Deryshire-based Jura Watches is sending a £1,500 watch into Earth’s stratosphere using a helium balloon today for space exploration day.
It will launch from Carsington Water, Derbyshire, where C W Sellors, parent company of Jura Watches, plans to build a jewellery design centre visitor attraction.
Early predictions of the watch landing placed it in Doncaster and the northern Lincolnshire, however following a storm in the early hours of Wednesday the wind has changed and the latest reports estimate the watch’s descent will be in the Cambridge vicinity.
Once the watch lands it is free to whoever finds it. A series of cameras will be attached to the payload filming the journey, capturing the curvature of the Earth, before the balloon bursts and the payload slowly falls back to Earth aided by a parachute.
While the watch was meant to begin its ascent at 10am this morning, the retailer announced on social media that it was delaying the launch until this afternoon due to rain.
The project is being overseen by space launch specialists Sent Into Space.
Chris Rose, director of the company, said: “The commonly accepted gateway to near space is the Armstrong Line at 19km, this is the point at which you would need a pressurised Space Suit to survive or your blood would quite literally boil in your body – and we are aiming to reach altitudes far beyond that.
“Temperatures will plunge to lower than minus 60 degrees celsius, pressure will drop to almost zero and the watch will experience significant accelerations and speeds over 200 miles per hour on its re-entry through the atmosphere as it returns to Earth.”
