6139 "Pogue"

In May 1969, Seiko released the 6139 Speed Timer. It was the world's first automatic chronograph, beating Zenith's El Primero and the Heuer-Breitling Caliber 11 to market. The movement was fully integrated, not a modular chronograph bolted onto an existing automatic, which made it significantly thinner than the competing Swiss designs. That engineering advantage was lost in the marketing because Seiko was a Japanese brand and the Swiss industry did not take Japan seriously in 1969.

Colonel William Pogue changed that. In 1973, Pogue was assigned to NASA's Skylab 4 mission. NASA issued Omega Speedmasters to the crew, but Pogue brought his personal Seiko 6139. He wore it throughout the 84-day mission, using it to time engine burns and spacecraft operations. The self-winding mechanism worked perfectly in zero gravity. The Seiko 6139 became the first automatic chronograph worn in space. The Speedmaster was the first manual-wind chronograph on the moon. The Pogue was the first automatic chronograph in orbit. Both are legitimate firsts.

The watch itself is 41mm in stainless steel with a yellow sunburst dial, a Pepsi red-and-blue tachymeter bezel, and a day-date window at 3 o'clock. The Hardlex mineral crystal was more scratch-resistant than the acrylic used by most Swiss chronographs of the era. Colonel Pogue's specific reference was the 6139-6005, the North American version with a Resist dial.

I include the Pogue because it proves that horological significance is not a Swiss monopoly. In 1969, while the Swiss industry was fighting over who released the first automatic chronograph, Seiko had already shipped theirs. Four years later, a NASA astronaut chose it over the Speedmaster for daily use in space. The watch world remembers the Speedmaster moon landing. It should remember the Pogue Skylab mission with equal respect.