Vintage Breitling 809 Cosmonaute Scott Carpenter Part 1
The space race goes onm between USSR and USA, Kennedy and Kruschchev, NASA and Korolev.
Mercury capsule, fall into the ocean around Puerto Rico, on his wrist Carpenter wears a special Breitling, modified to his specifications: the Cosmonaute.
During recovery, the watch is submerged, dial is damaged, the watch is sent to Breitling ... and disappears.
Could it be this one? Had this Cosmonaute a trip in space?
Let's investigate 
References
ref1: a great article in french on the beginning of Breitling , how it build up
ref2: an article on differet Navitimer by Kurt Broendum
ref3: How to use the slide rule
ref4: the Mercury 7 , the first group of Astronaut to which Scott Carpenter belongs
Breitling a brand that counts
A long intro on Breitling because we finally talk little about even though it is a major brand like Rolex or Omega.
It helps to understand why the Comonaute makes sense in this brand and why one of the first astronaut ask it.
Breitling is a toolwatch brand, the today slogan is "instruments for professionals" and that what Breitling has always done.
Not really a specialist of divers (although there is the SuperOcean series) mais toolwatch to count and compute, that is the essence of the brand.
Breitling made his reputation on countersm Bord clock, industrial production toolsm "compte mouton" ("sheep counters" in french), decimal counters, pocket watches with tenth of second indication and obviously and especiallym chronograph and split-seconds.
As toolwatches, their dial are anonymous till the end of the 30s, they are made to supply industry, aviation pioneers, not to dress up.
credit: invenitetfecit
You don't wear a Breitling you use it
That what makes, for me, Breitling THE brand of chronographs. Others can see here Heuer, Universal Genève, Longines or others or others, everyone has his pros and cons.
But the long story of Breitling , the wide spectrum of instruments they made, gives it a special status to my eyes.
credit: Mikrolisk
credit: WatchFred
As a consequence of this specialization and excellent reputation in different measurement instruments, Breitling is a supplier for aviation, early in history. They supply Royal Air Force already in 1936 (I have also read USAF in 1942 but can't confirm). Aviation is where Breitling will mostly communicate and this is what we see.
But I will insist on that it was a broad brand, for any industrial needs, sport watches and so on.
credit: WatchFred
credit: watchfred
Here a board clock of a boeing 727.
credit: Ed l'épicier
But Breitling is not alone in the chronograph world, you have to innovate, good quality isn't enough.
Some innovations were made by Breitling. The 1933 patent on a two pusher wristwatch chornograph is one of them. But the patent do not hold, there were some innovations close to this one, in pocket watch especially and in 1934 Universal Geneve and Angelus offers two pushers chornographs.
Competition is toughm on board clock, there are also Breguet, Jaeger, Lemania, Longines, LIP, Zenith, Dodane etc...
Breitling will take an advantage on competitors by patenting the first chronograph with an integrated slide rude, it's the chronomat in 1941 . Neither Calculator nor computer existed at the time. Engineers use pen and paper, and slide rule, this chronomat will be an extremly useful instrument for lot of professionals, it's a success.
From this new chronomat, a new model is derived, studied to answer aircraft pilots requests. It's larger, has a special dial with wome specifics scales and is luminescent. This watch is the Navitimer, the brand's most famous model..
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) will make it its official watch. AOPA might be at the origin of the watch but nothing is certain. Breitling says it started in 1952, specialist have seen nothing before 1954. There is still mystery around this legend and how it went on the market.
My hypothesis is that the name was registered in 1952 but the first watches came on the market in 1954. It's a 41mm watch, which is huge at the time for a civilian watch. Many chornographs rarely goes over 36. Sure there were military chronoraph that went above but it was in a special period. It makes it one of the largest civilian watch of its time.
Certainly the most beautiful wearable computer ever made 
credit: taken form an article of David Mycko
Noodia's shot of a beautiful Navitimer from a fellow collector on my wrist
Breitling 809 Cosmonaute part 2: genesis in space
Scott Carpenter is an astronaut among 7. 7 that are the NASA Pioneers, the group 1, the group of the Mercury Project.
An elite of jet pilot coming from different army corpses: Air Force, Navy and Marine.
7 among 508 army candidate, 7 filling those criterias:
They had to be test pilot school graduates in excellent physical shape, less than 40 years old, shorter than 5 feet 11 inches, qualified jet pilots, and they had to have at least 1,500 hours flying time and bachelors' degrees in engineering.
This excludes people like Neil Armstrong because he was a civilian or Chuck Yeager who had'nt the necessary degree.
Their name
Alan Shepard : first "astronaut", first american in space, less than a month after Gagarine, Mai the 5th 1961 , Mercury 3
"Gus" Grissom second , July the 21st 1961 , Mercury 4
John Glenn: first american orbital flight , February the 20th 1962, Mercury 6
Scott Carpenter: second american orbital flight, May the 24th 1962, Mercury 7
Wally Schirra, October the 3rd octobre 62, Mercury 8.
Gordon Cooper May the 15th 1963, Mercury 9
"Deke" Slayton (who won't fly in the Mercury programm but later)
I just put there what they did in Mercury because their Story and honors need more than a book.
A little movie on the Mercury Project which will explain about the missions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNxsnZvNv9w
Carpenter is the 6th man to go to space after his NASA colleague Shapartm Grissom and Glenn and two soviet cosmonauts: Gagarine and Gherman Titov. NASA history has kept his "Godspeed John Glenn" in its record as one of the most famous Moment.
After that he will also be a pioneer in submarine exploration and will be a part of SEALAB programm, making him one of the rare ( or only?) astronaut and aquanaut.
Carpenter said he discovered the Navitimer during a travel in pacific island where he was there to visit a Mercury control station before his mission.
He have seen it at the wrist of an Australian pilot of the RAAF , that's where the story begins.
He is obviously interested by the chronograph and slide rule capacity, this could be useful in the little capsule room. Shepard and Grissom didn't have a watch, every gram is counted they weren't useful.
Glenn had an Heuer pocket stopwatch (not watch) adapted to the wrist with a special strap. Precise but heavy and large.
The Navitimer is compact, can time, and has this computing capacities that can be useful if needed. It fits perfectly the needs of the programm.
Carpenter asked Breitling if they could do modifications to be the closest to the mission request. Breitling registers the name "comonaute" in 1961.
Cosmonaute, that's odd for a watch ordered by an astronaut. It is surprising to say the least that during cold war, Breitling hasn't chosen the name astronaut. Maybe the name wasn't as well known as it is now? And cosmonaute the name used in Europe?.
A fellow collector "Zetiabo" gave me that explanation which may be the right answer, Bulova may have already had the name Astronaut at the time and Breitling couldn't use it.
The first request of Carpenter is to have a 24hr dial. There is no day and night in the capsule and he wants to communicate what he reads. The second one, that I supose, is a larger bezel to deal with the big gloces.
He receives the watch some day before take off
The Atlas Rocket lift off on May the 24th at 12h45 and 16 seconds form Cape Canaveral with Aurora 7 Capsule and Scott Carpenter inside. The mission will last 4h56 and 5 seconds
History is on the move
A typically american movie on this episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xqOUWjLHao
If you want spend more time on space history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrrpJRlN4I8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrrpJRlN4I8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDOLHClNTOI
Mission is complex, there are many scientific experiences to do, and it will bring many feedbacks on the behaviour of fluids in space, meteorological phenomemnons and earth photos from space.
The Breitling is here on his left wrist.
Even if he was already a legend being of of the seven, he is the national hero at that moment.
[img]
The Navitimer Cosmonaute is an important watch in history. It's the first swiss wristwatch in space, the first conceived for space, the one and only conceived by an astronaut and worn during the mission.
To compare with other famous examples. Speedmaster pased NASA test but was never conceived for space. Longines "Lindbergh" was conceived by Charles Lindbergh but wasn't worn during the famous flight.
Scott Carpenter left us in october 2013. Godspeed Scott Carpenter 
Venus: a well chosen name
Certainly the least interesting part of the watch: the Venus 178 caliber.
A brand is often associated with a movement maker.
Rolex and Heuer with Valjoux, Omega with Lemania, Universal Genève with Martel
Breitling is with Venus, to be precise after the first in house caliber in the 20s, a short period with Landeron, the majority of post war calibers are Venus from the en of 30s on. There are also Valjoux on the first Navitimers and some Datora but its more rare.
THe Venus 178 is a large caliber, 14 lines (31.3mm), but thin, around 6mm thickness. Valjoux 72 in comparison is smaller 813 lines) and thicker with 6.95mm thickness.
It's a classic and robust caliber of its time, with a lovely bridge design, especially the main bridge which has some... lady shapes 
. Love goddess made it right ^^
modified for 24hours indication, the name stay the same as for the classic 12 hour indication. You find that caliber on Navitimer 806, 765 variations and many others Breitling models. It's a detail but I think it quite fits the idea I have of the brand, toolwatch but elegant.
credit: watchmaker Loupe à l'oeil (not my watch)
And a planet name for a "Cosmonaute", nice coincidence isn't it?
Breitling 809 Cosmonaute Part 3: the beauty that became a beast
Unlike many toolwatches, Breitling are elegant, far from the brutal thickness that you can find in other toolwatches ( which has its own charm for sure). It's something typical that you can also find on SuperOcean 807 and 1004, divers that are thin and refined, not massive like Big Crown Submariner or Ploprof 600.
The Navi has a unique personnality, a refined toolwatch especially with the early "small pearl" bezel. The Cosmonaute "all black" misses that refinement but is more "powerful", has more presence especially because of the bezel, I will show it later.
First there is the size 42mm for the Cosmonaute because of that bewel (41 for the Navi) with long lugs that extends on the wrist.
But there is also that thin profle which is typical of Navi. Unlike Speedmaster or Daytona, it's a snap on caseback, not a screwed down caseback. That combined with the proportions of the Venus 178 give that large but thin profile to the Navy.
The long lugs and their progressive chamfer are part of the charm too. This case remind me a bit of the Blancpain Air Command but thinner.
The bezel takes some place though. Toward the end of the 50s small pearl are replaced by bigger one (I won't go into details here) , big pearl that you find on the Cosmonaute but with a different bezel profile compared to the normal Navitimer.
It's not straight contrary to the classic Navitimer, there is an angle that widen the bezel and makes this watch bigger than the already big Navitimer 806.
This special bezel is unique to the early cosmonaute , it is one of the great strength of this watch, looks like a crown... or a flying saucer upside down
It makes this watch even more present than the normal Navitimer, very special.
The other attraction is obviously the dial, like any Navitimer it's a visual shock
The combination black dial with lume reminds a bit of military watches but contrary to the military watchesm it's full of writings and infos everywhere.
The white slide rule with decimal scale , the inner logarythmic scale , the minutes, the "MPH" with that spear above, "STAT" , "NAUT" around nine o clock, and , of course, the stunning AOPA golden wings that contrast with the black dial.
And there is the name: "Cosmonaute" , bringing dreams and stories
This super busy but stunning dial is what make Navitimers something quite unique, its the identity of all Navis, identity that one loves or doesn't.
The white Syringe hands, also correspond to what man expect from a pilot's watch. The latter Cosmonaute do not have these hands and I must say I like them.
The subdial are concentric striated, giving nice reflections with lights.
This watch has a huge presence and is utterly charming at the same time.
A shooting star in Breitling production
Breitling could have chosen the easy way to celebrate Scott Carpenter achievement. A Navitimer with something written on the dial nothing too complex, it would have been less expensive.
But they chose the right way, they produced it with the special bezel and the 24 hours dial
The name is acquired in 1961 but nothing is certain when the production actually started. If Carpenter is the first (or one of the first) to have it, which is logicial and what I believe, the 809 Cosmonaute production could have begun around April or May 1962 with this bezel and the all black dial.
By the end of 1962, the black dial is replaced with a "panda" dial, and cosmonaute disappears from most dial... much better to sell to the big market of the time, the US. In 1963 the wide bezel is replaced by the classic navitimer Bezel 806.
As you understand, the Cosmonaute "all black" of Scott Carpenter was produced for some months only and the big bezel less than a year...
Its beauty, its genesis and its rarity makes it the grail of Navitimers and to my eyes of many postwar chronograph.
So, is it?
Obviously there are not many "Carpenter" Cosmonaute.
Less than 500 for sure. How many? I don't know. But if I trust the number I see on the market, on wristscans etc... I would say much less.
As you see on photos, it's not in great shape, this one had a tough life , it's okay for a toolwatch.
it has a lot of patina and the dial has been damaged, certainly humidity ... which is surprising for a watch well known to be not waterproof, and moreover that it was a very expensive one.
$230 in 1963 , it's at the top of the stainless steel Breitling watches. To compare a Rolex Daytona cost $210 in 1964 , a classic watch from a good brand is around $50. An AquaLung diver chronograph is at $100
The one of Scott Carpenter has been submerged at the "Splashdown" recovery before being sent to Breitling which fits with the dial damages
In the same idea, the pushers base is oxydized with some green that reminds me sea water oxydation.
These are coincidences and it would mean that the watch stayed in a drawer since 1962 , hard to believe actually...
The conclusion is you can conclude nothing of course , the chances that this is THE one are actually close to zero. But these coincidences are fun and I like to imagine that this is the one that went to space... after all, vintage watches are here to give us a dream aren't they 
?
Thanks
A huge thanks to Watchfred and Dracha for their help, their infos, their culture and their friendship, there won't be a review without them! Thanks guys !
To Jean-Michel who was one of the first on the Navitimer topic.
To all friends for their support, which had to endure my spamming and my madness
This watch deserved a serious review, and you did it, François.
A pleasure to read, I learned a lot of things on a reference I don't know very well, by far.
The 24 hours dial makes a big difference. What a look.
Thanks also to hilight the case and the lugs. Nice bevels.
A Ref post I will certainly come back to read, often!
Best, mon ami. And thanks for all your efforts for posting the pictures... I know, I know...
Nicolas. This message has been edited by amanico on 2015-04-07 11:02:49
Thank you Nicolas
dial and bezel make a difference ,
the dial is easier to see in photos but irl the bezel is quite something,
Just finished reading thru your thread, François . . .
Thank you Art :)
(another thing is whatever Breitling says, it would be nice if they provide proofs , collectors would appreciate to see something from them... at the moment the way they manage vintage could be improved)
Thank you for sharing all this! :)
in the shadow... coughing...
) 
Delightful post cisco & 24 h dials rock!
Thank you for your efforts here.
Cheers,
--
Richard.
Thank wou rwk
What a wonderful read !..& the superb result of lots of passion, knowledge & splendid pics
.. I am neither a Breitling collector nor expert, but your series are fantastic !
Thank you so much for taking the efforts and sharing them here ;
a pleasure to read from line one on. - I've bookmarked all your parts !
My very Best,
hs
Thanks hs for your aprreciation
Une revue fantastique
Nice, very nice and when we talk about Navitimer and AOPA ...
Of course, yours is much nicer and (probably) a rare find. Still I think the new one isn´t bad either
Great post!
Oliver
Thank you Oliver
They didn't try to do luxurious ceramic, glamourous new kind of gold, but stayed faithful to what toolwatches are. Like in the review "meant to be used, not to be worn".
It's not my kind of watch and the design is matter of taste, but I think it's a courageous not to follow the pure luxury stuff but to offer another kind of watches, useful but with nice finish.
Fantastic Post! You made me write an Astronaut post in response
Thank you Cazalea!
Scott Carpenter - From Cosmonaut to Aquanaut.
SEALAB II was a completely new habitat, 57 by 12 feet in size, and unlike SEALAB I included hot showers and refrigeration. It was placed in the La Jolla Canyon off the coast of California, at a depth of 205 fsw (62 m). On August 28, 1965, the first of three teams of divers moved into what became known as the “Tilton Hilton” because of the slope of the site. Each team spent 15 days in the habitat, but aquanaut/astronaut Scott Carpenter remained below for a record 30 days. During that time, he was able to speak with astronaut Gordon Cooper who was in the Gemini space capsule, orbiting the Earth. In addition to physiological testing, the divers tested new tools, methods of salvage, and an electrically heated drysuit.
Unfortunately, the tragic death of Berry Cannon, a diver on SeaLab III, due to a dive equipment malfunction ended the program. There is a lot of watch history that I have heard and read about within the SEALAB program. Berry Cannon had a Doxa Sub 300 (no t) and many other divers tested the Tudor with exploding crystals upon reaching the suface. And the Doxa Conquistador was present.
A lot of Dive and watch history exists of the coast of San Diego.
Bill
Wow amazing Bill, thanks for your help and answer.
Very impressive.
Great reference post
I'll take time to read it in full, thanks a lot for sharing François
Cheers, Mark
