Rewind the clock again to 1973, the yr that NASA launched the Skylab 4 mission to the primary American house station. Strapped to a Saturn IB rocket, William R. Pogue, Gerald P. Carr, and Edward Gibson blasted into house inside an Apollo command module and spent the subsequent two-plus months conducting experiments in zero gravity.
Now fast-forward 12 years to 1985, when astronaut Reinhard Furrer wore an automated Sinn mannequin 140 chronograph on his wrist throughout the Spacelab D-1 Mission. For a few years, the watch-collecting group was underneath the impression that this timepiece constituted the very first automated chronograph worn in house. Nonetheless, in 2006, beforehand unseen (or unnoticed) pictures of Colonel Pogue surfaced wherein he was clearly sporting a Seiko ref. 6139-6002—an automated chronograph—throughout the Skylab 4 mission. Horological historical past was thus rewritten, and curiosity within the 6139 “Pogue” positively exploded.
The grand irony of this entire story is that the 6139 was by no means even issued to Pogue—very like the Bulova chronograph ref. 88510/01 that belonged to astronaut David R. Scott, it was a private watch, on this case bought on the PX at Ellington Air Power Base. In actual fact, Pogue by no means even wore it on EVA (spacewalks), doffing it as a way to don his NASA-issued Speedmaster. None of this, in fact, has stopped collectors from clamoring for a 6139 reissue, however none has been forthcoming. (And this regardless of the higher watch trade, together with Seiko, reissuing nearly each reference underneath the solar lately to capitalize on the classic watch craze.)
Till now. Seiko has certainly lastly reissued the “Pogue” (type of). The factor is, the 6139-series chronograph is an odd watch—its automated chronograph motion powers a single 30-minute register and a central chronograph seconds hand, plus a day-date show at 3 o’clock. And as there isn’t one other watch within the present Seiko catalog with such a function set, the model doesn’t have a motion to energy it. Nonetheless, the (nonetheless pretty new) Seiko Speedtimer format—with its 41.4mm metal case, triple-register chronograph with date and energy reserve indicator, and solar-powered motion—is a wonderful platform wherein to reissue a colourful, funky chronograph, and that’s exactly what the Japanese firm has achieved.
The Speedtimer SSC947, whereas removed from a one-to-one reissue, marks the closest the collector group has come (to date) to a contemporary Pogue. It retains the ref. 6139-6002’s positively wild colorway, with a yellow sunray dial and a blue and pink outer tachymeter scale, however on account of its Caliber V192 photo voltaic motion, the format is totally different: Rather than a lone 30-minute totalizer above 6 o’clock, it’s acquired a triple-register show with a 24-hour indicator at 3 o’clock, a 60-minute totalizer at 6 o’clock, and a working seconds counter at 9 o’clock. (The 60-minute totalizer additionally doubles as an influence reserve indicator, which is fairly neat. The totalizers are additionally black reasonably than color-matched yellow, which gives some welcome distinction.) The day-date show can also be gone, however there is a date window at 4:30, and the watch has a six-month energy reserve as soon as absolutely charged.
