Seiko Pogue 6139-6005.
By Matt Price
The entire design language of the Seiko 6139-6005 may scream space exploration, but it was only when a certain Colonel Pogue secreted the watch in the pocket of his spacesuit that it became stowaway on a rocket— and the legend was born […]
There’s something about watches that have been into space. And by that, we don’t just mean they’ve made it up there – because after almost seventy years of manned space exploration, that’s a lot of watches. We mean those rare beasts that were relied upon by working astronauts, in the heyday of the mechanical watch.
The canonical example is the Omega Speedmaster. Hand-picked by NASA for the Apollo missions, even some of its modern-day iterations retain the moniker ‘Moonwatch’. And lest anyone suggest that this claim to fame is old news, witness the recent (and ongoing) excitement for the MoonSwatch collaboration – a range of much more accessible watches that definitely haven’t been to the moon, yet play endearingly on their association with space.
But why do we care so much today, five decades after the Space Race ended? Maybe it’s the fact that space travel represented the pinnacle of 20th Century technological achievement – and any associated mechanical watch (a 20th Century technology in its own right) benefits from some of the same caché. Maybe it’s because the few watches that made it into space genuinely did represent the peak of horological engineering at the time – after all, NASA conducted extensive tests before they made the Speedmaster standard issue. Or maybe it’s just because, well, space is cool.
Whatever the reason, there’s no doubt that the Speedmaster has benefited enormously from its connection with NASA. A lesser-known space watch, however – and one that definitely wasn’t officially sanctioned by any Space Agencies – is the long-dead Seiko 6139-6005, better known to watch obsessives as the Pogue.
A stowaway on a rocket
On November 16, 1973, the Skylab 4 mission took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Aboard the Saturn IB rocket were three astronauts, including Colonel William R Pogue. All three had been issued with Omega Speedmasters for the mission, yet in a pocket of his spacesuit, Colonel Pogue had secreted another watch: the Seiko 6139-6005 he had been wearing throughout his training for the mission, prior to the issue of his Speedmaster. Having depended on his Seiko for six months of preparation, that was the watch he trusted, noting since that, as the pilot on the mission, he found the rotating inner bezel particularly useful when timing engine burns.
The story of the Pogue had remained largely untold until 2006, when American watch enthusiast David Bruno contacted Pogue, having read about the watch he wore. Pogue responded, confirming the story and providing numerous additional details – such as the fact that the self-winding mechanism worked perfectly in zero-gravity. A legend was born.
What to look for today
The 6139 series was built on an automatic chronograph with a single subdial below the handset, coupled with a distinctive stainless steel cushion case with an integrated bracelet – a combination that perfectly evokes a late-Sixties/early-Seventies vision of the future. History aside, it’s precisely this styling that makes the Pogue such a cool watch today.
Which brings us onto the issue of getting your hands on one. These watches were never intended to be luxury items and, as such, Seiko made a lot of them. As everyday, workhorse watches, the majority were not stored in their boxes by collectors, maybe seeing a few hours of wear on the occasional Sunday. They got worn – in every sense of the word. So finding a fully original Pogue in great condition is a challenge at best.
The alternative is to buy one of the many old Pogues that have been refitted with aftermarket dials, crystals, handsets, bezels and bracelets. Some of these appear very faithful to the original, if a little too gold on the dial. The key here is to know what you’re buying and what you’re prepared to compromise on, in terms of authenticity. And remember, that water proofing/resistance quoted on the dial is unlikely to be reliable today, whether you’re buying a watch that has seen an extensive modern overhaul or it’s still got all its original parts.
Time for re-entry?
Like many of today’s leading mechanical watch manufacturers, Seiko periodically releases modern reinterpretations of its most iconic mid-century pieces – it’s first dive watch, the 62MAS, for example, has inspired many recent releases, while one particularly nice reinterpretation of the Willard, the diver worn by Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now, has been covered by The Obsessive here.
So who knows? Maybe there’s a reissue in the works. If not – and if anyone at Seiko is reading – how about a Seiko x The Obsessive reinterpretation of this iconic watch?
A trailblazer in its own right
With hindsight, the watch looks like it was born to be used in space. Notwithstanding the usefulness of that inner bezel and the reliability of the movement, its entire design language screams space exploration, its dial, case and strap reminiscent of a gold-visor on a silver spacesuit, while the red and blue bezel evokes the star-spangled banner on its sleeve.
But that’s all a coincidence. The Pogue was one of several colourways in which the 6139-6005 was available. When the watch was being developed, prior to its launch in 1969, Seiko had eyes on one record only: they wanted to build the world’s first automatic chronograph wristwatch. But they weren’t the only ones.
Towards the end of the Sixties, a three-0way race took shape, to produce the first automatic chronograph. There were already plenty of automatic watches and plenty of chronographs, but nobody had yet combined the two.
To this day, there remains argument about who actually won. Zenith are generally credited, due to their announcement on January 10, 1969, of the iconic El Primero. But it was still just a prototype – series production would not follow until October. The second competitor in the race was Chronomatic, a consortium of watchmakers that included Breitling, Hamilton and Heuer. They announced their prototype on March 3.
That leaves Seiko – and the 6139 movement that powers the Pogue. The first watch to use it was the Seiko 5 Speedtimer – essentially a Pogue with a blue dial and no outer bezel. Launched in Japan in May 1969, it was the first automatic chronograph to hit the market.
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Images. Seiko Watch Corporation
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