The Watches of Artemis II

Mankind returns to the Moon wearing notable watches from Breitling & Omega 

By Benjamin Lowry 

On Friday evening, Artemis II’s Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, slowed in its descent from the atmosphere by three massive parachutes. Acting as the main recovery platform, the USS John P. Murtha quickly deployed helicopters carrying a specially-trained team of Navy Divers and EOD Technicians. As the astronauts emerged, they wore notable watches from Breitling and Omega, a testament to the pervading utility and heritage of timepieces in space exploration. 

It would be hard to fit more luxury tool watches in one space photo… (Photo Credit: NASA)

In this Dispatch, we’ll discuss the watches worn by the Artemis II astronauts who are continuing mankind’s legacy of lunar exploration. Whether it’s the NASA-issued Omega Speedmasters worn by the intrepid Apollo 17 astronauts who last visited the Moon, or the more modern Breitling and Omega models utilized by Mission Commander Reid Wiseman and the rest of Artemis II’s crew, for astronauts, a watch is never just a watch. 

10 April 2026 - 1707 PDT - Splashdown 

Mission Commander Reid Wiseman hugs Flight Surgeon Richard Scheuring next to the Navy MH-60 that carried him from Orion to the deck of the USS John P Murtha. A Breitling Cosmonaute and an Omega X-33 are visible on Wiseman’s left wrist. (Photo Credit: NASA)

53 years, 3 months, and 22 days have elapsed since the Apollo 17 astronauts splashed down 350 nautical miles southeast of American Samoa before being picked up by SH-3G Sea King helicopters from USS Ticonderoga. While much has changed, and many return space flights now reach terra firma by way of the Kazakh Steppe, Artemis II opted for an old-school oceanic splashdown, just like the Apollo astronauts of old. 

A member of the U.S. Navy dive medical team with Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group ONE (EODGRU-1) wore a Marathoon CSAR chronograph the day before assisting with the Artemis II recovery operation. (Photo Credit: US Navy/Marathon)

As the US Navy recovery team cracked open the Orion spacecraft that four astronauts have called home for the past ten days, the collective eyes of the W.O.E. community were peeled for watches. As has been the case since before liftoff, we were not disappointed. 

Pre-Mission 

Mission Commander Reid Wiseman owns an Omega Speedmaster Professional as well as a Breitling Endurance Pro Chronograph. (Photo Credit: NASA)

With industry marketing likely playing some role in the astronaut’s final timepiece selections, it’s important to take a step back to before Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen set off on their historic lunar mission. Mission Commander Reid Wiseman is a US Navy Captain and Naval Aviator who previously served on the Expedition 40/41 International Space Station crew. Before the lunar expedition, Wiseman wore an Omega Speedmaster as well as a Breitling Endurance Pro chronograph paired with an orange Outerknown Econyl strap. 

Astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover wore the Omega X-33 in the lead-up to the Artemis II launch. (Photo Credit: NASA)

A former US Navy F/A‑18 pilot, graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, and veteran of NASA’s Expedition 64/65 in 2018, Captain Victor Glover is another aviation stud, often wearing an X-33 that was likely issued to him after graduating from astronaut training. Mission Specialist and engineer Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight for a woman (328 days in 2019/2020), also favors the NASA-issued X-33.

Selected as an astronaut in 2009, when he wore a Citizen pilot’s watch, Jeremy Hansen today favors an Apple Watch. (Photo Credit: NASA)

The lone Canadian on Artemis II, Jeremy Hansen, is another experienced fighter pilot and known for wearing an Apple Watch, though some older photos also show what appears to be a Citizen pilot’s watch. In any case, as the astronauts started to make the media rounds in the lead-up to the Artemis II launch, other interesting timepieces emerged. 

Mission Commander Wiseman was the first to unveil the new Breitling Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute Artemis II.

On 27 March 2026, in a pre-launch media appearance, Reid Wiseman rocked up with a Breitling Cosmonaute on his wrist, an apparently unreleased model that could be making an appearance on Artemis II for marketing’s sake. UPDATE: A few days after publishing the original version of this article, Breitling unveiled the Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute Artemis II, which offers a blue meteorite dial and the Artemis II insignia on the case back while being limited to only 450 pieces. 

01 April 2026 - 1835 EDT - Blastoff 

On launch day, all four Artemis II crewmembers wore the Omega X-33. (Photo Credit: NASA)

As the Artemis II crew made its way to the launchpad to be strapped into the Orion spacecraft, all four astronauts wore Omega X-33 watches secured to the outside of their space suits using extra-long versions of the OEM Omega Kevlar strap that appears to be standard-issue on NASA X-33s. Introduced in 1998, the X-33 was designed in collaboration with Space Shuttle astronauts and military pilots, with features including Mission Elapsed Time, UTC, a perpetual calendar, and multiple alarms with a surprisingly loud 80 decibel tone. 

The Gen. 2 X-33 continues to be standard issue for NASA astronauts.

With an analog-digital format and a titanium case, the X-33 looked to bridge the gap between the tried and tested yet old school Omega Speedmasters and modern Digital Tool Watches. Since its introduction, there have been several redesigns of the X-33 platform, but modern astronauts continue to utilize the “Gen. 2” model unveiled in 2001, which is now only available via military and government sales, having been discontinued from Omega’s civilian catalog in 2006. Rumor has it that NASA allows astronauts to “buy back” their space-flown watches with their names engraved on the back. A pretty cool heirloom. 

02-10 April 2026 - To the Moon & Back 

After a successful launch, the Artemis crew spent approximately one day in Earth’s orbit before initiating a “trans-lunar injection” burn to propel their Orion spacecraft towards the Moon. With four days in transit before a scheduled lunar lap, the crew settled into a daily routine that included sending imagery back to Earth, though much of it was not as high definition as we are accustomed to seeing from NASA, which makes sense when you consider that the Moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away… 

Maybe not high definition, but plenty of watch heat. (Photo Credit: NASA)

Clarifying that Breitling’s role in the expedition was a carefully orchestrated guerrilla marketing campaign, additional examples of the then-unreleased Breitling Cosmonaute popped up on all three of the other Artemis II crewmembers, often worn in true “double-wristing” fashion alongside the standard issue X-33s, and in some cases even triple-wristing with some kind of fitness tracker or health monitor we have spotted on astronauts in the past. 

An Omega X-33’s luminescent material glowing brightly onboard the Orion spacecraft. (Photo Credit: NASA)

It may be for marketing’s sake, but in a world where luxury watch messaging increasingly looks to vapid influencers, models, athletes, and musicians, we are not offended to see a brand look to pioneering space explorers instead. Given that Artemis II returned to Earth a few days before Watches and Wonders, the Geneva-based luxury watch industry tradeshow where Rolex and dozens of other brands display their novelties, the timing was almost too perfect. Sure enough, the day before Watches and Wonders opened, Breitling released the new Cosmonaute. With the cat out of the bag, let’s hope Breitling does something cool with the space-flown watches.

Through Scott Carpenter, Breitling has an intriguing, lesser-known space association. (Photo Credit: On The Dash)

The Cosmonaute’s revival using Artemis II as a literal vehicle makes sense, given the model’s significant association with Scott Carpenter, the aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut who famously wore a Cosmonaute for 1962’s Mercury Atlas 7 mission. The actual watch, now part of Breitling’s private collection, was unfortunately flooded during Carpenter’s egress from the Aurora 7 spacecraft. Breitling has since made several limited Cosmonaute models referencing Carpenter, though the new model sticks to the Artemis II storyline without highlighting Carpenter in its model name. 

CAPT Glover wearing a standard Omega Speedmaster on 06 April 2026. (Photo Credit: NASA)

At this stage, we would have been forgiven for thinking we understood the watch landscape of Artemis II, but the plot quickly thickened when we noticed several of the astronauts wearing what appeared to be a standard Omega Speedmaster Pro in addition to everything else going on. Is this another, competing marketing effort on Omega’s behalf, running counter to Breitling’s Cosmonaute situation? 

Seeing the X-33, a Breitling Cosmonaute, AND a Speedy Pro on the Artemis II crew was a surprise. (Photo Credit: NASA)

A Speedmaster on a lunar mission obviously makes all the sense in the world (or universe?), but it is once again surprising to see such a wealth of luxury watches being brought into space, and we are once again forced to wonder whether marketing dollars have played a significant role here as well. Regardless, we aren’t going to complain.

Use Your Tools in Space

We were excited to see Mission Commander Reid Wiseman in the comments explaining why the astronauts wore so many watches. 

It would be an understatement to say that Artemis II has captured public attention in a way we haven’t seen from a space mission in decades, and we were far from the only ones talking about the watches worn by the astronauts for their lunar flyby. Nick Gould, AKA @niccoloy on Instagram, is a watch-spotting legend, and we were excited to see none other than Reid Wiseman comment on one of Nick’s posts. CAPT Wiseman explained, in great detail, why the astronauts used so many watches, as well as their logic in managing several time zones in space, tracking GMT/UTC with their X-33s, Mission Elapsed Time or MET with their Breitlings, and home time zones with their Speedies. Clearly, the Use Your Tools ethos is not limited to Earth’s atmosphere.

Final Thoughts 

Inspired by the pioneering Apollo astronauts who came before, a holistic view of the watches used as tools by the crew of Artemis II tells a story larger than inter-brand beef or clever marketing plays. From NASA-issued X-33s that continue to quietly carry out their mission to a resurrected Cosmonaute honoring Breitling’s heritage with pioneering astronaut Scott Carpenter, to the OG Moonwatch echoing Apollo, these timepieces carry forward a rich heritage of real tool watches in space flight, a trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. 

Luxury or tool, analog, digital, or both, each watch that executed the lunar lap represents something elemental: humanity’s stubborn insistence on measuring the unknown, one second at a time, as we push back toward the Moon—and beyond.

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