Sekonda emerged in 1966 as the British arm of the Russian watch making industry, exporting some of the finer watches made in Soviet Union factories. Many Sekonda watches were re-badged Strela and Raketa models made to be sold in the West. This model would have been manufactured and retailed in the late 60s, after Alexei Leonov wore the Strela during the first human spacewalk in history in March 1965, identical to this watch but for the Cyrilic ‘Strela’ on the dial, instead of ‘Sekonda’. Leonov spent a total of 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside of the ship during the Voskhod 2 mission, and the watch performed, although unfortunately he did not test out the chronograph function! His space suit inflated considerably due to lack of exterior pressure, and he was forced to bleed air out of the suit in order to re-enter the airlock, later crash landing in the deep snow of the Ural mountains after a malfuction of the automatic re-entry system. Despite this, both crew members survived, and the mission was considered a success, with the milestone achievement of the first spacewalk, the Strela being part of this history.

Russian astronauts Vladimir Komarov and Aleksey Gubarev both wore Strela chronographs in 1967 and 1978 respectively, with the former ending tragically of course. Komarov wore a white dial Poljot, and Gubarev a black dial Sekonda, both with distinctive green lume dots, red-tipped hands, and oblong batons. The later design by Strela we can assume was intended to be used as more of a tool than a showpiece, with the highly contrasted display for enhanced visibility.

This design, like the one worn by Leonov, is more elegant than most Soviet era wristwatches, with the tapered gold indicies and slim gold hands, and the numbers 12 and 6 to the top and bottom of the dial in a stylish square font. The case is stainless steel and in good condition for a watch of this age, with square pushers to control the chronograph functions. The dial is an attractive white with a nice patina, a classic bicompax chronometer layout busy with integer markings and a telemeter timing scale. The telemeter markings continue through the two subdials, which register running seconds at the 9 hour mark and 45 minutes elapsed time at 3, both with neat golden hands, the long black centre sweep seconds hand used to for the stopwatch function. Supplied with a brown leather strap.

It is worth noting that the case is shown unrestored, and the pictures will be updated once the movement has been serviced and the case polished.

On October 3rd, 1962, the Speedmaster 2998 became the first OMEGA worn in space, when the astronaut Walter Schirra wore his personal model on the Sigma 7 mission of the Mercury programme. This updated version is a tribute to that pioneering timepiece and captures the same 2nd generation Speedmaster style in modern form.

The 39.70 mm case is crafted in polished and brushed stainless steel and features a “flat links” bracelet with OMEGA’s patented comfort release adjustment system. The bezel ring is presented in black aluminium and includes the legendary tachymeter scale with an emblematic “Dot Over Ninety”.

Beneath the brand new hesalite-like form sapphire crystal, the grey-blue dial is CVD coated, to replicate the tone of some CK 2998 watches produced in the 1960s. Along with indexes and hour/minute “Alpha” hands that are filled with vintage Super-LumiNova, the central seconds “Baton” hand is white varnished to match the transferred markings. Subdials include a 30-minute recorder at 3H, a 12-hour recorder at 6H, and a small-seconds display at 9H.

A vintage OMEGA logo is applied on the dial, as well as on the crown, while the caseback features the famous Seahorse medallion, and the engravings, “THE FIRST OMEGA IN SPACE” and “OCTOBER 3, 1962”.

The watch is driven by the Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861, which is the most up-to-date version of the Calibre 321 worn by astronauts in space.

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