Speedmaster Professional X-33
Speedmaster Professional X-33 |
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The Speedmaster Professional X-33 (from now on reffered as X-33 in this article), the Mars watch. Claimed by Omega. Personally I think that a trip to Mars isn't going to happen in the near future, but the watch is already there. They didn't mean to name the watch X-33 as it was only ment to give the watch an ID while developing it. The X-33 is designed in coordination with American and European astronauts, Russian cosmonauts and some professional pilots. The watches already are in use by the NASA on this moment (used on Space Shuttle missions since the STS-89 from 1998).
The X-33 is made out of titanium. This means that the watch is very lightweight and anti-allergenic. The bracelet is available in titanium and DuPont Kevlar. The movement is an Omega cal.1666 (Quartz) and has a lot of functions which will be covered later on in this article. The watch has a double titanium caseback which makes it possible to reach over 80 decibels for the alarmfunction, as required for Space Shuttle astronauts.
Like the 'normal' Speedmaster Professional, also known as the 'Moonwatch' this watch is also very thoroughly tested by the NASA. Some requirements of the watch are : - Accurate to within -0.3s to +0.5 seconds per day - Water- and pressureresistant to 3 bars - Shockresistant till 3500Gs. - Antimagnetic (ISO norm 764) - Temperatures from -20 degrees Celcius to +70 degrees Celcius - 80dB alarm The X-33 watch has the following functions : 1. A light commanded by a push button makes the display visible in the dark 2. A 80dB alarm function 3. Mission Time - A long chronograph function in
days,hours,minutes and seconds. Usefull for timing the whole mission or flight. The 4. Universal Time - GMT Time. Indicating the dat of the week, the hour, the minutes and the seconds. This is used to avoid the confusion of time zone changes. This function also has its own alarm function. 5. Chronograph - 1/100 of a second. 6. Date - displays international mode (day, month, year) or English mode (month, day, year). The day of the week is only displayed in the English language. 7. Turning bezel - Unidirectional 8. Luminous hands - Modernized version of the dauphin hands. 9. Titanium or DuPont Kevlar bracelet for comfortable wearing. Both materials are very light and strong. The X-33 comes in a box covered with genuine spacesuit cloth. sensitive to light, which takes on its own color with time.
Personally, I didn't like the watch at first, but after seeing it a few times, and reading about it on the TimeZone forum (see the 'Links'-menu) I got very enthousiastic. Unlike a lot of other watches, this watch is a real instrument. For pilots, astronauts and cosmonauts but also for other jobs that require a lot of accurate timing, loud alarm and a big and clear display. Also very easy to use in the dark. A good rival for this watch would be the Breitling B-one I think, so you should check both watches before you bring at least 2400USD to your watchdealer. Here are a few links you should check out! A review on the X-33 on TimeZone A pilots impression of the X-33 on TimeZone
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