Top 10 Watches That Have Exceeded Limits

By Montredo in Lifestyle
May 20, 2020
Top 10 Watches That Have Exceeded Limits

HIGHER, FURTHER, DEEPER


One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind“ is probably the most famous quote in the history of space travel. The Omega Speedmaster went along for the ride, and became the first watch on the moon. However, the Apollo 11 adventures of the “Speedy” is only just one of the most famous example of a series of daring record-breaking attempts, in which luxury watches have often been far more then just merely a foot note in the pages of time piece history.


Pioneer of the skies – Cartier Santos

In 1904, the aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont commissioned a watch by his friend, Louis Cartier. He wanted a timepiece that would be strapped around the wrist rather than carried in the pocket. This wrist watch significantly simplified the process of reading the time, since he didn’t have to remove his hands from the flight controls. On November 12th, 1906 while wearing a Cartier, Alberto Santos Dumont mastered a flight distance of 200 metres within 21.5 seconds. This was the first flight world record recognised by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and a groundbreaking feat in the era of great aviation pioneers. From that day forward, he remained loyal to his Cartier in all of his future world record attempts and was instrumental in making the wristwatch an essential fashion accessory for the modern man.

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Lindbergh’s Favorite – Longines

In the 1920s, Longines was one of the leading manufacturers of high-quality sports and aviation watches. In 1927, it manufactured a watch, developed by Philip van Horn, which synchronised with radio time signals that in flight navigation, were precise to the very second. Thanks to the craftsmanship of manufacturers based in St. Imier, the duration of the first solo flight across the Atlantic was also measured. For his contribution to aviation history, Charles Lindbergh needed a grand total of 33 hours and 30 minutes. Shortly after his famous achievement, he commissioned Longines with the production of a watch he had personally designed that was essentially a further evolution of the Longines Weems. The Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch simplified the determination of the longitude during flight and has been used since as an instrument in aeronautical navigation. After many decades on hiatus, Longines has released new collections of the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch since 1987. The model shown here is from 1989.

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To the ends of the earth – Zenith Chronograph

Hardly any other brand has been such a faithful companion on so many daredevils’ record ventures as Zenith. The famous explorer and adventurer, Roald Amundsen, wore a Zenith chronograph on both his expeditions to the North and South poles. A century after Amundsen’s South Pole expedition, the Swedish explorer Johan Ernst Nilson became the first to travel alone and without a motorized vehicle, from pole to pole. Following closely in Roald Amundsen’s footsteps, he also wore a Zenith chronograph as his timepiece of choice on his journeys to the beginning and end of the earth.

 


Solo across the English Channel – Zenith

The English Channel has always been one of those places in Europe, where daring adventurers have gone to break boundaries. Just a few years after the development of the wristwatch initially prompted by Alberto Santos Dumont, it has since been commonplace for pilots to wear a wristwatch. Ultimately, Louis Bleriot was for the English Channel, what Charles Lindberg was for the Atlantic years later. He strapped a Zenith watch around his wrist as he became the first man to ever fly from Calais to Dover. It is remarkable that the considerable distance of 40 kilometres was conquered less then three years after Santos Dumont’s groundbreaking 220 metre “hop”, and 18 years before Lindbergh’s first transatlantic flight. This impressively demonstrated the rapid technological progress in the era of the first pilots at the beginning of the 20th century.

 


First watch in space – Poljot Sturmanskie

Every once in a while, an allegation is made that a TAG Heuer Stopwatch supposedly was the first man-made watch in space. However, as befitting for a cosmonaut flying under the Soviet flag, Yuri Gagarin wore a timepiece of Eastern Cold War production. In the race against the United States, he ushered in an entirely new era of space travel. During his historic 2-hour long distance trip, the Russian peasant’s son made a Poljot Sturmanskie the “first watch in space” and provided the empirical proof that watches operate without a hitch in zero gravity. It was a Sturmanskie and not a Stopwatch that first journeyed to the frontier of the cosmos. In their search for a durable and accurate watch, NASA chose a stopwatch to accompany John Glenn on the first manned space flight and so became the first Swiss made timepiece in space.


Defying the elements – Rolex Oyster

One of the best examples in which a maverick spirit is inseparably linked with the name of a watch, was the official attempt undertaken by the Briton, Mercedes Gleitze, to swim across the English Channel. This young British woman wore a Rolex Oyster around her neck when she tried to traverse the 34 km distance between the United Kingdom and France. Even though she failed after more than 8 hours, due to the frigid water temperature, for Rolex’s founder Hans Wilsdorf, it was a watershed moment. It demonstrated that the Oyster case was completely water resistant when stress-tested. One day after her attempt at breaking the record, Wilsdorf placed an advertisement in the Daily Mail, in which he praised the Rolex Oyster as “The Wonder Watch that Defies the Elements.”

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Rapture of the deep – Blancpain Fifty Fathoms

Record breaking isn’t always defined by just a specific statistic. Jacques Cousteau, perhaps the most famous oceanographer and underwater documentary filmmaker, literally traveled to lowest points of the ocean, where no man had gone before. He relied upon his Blancpain Fifty Fathoms for measuring the time. It’s considered the first modern diver’s watch, which was equipped with a knurled, unidirectional rotating bezel, as well as luminescent numerals and indexes. In its first form, it had a case that was water resistant up to 50 fathoms (roughly 94 metres).

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First watch on the moon – Omega Speedmaster

The famous Apollo 11 moon mission was able to boast that it was the producer of the first watch that reached the moon (and it really does it too). What many people don’t know: the timepiece in the capsule failed just before Neil Armstrong stepped out to first set foot on the moon’s dusty surface. He also had taken off his Speedmaster and taped it to the cockpit of the manned lunar vehicle. Therefore, it was actually Buzz Aldrin and not Neil Armstrong, who made the Omega Speedmaster into the legend it is today. A few years later, it was also a Speedy that saved the ill-fated Apollo 13 from a total disaster. When all on-board instruments failed, the watch served as a navigational instrument to time the flight back to earth. Omega was honoured with the Snoopy Award by NASA, for its contribution to the space mission and its services rendered in saving the crew.

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Faster than the speed of sound – Zenith El Primero

Financed by Red Bull, Felix Baumgartner wore an El Primero Stratos during his stratospheric jump. Since then, Zenith has used the slogan “the first watch to break the speed of sound in a near space environment” for its advertisements. Actually, several significant records were broken at once, all of which rightly deserve their own individual advertising slogans e.g. an El Primero Stratos also accompanied the base jumper on the highest/longest free-fall, as well as the highest manned balloon flight ever recorded.

 


As deep as the Mariana Trench – Rolex Oyster Deep Sea Special

At roughly 11,000 metres below sea level, the lowest known point of the world’s oceans, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep in 1960. A special Oyster model, the Deep Sea Special, was attached to the hull of the US Navy Trieste. This solidified the capability of the Swiss manufacturer’s craftsmanship at extreme oceanic depths. It was Rolex’s turn to take center stage a half of a century later. The adventurer and movie directory, James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar) dived to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 500 km southwest of the island of Guam. The reward: a collection of data and footage of a world completely unknown and uncharted by mankind. This historical diving expedition to the Challenger Deep as well as the Stratos-Project are definitely not the last in a long list of adventures where a luxury watch was also on-board. The participation of timekeeping isn’t just a matter of prestige, but the perpetuation of heritage.

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Previous comments (1)

  1. Is it not Omega Ultra Deep watch that sets World’s record for deepest diving watch back in 2019? Montredo, please do some research prior to posting this article on May 2020!

    June 22, 2020

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