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[Discussion] Hot take: If G shocks existed 75+ years ago, all the pilots, divers, and astronauts would have used them instead of Daytonas/Speedmasters/Submariners (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by owiseone23@alien.top to c/watches@style.land

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A lot of people wear speedmasters because the Apollo astronauts wore them. This is mostly in jest, but if people really wanted to emulate those Apollo astronaut icons, they would choose the most practical options which would be quartz watches, not mechanical watches. They'd be brighter, have better battery, keep better time, more durable, etc

But in seriousness, I totally respect the history and craftsmanship of these watches, just not their practicality in modern day.

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[–] OneEightActual@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Finding out that astronauts were coming to prefer G-Shocks to the Speedmaster Pro was the main thing that drove Omega to develop what became the X-33 in the first place. Being known as *the "*space watch" was central their marketing and they were terrified of losing that distinction.

The lack of an alarm on the Speedmaster had apparently become a sticking point for astronauts for day-to-day living on orbit when astronauts had gotten used to having alarms on the surface. It's also the reason the X-33 had a LOUD alarm for a wristwatch.

Omega actually later developed versions of the X-33 for yachting for the same reason: teams they sponsored favored digital watches.