconds per month) vibrated at 8,192 times per second. The lenticular crystal oscillator in the calibre 1500, 1510, 1511 and 1516 was developed in the UK and used solely in

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