Comments on: Omega X-33 Repair in Microgravity http://ialreadyhaveawatch.com/2009/11/omega-x-33-repair-in-microgravity/ Vintage, Military, and Omega Watch Blog Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:29:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Don Pettit http://ialreadyhaveawatch.com/2009/11/omega-x-33-repair-in-microgravity/comment-page-1/#comment-3314 Don Pettit Mon, 30 May 2011 02:23:07 +0000 http://ialreadyhaveawatch.com/?p=1433#comment-3314 Great posting of my Omega repair during Exp 6. You folks definitely know more about my NASA issued watch than I do. NASA issues us these watches during our training for flight. Then after landing we have to return our watches within a few weeks (some crews buy their own watch to fly so they can keep it). During Exp 6, we had three of these fail to the point where they were no longer useful. I took mine apart and fixed it (I forgot to make a video of the completed repair and the ending shot in the movie (shown here) was before I had put the back on- good job of catching that detail). I modified my Omega before flight to make the bezel numbers easier to read. I darkened the stainless ring and painted the numbers white which helps a lot particularly in low lighting. I use the bezel a lot for quickly setting an elapsed timer and wanted something easier to read in low light than the silver-black combination. I also anodized the gray Ti case a coffee color using an 18 volt DC current with dishwasher soap (sodium triphosphate) as an electrolite. I put a splash of blue and pink anodizing on the back case just because I could. After my flight, Omega came out with a improved version of this watch and it has not had any flight issues (the new version has an improved crown, the bezel turns both directions instead of only one, and the back is two pieces instead of one). I turned this watch in to NASA shortly after I landed and they returned it to Omega. I have no idea where it is now. Thanks to all the watch buffs for making interesting postings. Don Pettit Great posting of my Omega repair during Exp 6. You folks definitely know more about my NASA issued watch than I do. NASA issues us these watches during our training for flight. Then after landing we have to return our watches within a few weeks (some crews buy their own watch to fly so they can keep it). During Exp 6, we had three of these fail to the point where they were no longer useful. I took mine apart and fixed it (I forgot to make a video of the completed repair and the ending shot in the movie (shown here) was before I had put the back on- good job of catching that detail).
I modified my Omega before flight to make the bezel numbers easier to read. I darkened the stainless ring and painted the numbers white which helps a lot particularly in low lighting. I use the bezel a lot for quickly setting an elapsed timer and wanted something easier to read in low light than the silver-black combination. I also anodized the gray Ti case a coffee color using an 18 volt DC current with dishwasher soap (sodium triphosphate) as an electrolite. I put a splash of blue and pink anodizing on the back case just because I could. After my flight, Omega came out with a improved version of this watch and it has not had any flight issues (the new version has an improved crown, the bezel turns both directions instead of only one, and the back is two pieces instead of one). I turned this watch in to NASA shortly after I landed and they returned it to Omega. I have no idea where it is now.

Thanks to all the watch buffs for making interesting postings.

Don Pettit

]]> By: Rrryan http://ialreadyhaveawatch.com/2009/11/omega-x-33-repair-in-microgravity/comment-page-1/#comment-332 Rrryan Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:04:29 +0000 http://ialreadyhaveawatch.com/?p=1433#comment-332 By the way, the above may look familiar to longtime readers as it was previously published on the old site, but while importing it seemed like it fit better as a blog post than a standalone article. Thanks! By the way, the above may look familiar to longtime readers as it was previously published on the old site, but while importing it seemed like it fit better as a blog post than a standalone article.

Thanks!

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