Horological Meandering

Carpenter is the 6th man to go to space after his NASA colleague Shapartm Grissom and Glenn and two soviet cosmonauts: Gagarine and Gherman Titov. NASA history has kept his "Godspeed John Glenn" in its record as one of the most famous Moment.

After that he will also be a pioneer in submarine exploration and will be a part of SEALAB programm, making him one of the rare ( or only?) astronaut and aquanaut.

Carpenter said he discovered the Navitimer during a travel in pacific island where he was there to visit a Mercury control station before his mission.

He have seen it at the wrist of an Australian pilot of the RAAF , that's where the story begins.

He is obviously interested by the chronograph and slide rule capacity, this could be useful in the little capsule room. Shepard and Grissom didn't have a watch, every gram is counted they weren't useful.

Glenn had an Heuer pocket stopwatch (not watch) adapted to the wrist with a special strap. Precise but heavy and large.

The Navitimer is compact, can time, and has this computing capacities that can be useful if needed. It fits perfectly the needs of the programm.

Carpenter asked Breitling if they could do modifications to be the closest to the mission request. Breitling registers the name "comonaute" in 1961.

Cosmonaute, that's odd for a watch ordered by an astronaut. It is surprising to say the least that during cold war, Breitling hasn't chosen the name astronaut. Maybe the name wasn't as well known as it is now? And cosmonaute the name used in Europe?.

A fellow collector "Zetiabo" gave me that explanation which may be the right answer, Bulova may have already had the name Astronaut at the time and Breitling couldn't use it.

The first request of Carpenter is to have a 24hr dial. There is no day and night in the capsule and he wants to communicate what he reads. The second one, that I supose, is a larger bezel to deal with the big gloces.

He receives the watch some day before take off

The Atlas Rocket lift off on May the 24th at 12h45 and 16 seconds form Cape Canaveral with Aurora 7 Capsule and Scott Carpenter inside. The mission will last 4h56 and 5 seconds

History is on the move

A typically american movie on this episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xqOUWjLHao

If you want spend more time on space history.

Mission is complex, there are many scientific experiences to do, and it will bring many feedbacks on the behaviour of fluids in space, meteorological phenomemnons and earth photos from space.

The Breitling is here on his left wrist.

Even if he was already a legend being of of the seven, he is the national hero at that moment.

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The Navitimer Cosmonaute is an important watch in history. It's the first swiss wristwatch in space, the first conceived for space, the one and only conceived by an astronaut and worn during the mission.

To compare with other famous examples. Speedmaster pased NASA test but was never conceived for space. Longines "Lindbergh" was conceived by Charles Lindbergh but wasn't worn during the famous flight.

Scott Carpenter left us in october 2013. Godspeed Scott Carpenter

Venus: a well chosen name

Certainly the least interesting part of the watch: the Venus 178 caliber.

A brand is often associated with a movement maker.

Rolex and Heuer with Valjoux, Omega with Lemania, Universal Genève with Martel

Breitling is with Venus, to be precise after the first in house caliber in the 20s, a short period with Landeron, the majority of post war calibers are Venus from the en of 30s on. There are also Valjoux on the first Navitimers and some Datora but its more rare.

THe Venus 178 is a large caliber, 14 lines (31.3mm), but thin, around 6mm thickness. Valjoux 72 in comparison is smaller 813 lines) and thicker with 6.95mm thickness.

It's a classic and robust caliber of its time, with a lovely bridge design, especially the main bridge which has some... lady shapes . Love goddess made it right ^^

modified for 24hours indication, the name stay the same as for the classic 12 hour indication. You find that caliber on Navitimer 806, 765 variations and many others Breitling models. It's a detail but I think it quite fits the idea I have of the brand, toolwatch but elegant.

credit: watchmaker Loupe à l'oeil (not my watch)

And a planet name for a "Cosmonaute", nice coincidence isn't it?