The Forgotten Space Watch
July 1969 and the Apollo 11 mission are at the forefront of most peoples minds when it comes to watches in space. Many an Omega enthusiast have lusted after Speedmaster for this very reason.
(Neil Armstrong’s Speedmaster)
There are others that either for budgetary reasons or just pure preference prefer the Bulova Lunar Pilot. There are many others with links to the world of space exploration but there’s one in particular that I don’t think gets discussed enough.
(Dave Scott's Bulova)
Sure the Speedmaster and Bulova went to the moon with their handwound movements, but this watch was fully automatic (self winding) and I think this deserves to be celebrated more enthusiastically. It was also made by a little Japanese company called Seiko.
So what’s the watch I hear you ask? It’s none other than the Seiko 6139, otherwise known as the ‘Pogue’. It gets its name from the man who wore it, Colonel William Pogue. It was released in a range of dial colours, but he wore the sunburst yellow variant shown here.
Colonel Pogue was stationed on the first US Space Station “Skylab” and didn’t yet have access to NASA’s standard-issue Speedmaster, so he bought himself a Seiko 6139. Rumour has it, that after wearing the watch for 6mths, he liked it so much that he decided it would be his preferred watch to wear on his Skylab mission, and wear it he did. All without any NASA approval and worn for the 84 days he was on his Skylab mission.
So we have a Seiko Space watch with a bit of a rebel influence directly from Colonel Pogue.
This watch holds a special place for me as it turns out my dad wore a black dial variant when I was a kid. I’d always wanted a watch like that of my very own and used to wear my toy watches around pretending to be like my dad. I didn’t realise at the time that someone had worn something similar on a space mission or I may have obsessed over it even more. It was just my dads “dive” watch.
He always described it as his dive watch because it had 70m water resistance and that was a big deal back in the day. Living on the coast that thing was tested to the limits I can tell you and it never missed a beat.
It wasn’t until very recently that I sighted my dad’s Pogue as it’s been in the safe hands of my brother. After 50 odd years it may be looking a little worse for wear, but I was thrilled to see it and after sighting it, I pretty quickly joined the dots to connect it back to the early days of space exploration.
You can still find good versions of the Pogue on the second hand market, but I’m surprised that nobody mentions them more often.
It also begs the question of why Seiko hasn’t leveraged the historical significance of this watch. If it’s good enough for Omega to plug the Moonwatch, then Seiko should be pushing the Skylab Pogue in my view and releasing new models to draw on this great link to history.
The first automatic in space should be a bigger deal than it is in my view. Anyway, with a new Seiko 5 case shape resembling the old Pogue, one can only hope they reach back deep into the back catalog and launch it again with a modern twist.
So that's the Pogue, the watch that started one little boy on a lifelong journey into the amazing world of watches.
My journey to becoming an avid watch fan and later collector started waaaay back when I got a little toy watch for my 4th birthday. That little blue watch (see profile pic) is where it all started and...
I’m a fan of the Pogue and would love to have one in my collection some day. I’ve heard it can be quite difficult to get a good original one (I stand to be corrected) and Mark from Long Island Watches is offering an Islander (Pogue) homage that is quite good looking. I think I’ll camp out on eBay and try to snag a nice original though.
I love my Pogue, but there was also a second automatic on the same Skylab 4 mission. Col. Gerald Carr took his personal Movado Datachron HS360 (Zenith cal. 3019), blue face with white subdials I think. They're very difficult to come by and usually in a poor state.
I’m a fan of the Pogue and would love to have one in my collection some day. I’ve heard it can be quite difficult to get a good original one (I stand to be corrected) and Mark from Long Island Watches is offering an Islander (Pogue) homage that is quite good looking. I think I’ll camp out on eBay and try to snag a nice original though.
Both the Islander and the Seiko SRPH19 have similar dials but they don't have the same warmth or depth of colour as the original (see pictures at the bottom of this thread), but obviously they're not half the price, and they're in shiny fresh-out-of-the-box condition and won't need a service!
Both the Islander and the Seiko SRPH19 have similar dials but they don't have the same warmth or depth of colour as the original (see pictures at the bottom of this thread), but obviously they're not half the price, and they're in shiny fresh-out-of-the-box condition and won't need a service!
If I were to part with my cash it would have to be an original in decent nick. I’ve heard quite a few stories about ‘Frankenstein’ pogues though, that makes me nervous when they fetch a premium 😬
dont forget about this one too lol
dont forget about this one too lol
Which one us the Glycine, and do you know the other?
I’m a fan of the Pogue and would love to have one in my collection some day. I’ve heard it can be quite difficult to get a good original one (I stand to be corrected) and Mark from Long Island Watches is offering an Islander (Pogue) homage that is quite good looking. I think I’ll camp out on eBay and try to snag a nice original though.
I have seen the Long Island version. He's done a decent job on the dial colour. It a pretty good nod to the original. I haven't done a deep dive on them yet, but there's quite a few on Chrono24 at the moment if you're in the market.
I have seen the Long Island version. He's done a decent job on the dial colour. It a pretty good nod to the original. I haven't done a deep dive on them yet, but there's quite a few on Chrono24 at the moment if you're in the market.
Blimey! Just had a look, I knew they were expensive but they’ve gone up since I last looked properly 😲
I love my Pogue, but there was also a second automatic on the same Skylab 4 mission. Col. Gerald Carr took his personal Movado Datachron HS360 (Zenith cal. 3019), blue face with white subdials I think. They're very difficult to come by and usually in a poor state.
Yeah, pretty cool story from Carr's daughter about the Movado.
Not as close as you'd think. The 55 is smaller in all dimensions than the Pogue,& not as well finished.
Love mine, it's a fully restored one & wasn't cheap - I swapped it for a Ducati 900!!!
I've also got a Lunar Pilot & I'll have a Speedmaster one day .
Very cool. I’m a Ducati man myself 🍻
Which one us the Glycine, and do you know the other?
This is the Gemini V crew. Pete Conrad is wearing two Omega Speedmasters (one on either wrist) and a Glycine Airman on his right wrist. Gordy Cooper is wearing a Speedy on his left and an Accutron Astronaut on the right.
Sauce: https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/40738bd5-c07f-41f2-aaad-ca5b0aaf9602/page/ZNSUB?fbclid=IwAR2-YaueuT_De-SPtEORXDUJUBVCsjDPMDk4SRQq2CBnKQ_RZi-bB1EK0cw
I have the Bulova Lunar Pilot myself and it's great!! Big but really good tech
This is the Gemini V crew. Pete Conrad is wearing two Omega Speedmasters (one on either wrist) and a Glycine Airman on his right wrist. Gordy Cooper is wearing a Speedy on his left and an Accutron Astronaut on the right.
Sauce: https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/40738bd5-c07f-41f2-aaad-ca5b0aaf9602/page/ZNSUB?fbclid=IwAR2-YaueuT_De-SPtEORXDUJUBVCsjDPMDk4SRQq2CBnKQ_RZi-bB1EK0cw
yeah that one @CyberbeticII
I've been a bona fide "space nerd" my childhood in the 60's and followed the exploits of the space program with a child's sense of awe and wonder. I still love that history almost 60 yrs later 😎
I truly wish that Bulova would release a 40mm Lunar Pilot for a reasonable price. Am sure that many folks would agree with that ...
Seiko should definitely play up the history of Col. Pogue's watch and do a re-release!
After reading this piece, I now WANT one ... or at least a decent, affordable homage. Are you listening Pagani? 😀
I enjoy your post well written.
I wasn’t aware of the seiko’s participation in space missions.
Maybe they need to hire some people from Omega marketing department 😂
It's interesting to think about the future of space travel and what kinds of watches people will wear on the next Lunar missions
Found this on eBay, a quartz version of the Pogue- didn't know it existed!
Obviously not a space watch (so apologies for being a bit off topic, but thought someone else may find it interesting)
A Pagni version of that would be a decent enough homage to the Pogue to make me pull the trigger! 👍 👍
Interesting history all around!
I’ve got an all original Pogue coming in on the bench next week look out for my on the bench posting for a full service on it
I’ve got an all original Pogue coming in on the bench next week look out for my on the bench posting for a full service on it
Looking forward to it!