Although no human astronauts have yet set foot on Mars, that hasn’t stopped Omega from partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop the Speedmaster X-33 Marstimer watch. As an analog/digital quartz watch that keeps track of time, it is not only usable on Earth, but also ready for the Red Planet.
(From: Omega official website)
Like on Earth, a “Martian day” (sol) is defined by the time it takes for the planet to make one revolution around its axis of rotation.
But whereas an Earth day has an agreed duration of 24 hours, a Martian day is 39 minutes 35.244 seconds longer (a Martian year is 668.599 sols).
Time on Mars OMEGAs Speedmaster X33 Marstimer (via)
For this reason, the first explorers on Mars will soon lose synchronization with the circadian rhythms of people on Earth.
But even if a manned Mars crew is still quite far away, there is still a recognized niche market for “Mars watches” among the community of scientists and engineers working on missions to Mars.
The X-33 Marstimer follows the design of the hugely successful Speedmaster X-33 with the Omega 5622 thermally compensated quartz movement.
It can operate both analogue and digital readouts, supports the switching off of the digital display and locks the hands in the 12 o’clock power-saving mode position.
This ‘standby mode’ is automatically activated when the watch is left idle for five days, while keeping other functions and times running in the background.
In addition the Marstimer is able to track Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), two Earth time zones, as well as Mission Duration Time (MET) and specific events.
The above timers work together and the Marstimer has a 100h stopwatch/timer and even a perpetual calendar that takes into account the Martian and Earth years.
In Mars mode, the watch tracks Mars Coordinated Time (MTC) – the time zone where the red planet’s “prime meridian” is located – and two other Martian time zones.
The user can set three alarms for Earth/Mars and even calculate true solar time anywhere on both planets – meaning you can use it as a ‘sidereal compass’ (to find north easily).
A little trick is that if the hands obscure the digital readout on the black dial, the user can press the button to make it easy to move it away for a while.
The watch’s mechanism, enclosed in a 45mm titanium case, is water resistant to 30 metres (100 feet) and is backlit.
For the strap, Omega has equipped the Marstimer with a special changing tool and the option of a titanium bracelet or a folding clasp.
The anti-glare sapphire crystal is surrounded by an anodised rotatable aluminium metal bezel. The hematite-like patchwork colour scheme (which extends to the hands) is instantly reminiscent of the ground of Mars.
Finally, the OMEGA Speedmaster X-33 Marstimer is priced at $6,400 (approx. 45,448 RMB).
