William Pogue's Seiko 6139 Watch Flown on Board the Skylab 4 Mission,from his Personal Collection. This watch was worn on the wrist of Mission Pilot William R. Pogue during this eighty-four day mission between November 16, 1973, and February 8, 1974, traveling around the Earth 1214 times for a total of thirty-four million miles. Pogue purchased the 6139-600x Seiko watchon June 13, 1972 for $71 after placing it on layaway three days prior.
He used the watch during pre-flight training to time the engine burns. Although he was not officially sanctioned to do so, Pogue wore the watch during his duration on Skylab.To take the watch aboard the spacecraft, Pogue placed it in the spacesuit leg pocket during pre-launch preparations. After launch insertion and getting unsuited from the spacesuit,
Pogue put the watch on his left wrist and set it to United States Central Time while the NASA official sanctioned Omega watch was placed on his right wrist. Upon Pogue's return to earth he continued to wear the Seiko watch daily,until he retired it in 2003 due to the wear and tear of twenty years.
The watch is accompanied by the original layaway receipt, instruction booklet, spare watch parts, a NASA photo of Pogue wearing the watch aboard Skylab, and a two-page handwritten letter from Pogue explaining the history of the watch. Also included is the May 2007 issue of International Watch magazine, that has a feature story about this watch and how it flew into space more than ten years before the NASA-sanctioned Sinn 142 chronograph.
A truly historic watch sure to appeal to both space and timepiece collectors.
This lot has been consigned by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
The proceeds will benefit this non-profit organization.
UPDATE : (the watch was finally auctioneed at ebay and reached the 4.000$ mark)
Reference :
http://vintage-watches.spaces.live.com/
ADDITIONAL : Trust me.... I'm not the real guy who buy that watch!!!! I Swear I don't!!!!
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circular line among Radium
