Since the heyday of the late 1960s when man first walked on the moon, space travel has fascinated people, with US space agency NASA at the heart of this obsession.
Last year, French watch brand Awake released two NASA-approved timepieces as part of a Mission To Earth collection. Following on from Chapter I and Chapter II, it has now introduced the Mission to Earth ‘Meatball’ as a tribute to NASA, the men and women who work there and the scientific and exploration work undertaken by them.
A limited edition of 250 pieces, the Meatball features the famous round red, white and blue NASA logo designed by employee James Modarelli in 1959 and nicknamed the ‘meatball’. The round shape of the symbol represents a planet, the stars represent space, the red V-shaped wing represents aeronautics and the circular orbit around the letters represents space travel.
The emblem immediately takes imaginations back to 1969 when Apollo 11 flew Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon.
During a historic call to Armstrong and Aldrin, Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States of America, underlined the significance of the event saying: “Because of what you have done the heavens have become a part of man’s world, and as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to earth.
“For one priceless moment in the whole history of man all the people on this earth are truly one–one in their pride in what you have done and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth.”
The special sapphire crystal of the watch features integrated NFC technology and owners can, via their smartphone, access all the experiences developed as part of the Mission to Earth project including exclusive content broadcast by NASA using cameras on the International Space Station (ISS).
Through the immersive Awake Observatory project and the Eyes On Asteroids experience, wearers can learn about the asteroids in the Milky Way galaxy.
The minutes track of the watch references the tracks left by rovers used to explore planets, while the hands adopt the oblong form of rockets and the applique hour markers are styled on the observation windows of the ISS.
An aluminum inner bezel is engraved with a rocket-launch countdown and the sand-blasted matte blue dial is in the same hue as the NASA meatball logo.
Through the exhibition caseback, the winding rotor is clearly visible, with its engraving of “Dare Mighty Things” – the motto of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The screw-down winding crown is engraved with L (Locked) and O (Open) – a nod to the umbilical connectors on Armstrong’s spacesuit.
Light and durable, the 40mm case is made from 70% recycled titanium and is water resistant to 100 meters. The middle case bears an engraving of the iconic meatball. Within the case is a modified Miyota 9039 self-winding caliber.
The watch is equipped on a white Velcro strap inspired by the A7L space suit (the suit used on Apollo 7 through to 14 missions).
Presented in a collector’s box, the Awake Meatball comes with a certified meteorite fragment from the billion-year-old asteroid Vesta that landed in the Tunisian desert in 1931.
On sale now, this limited-edition star gazer’s tool watch is priced at €825 (excluding tax).
