November 1973... Two automatic chronographs in space ! 50 years ago, on November 16, 1973, the third and final manned Skylab space station mission SL-4 was launched. Besides their NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster, each of the Skylab-4 astronauts took an extra wristwatch up to NASA’s space station, with William Pogue’s yellow dial Seiko Automatic 6139-6005 as the best-known example. However, SL-4 commander US Marine Corps LtCol Gerald Carr was seen wearing a blue dial reverse panda Movado Datachron HS360 automatic chronograph during training in 1972/1973. In this photograph, the Skylab-4 crew shows Carr on the right, clearly wearing the Movado chronograph on his wrist, note the distinctive black & white bakelite bezel. In 2019 MoonwatchUniverse triggered the research into this amazing automatic chronograph, resulting in Hodinkee's article entitled "Snuck Into Space!" (Photo: NASA)
