With NASA’s blessing, the folks at Xeric fired up their creative engines to design a watch commemorating the 50th anniversary of the July 20, 1969 moon landing. Working from the highly successful Trappist-1 Moonphase, the new NASA Edition features orbiting hands, sweeping star seconds, a choice of automatic or quartz movements and unique case construction machined from 316L stainless steel. The watch launched on Kickstarter an hour ago and is already funded more than 6x over.
Measuring 44mm wide and 15mm thick, the Trappist-1 NASA Edition has plenty of room to show off its novel dial and handset. The watch uses two orbiting planets to tell the time. The inner orbit indicates the hour while the outer planet points to the minutes. The planetary hands are backfilled with Super LumiNova to be easily legible throughout the night. The automatic versions also feature tritium gas-filled tubes on the hands. These glass tubes glow brightly and continuously for decades without having to be charged by any external light like traditional luminescent material used in watches.
One of the watch’s most striking features is the spidery cage over the dial. This grille was inspired by the Cupola module on the ISS, the largest viewing port ever placed in space. The Cupola is comprised of 7 windows to create the ultimate 3D observation deck, giving astronauts an incredible view of the earth below and the space that surrounds it. The grille’s 12 support bridges serve as hour markers.
Beneath the grille, is a star map of the constellations surrounding the Trappist-1 solar system. In a remarkable display of accuracy, they are printed in varying sizes using SuperLuminova, matching the relative luminosity and distance of each star in that slice of the night sky. The automatic version is powered by a Miyota 82S0 and features a custom rotor inspired by the Trappist-1 solar system. The positive/negative orbit paths represent 5 of the 7 planets that orbit around the central red dwarf star.
The quartz version features a limited edition caseback, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. The laser-engraved graphic pays tribute to the original mission patch that was released after Apollo 11’s successful return home. Automatics have an exhibition caseback to show off the Trappist-1’s custom rotor.
The watch features a dome crystal made from Hesalite, a material that was originally developed for NASA. The material was introduced in the 1960s as a crystal replacement for space-bound watches. The first watch to be worn on the moon by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had to withstand the harsh environment of space. A standard sapphire crystal poses many issues in the event of an impact in zero gravity as tiny fragments of floating glass could spell disaster for the cabin and onboard crew. To remedy this, NASA replaced sapphire crystals with Hesalite versions as they have a higher resistance to impact and do not shatter like traditional glass.
The straps are made using full-grain leather from a US-based Horween tannery. The leather is textured and stitched to pay tribute to the articulated ridge-lines seen on space gloves.
Only 1969 pieces of each Trappist-1 NASA Edition variant will be crafted, and each piece will be individually numbered to ensure authenticity. The quartz model will even come with an engraved 50th-anniversary commemorative caseback of the Apollo 11 mission patch.
As of this writing, you can still get a Quartz for $169 or and Automatic for $279. After the campaign, those prices will increase to $250 and $450. Make a pledge today to get your hands on this celestial marvel and snag the special discount, too. Head on over to the Xeric Trappist-1 NASA Kickstarter page to get started. ⬩
