[LambdaPrime]

This is my first time posting here, and I was motivated by the movie Gravity.

In the movie, astronauts Stone and Kowalski both wear digital wrist watches on the outside of their spacesuits. The interface on the watch looks really slick, and the UI appears very clean.

These watches appear to be real, as Bullock is wearing it here in real life, although the face certainly may have been CG. It has a prominent cylindrical protrusion along the top edge of the watch case, and three buttons along the bottom of the face of the watch. The watch sort of reminds me of a diving computer, but it looks like no model I have ever seen, nor does it look like any model produced by suunto, etc.

Does anyone know what brand/model they are?

 

[Sedi]

After scrolling through endless google-pics I think it's not a dive computer - but I couldn't find anything else that even looks close. I was thinking it might be a GPS-watch and the protrusion is the antenna but I couldn't find one that looks like it either. Maybe it's just a prop. I hope somebody else might be able to identify it - and welcome to the forum!
A good site is also watchesinmovies.info but "Gravity" is not yet listed.

cheers, Sedi

 

[ronalddheld]

It migjht be easier to be a prop and CG any display data needed(unless there is a lot of frames worth).

 

[marcsp]

bump.

 

[Mudman001]

I have no idea. It looks to be way too big to ever wear on your bare wrist.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 Active

 

[Petar Kadakevliev]

For me it looks mostly like the Suunto M* series ... & especially like Suunto M2, Suunto M4 & Suunto M5.
(Of course, the variants with the silver screen and black body ... they call it "Black/Silver" ...)

 

[Tsujigiri]

I don't think it's a real watch. NASA has a list of watches they've approved for use in space, and I don't think astronauts are allowed to deviate from the list. IIRC the approved ones are mostly Ironmans and G-Shocks. But I've heard that the Omega Speedmaster Pro with the acrylic crystal is the only one that they allow to be worn outside of the spacecraft and space suits, and the watch pictured certainly doesn't look like a Speedy Pro. Are you sure it's even a watch? Maybe some kind of instrument they use made specifically for them?

 

[xevious]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a prop watch specifically created for the movie. It doesn't look like anything I've seen any astronaut wear. I would have thought that astronauts wouldn't wear a watch strapped around their spacesuit wrists because of the extraordinary strap length required. But... it appears they actually do it (see HERE). My take is that if the watch is very deliberately referenced in the movie, they made a large prop watch for greater effect.

 

[Gwen]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a prop watch specifically created for the movie. It doesn't look like anything I've seen any astronaut wear. I would have thought that astronauts wouldn't wear a watch strapped around their spacesuit wrists because of the extraordinary strap length required. But... it appears they actually do it (see HERE). My take is that if the watch is very deliberately referenced in the movie, they made a large prop watch for greater effect.

Hello, I do not even think that there is digital watches for extravehicular activity. I think the LCD would freeze. Rare watches, allowed for the vacuum of space are mechanical. But I could be wrong.

 

[Andrew McGregor]

Hello, I do not even think that there is digital watches for extravehicular activity. I think the LCD would freeze. Rare watches, allowed for the vacuum of space are mechanical. But I could be wrong.

The vacuum should be a hint... stuff tends to get hot, not cold, in space.

 

[xevious]

Very good point, Gwen & Andrew. While some CASIO digital watches can handle low temps down to -20C, not sure how they'd deal with high temps. In any case, I have to believe that any watch subjected to such extremes will suffer some time drift and become unreliable until allowed to settle back to normal conditions.

 

[lallicator]

Bumping this thread since I want to know what the watch is as well! (Or a similar looking watch)

 

[Sedi]

Bumping this thread since I want to know what the watch is as well! (Or a similar looking watch)

Welcome to the forum!
IMO a Suunto Vyper comes pretty close in looks.

cheers, Sedi

 

[lallicator]

Welcome to the forum!
IMO a Suunto Vyper comes pretty close in looks.

cheers, Sedi

Thanks! Unfortunately that watch doesn't look remotely like the one in Gravity! loll

 

[dbradford]

I seem to remember this being discussed on another part of the forum. The consensus was, that both the heat AND cold cycles would be extremly harmful to a digital watch worn in the vacuum of space, so would the high radiation, that it would fry the circuit board.

Dave in the Philippines

 

[Sedi]

Thanks! Unfortunately that watch doesn't look remotely like the one in Gravity! loll

Feel free to make a better suggestion.

 

[lallicator]

Feel free to make a better suggestion.

I don't have one -- that's why I asked here!

BTW I'm not interested in a watch that would actually work in space-- just one that looks as good as the one in the movie.

 

[Sedi]

So far I found only dive computers that looked remotely like that watch. and the Vyper was closest IMO. But you're right - it's not really close enough.

cheers, Sedi

 

[lallicator]

So far I found only dive computers that looked remotely like that watch. and the Vyper was closest IMO. But you're right - it's not really close enough.

cheers, Sedi

Would you mind linking some of these.

Honestly folks I'm looking to buy a cool watch that is

a.) Big (like the one in gravity)

b.) Has a big display (again, like the one in gravity)

c.) Not looking for anything fancy-- just something to tell time, stopwatch, etc.

 

[Sedi]

Only thing I did was a google search with the term "dive computer" or "Suunto" - you'll find plenty of big watches.
If it doesn't need to be too close in style but big with big display - I can recommend the Timex T49950 and T44951:
it doesn't get much bigger than this I think:




cheers, Sedi