Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Does anybody care besides me ? 

Ask any watch enthusiast what happened to the late Neil Armstrong's legendary Omega Speedmaster 'Moonwatch' - 'The First Watch worn on the Moon' (which didn't actually make it onto the surface of the moon, but was left in the lunar command module as a back-up for a faulty timer), and they'll tell you it's on display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/omega.html

Buzz Aldrin's Omega Speedmaster, which was the first watch to be worn on the surface of the moon was lost in transit (stolen) in 1970. 

Whereas the much-vaunted (read over-rated IMHO) 'Speedy' is most purists' choice of a classic chronograph, with well-documented space travel lineage, I personally prefer the Yema Spationaute III 'Aragatz' - because it's different, and naturally - Seiko 7A38 based.

Prior to Seiko's takeover of the ailing French watch company in 1988, and the formation of C.G.H. (Compagnie Générale Horlogère), Yema had been owned by Matra, who amongst other activities, were also heavily involved in the C.N.E.S. French space programme.

So Matra ensured that the original Yema Spationaute and more so the ana-digi Yema Spationate II produced during their ownership, which were worn on both Franco-Russian (1982) and Franco-American (1985) space missions, got 'more than adequate' publicity.

There was even a special limited edition version of the Spationaute II which was presented to heads of state and other dignitaries.

See: http://forum.chronomania.net/mix_entry.php?id=5776 - one of these limited editions allegedly sold on eBay for 2810 Euros !!

Even though it was well before the days of the Internet, it therefore follows that there are plenty of photos available online today, of fellow French astronaut Patrick Baudry wearing his Yema Spationaute II aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1985.

Perhaps it was because they were then still a relatively new organization, but Seiko France / C.G.H. didn't appear to capitalize on the opportunity for publicity with their Yema Spationaute III, the way Matra had. Even the wording in their 1989 catalogue was 'low key':

See above.  November, 1988 launch of Aragatz. On board, the Yema Spationaute III watch. (Not even claiming it was on J-L's wrist).

Perhaps C.G.H. hadn't managed to secure an exclusive agreement with C.N.E.S. (as Matra would appear to have done previously) ....

because Jean-Loup Chrétien can be seen wearing a few different watches at various times during the flight, besides a Spationaute III.

Incidentally, the above photo of Jean-Loup Chrétien was taken not in space, but in the Soyuz training simulator at Star City.

I struggled for a long time to find any photographic evidence that J-L had actually worn it on the mission - let alone for his EVA. 

This is the first decent photo I managed to get hold of, thanks to French space / watch collector Dominique M., from ForumaMontres:

Ironically, although Jean-Loup Chrétien may be juggling weightless Omega Speedmasters, on his right wrist is a Yema Spationaute III.

It's a side-on view, but if you zoom in, from the stepped case lug design, bezel markings and pusher configuration, it clearly is one.

Jean-Loup is wearing it on an 'Apollo NASA Speedmaster' style nylon / velcro strap, as I've mentioned elsewhere in another thread.

What is also interesting is the apparent colour of the watch case material. It may possibly be a titanium prototype, rather than stainless.

I'm trying to find the relevant web pages again, but while googling a while back, I did stumble across a couple of references (in French)

to Yema Spationaute III 'en Titane'. It might be the poor cabin lighting, but even the polished mid-section of the case looks matt / dark.

Though what little difference a lighter Titanium case might make (as opposed to Stainless Steel) in the weightlessness of space ....

Here's the best photo I've found, so far, of J-L wearing his Spationaute III on the Aragatz mission aboard space station Mir (© CNES)

High resolution downloads of this image (P14705) are available from the CNES photo library. Sizes available: 1.26MB and 5.33MB !!

See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pkpro/6872199632/sizes/l/in/photostream/ or http://cnes.photonpro.net/cnes/ (search on 'Aragatz').

The watch is clearly a Yema Spationaute III

 .... and from the area of red in the upper part of the dial, it also has the 'misson flags' dial.

There's a reference to this dial, presumably used on the original factory prototype(s) in a Yema Spationaute thread on Forumamontes:

http://forumamontres.forumactif.com/t19752-la-saga-yema-spationaute

Scroll about halfway down the page to where it starts:

Du 26 novembre au 21 décembre, Jean Loup Chrétien est à nouveau locataire de Station Orbitale Mir.

C’est la Mission Aragataz qui donne son nom à la Spationaute III.

Further down that particular post, there are 4 photos missing. 

  The last one was captioned:

Avec l’aimable participation de Yema

Notez le cadran différent (drapeaux). This translates as: Note the different dial (flags).

I contacted the OP, Jecko, as far back as December 2009, but sadly he was unable to provide me with a copy of the original image.

I'd been lucky enough to pick up such a dial on eBay France in November 2009, with a few loose hands and a crown for only 5 Euros:

So I had the basis of what was to become my first Yema Spationaute III, and one that still holds a very special place in my collection.

It was built up using the case from a battered 'spares or repair' watch, with badly yellowed dial lume, which cost me 66 Euros on eBay:

I refurbished the watch case and bezel myself, carefully re-painting the bezel inlays; fitting it with a new Sternkreuz domed crystal ....

and finished it off with a Colditz 22mm Navy Blue Shark strap - to become this watch, which will already be familiar to many readers.

It's 'wrong' in that it's a complete 'bitza' with a 1990 2-prefix serial number and the later polished stainless hands - but still a favourite.

My eBay 'twin flags' dial had obviously been used. There is a small area of micro-blistering on the 30min counting subdial for starters.

Plus the screw-down crown and hands supplied with it were all secondhand. So somebody had broken up a once-complete watch.

It didn't occur to me at the time, but this was all that was left of what once had been one of the original Yema factory prototypes.

I'd bought it from 'montranciennes' - a French eBay seller named Yves Stoycos who deals in parted-out watch components.

Needless to say, I got no joy from him as to the fate of the original watch, nor the disposition of the rest of the parts. 

Did it have a Titanium case and bezel ? If so, I wonder what became of them.  

Soyuz TM-7 / Mir / Aragatz mission chronology - data and some of the photos below shamelesly borrowed from www.spacefacts.de

The original launch date of November 21, 1988 was moved back to permit French president François Mitterrand to attend the launch.

Crew: Commander: Aleksandr Volkov (USSR); Flight Engineer: Sergei Krikalyov (USSR) and Research Cosmonaut: J-L Chrétien (FR).

Launch date: 26th November 1988 from Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was the second USSR - France joint mission. After two day's flight, the Soyuz docked with the MIR-Kvant complex on November 28, 1988. Aleksandr Volkov and Jean-Loup Chrétien performed EVA's on December 9th, 1988 (5h 57m), installing the 240 kg French ERA experimental deployable structure and a panel of material samples.

Jean-Loup Chrétien thus became the first non-American and non-Soviet cosmonaut to perform a spacewalk. 

Yet oddly, the case-back inscriptions on the production Yema Spationaute III don't appear to commemorate that.

Apart from the mission code-name Aragatz, and CCCP. France it merely states: vol longue dureé ....

The phrase vol longue dureé literally translates as long-term flight, which taken in direct context seems a little strange.

Jean-Loup Chrétien left the Mir space station on 21st December 1988, returning to earth on Soyuz TM-6 after only 25 days.

Yet the two Soviet cosmonauts whom he had arrived with, in Soyuz TM-7 didn't return to earth until 27th April 1989 - after 151 days.

What's more, Mir's research doctor, Valeri Polyakov, whose seat Jean-Loup had effectively taken, had been in space for 241 days ....

and the two cosmonauts he returned with: Musa Manarov and Vladimir Titov had just completed almost 366 days (a year) in space !! 

Now for a little game of 'spot the watch' ....

In this official pre-launch 'walkout' photo, Jean-Loup Chrétien (centre) is possibly wearing an Omega Speedmaster on his left wrist.

In this alternate pre-launch photo, Jean-Loup Chrétien's left arm is obscured, even if he was(n't) wearing a Yema Spationaute III.

Mission commander Aleksandr Volkov (centre) is wearing a stainless LCD digital, believed to be a Soviet-made Integral Elektronika-5.

Here's a slightly glazed-looking J-L Chrétien with the two russian crew members of Soyuz TM-7 onboard Mir (© www.spacefacts.de)

Jean-Loup is wearing a Yema Spationaute III on his left wrist; Volkov again wearing the same Elektronika-5 LCD digital on his left wrist. 

Incidentally, although Yema used a cropped version of this photo in their catalogue, there is no claim made, nor other photographic evidence to suggest Jean-Loup Chrétien wore his Spationaute III (either over or under his Orlan DMA suit) during his 5hr 57min EVA.

Following the recovery of Soyuz TM-7 on 27th April 1989 (J-L Chrétien's vacant seat on the return flight was taken by Valeri Polyakov),

Aleksandr Volkov (centre) is now wearing a Yema Spationaute III on his right wrist, but still has the Elektronika-5 LCD digital on his left:

I haven't been able to find any post-recovery photos of Soyuz TM-6 which show Jean-Loup Chrétien at all yet. (Edit: I did later)

But I think it's fairly safe to assume that before he left space-station Mir, he made an early Christmas present to Aleksandr Volkov.

His Yema Spationaute III - it would have made a nice keep-sake. After all, it did have the Soviet Hammer and Sickle flag on the dial.

This is the first of what may be a few addenda - hopefully culminating with that missing Yema 'drapeaux' photo of the original watch. 

I've been looking (read googling like crazy) trying to find a better colour image of the B&W Soyuz TM-7 recovery photo above.

I am deeply indebted to the owners of www.spacepatches.nl because on their Soyuz TM-7 / Aragatz page:

http://www.spacepatches.nl/mir/tm07.html is this super photo of one very happy Aleksandr Volkov. 

Polyakov, Volkov and Krikalev shortly after landing with the Soyuz TM-7 on April 27, 1989. Chrétien had already returned with

the TM-4 crew aboard Soyuz TM-6 on December 21, 1988. Awaiting launch of delayed Soyuz TM-8, the crew left Mir unmanned.

Although this colour photo is much smaller, the watch Volkov is wearing is even more clearly recognisable as a Yema Spationaute III.

Not only that, but underneath is what possibly may turn out to be a better photo of Jean-Loup Chrétien wearing the watch onboard Mir.

Here's another small photo of Soyuz TM-7 post recovery I found on another site: http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/337907/enlarge

Polyakov looks like he's trying to slip the Spationaute III off Volkov's wrist, and Krikalev looks rather annoyed with the interviewer ! 

The photo caption beneath it is partly incorrect:

Soyuz cosmonauts being interviewed after a successful landing. The cosmonauts are, from left to right, Valery Polyakov, Alexander Volkov and Sergei Krikalev. This was after the return of Soyuz mission TM-7, which flew to the space station Mir. TM-7 launched on 26th November 1988,

and carried Volkov and Krikalev to Mir, along with the French mission specialist Jean-Loup Chretien. It collected Polyakov (who had arrived on

Mir on mission TM-6 on 19th August 1988) and left Chretien on the space station. TM-7 landed on Earth on 27th April 1989.

Still, at least this augurs well for finding a decent high-resolution photo of Jean-Loup Chrétien's Spationaute III on Volkov's right wrist. 

On the same website, I found this small image of Jean-Loup being unceremoniously extricated from the Soyuz TM-6 capsule:

http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/337879/enlarge

Though it shows no evidence of any watches worn by Jean-Loup Chrétien on his return to earth. Not that I was expecting to see one.

Again, not only does this contradict the previous, which I'd highlighted in red above, but this photo's caption is also partially incorrect:

French astronaut Jean-Luc Chretien leaving the Soyuz TM-6 descent module after a joint Franco-Soviet mission aboard the Soviet space station Mir.

Soyuz TM-6 was launched on 28 November, 1988, and returned to Earth on 21 December, 1988.

More recently, I found a very similar image, on the Russian RIA Novosti media library website: http://visualrian.ru/en/

They have quite a good selection of photos on there, including these two different versions of the Soyuz TM-7 post-landing interview:

.... but all are heavily water-marked, and nothing I've found, thus far, shows the watches worn by Chrétien or Volkov any clearer. 

There is another rather dated-looking Russian space photo / film footage website: http://www.videocosmos.com/photo.shtm

which I've yet to investigate at this stage, though some of the smaller photos I've seen on other space websites are credited to them.

I came across these few snippets of footage of Jean-Loup Chrétien, taken aboard space station Mir, recently uploaded on Youtube.

They appear to be from a programme shown on the French TV channel Antenne 2 on 3rd December 1988.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ObYyEpX9AQ

Not particularly sharp images, nor any clear shot of his Yema Spationaute III. But watch the TV pictures between 01:20 and 01:30. 

On Jean-Loup's left wrist is a large stainless watch on a black webbing / velcro strap - with white lettering underneath.

Could this be the same style strap which Yema used on the Spationaute II, as worn by Patrick Baudry aboard Discovery ?

I may have to revisit my earlier idea of ordering a (black, rather than bleu) custom-made Gasgasbones strap for my Spationaute III. 

Here's the best photo I've found, so far, of J-L wearing his Spationaute III on the Aragatz mission aboard space station Mir (© CNES)

Though it may not actually be the best one that's out there. I've carried on looking since, further expanding my google searches.

At the weekend, I came across a website once maintained by the late Dennis Newkirk, an expert on Russian space exploration.

http://home.comcast.net/~rusaerog/mir/Mir_3D.html - lower down this particular page about Mir, is this small captioned image:

At the weekend, in the hope of blagging some new (read better) photos of Jean-Loup aboard Mir, I signed up to two space forums:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/ and the French http://www.forum-conquete-spatiale.fr

In the former, I latched onto an old thread entitled ' Looking for pics of astronauts w/ watches ...'

I didn't have very high expectations of any kind of results, quite honestly, and the (zero) responses that I received lived up to that. 
However, forum-conquete-spatiale.fr promised better things - after all it is a French space forum. 

Not only that, but when I'd browsed it previously, I couldn't help but notice the posts made by a young lady using the name 'Aragatz',

who, over the last few years, had racked up some 2000+ posts, mostly on the subject of - you guessed it .... Jean-Loup Chrétien. 

She also has her own blog about him too. Reading between the lines, I suspect she had a serious crush on him at one time. 

Edit: Nope, she's still stalking him: http://www.forum-conquete-spatiale.fr/t14075p15-aerotop-2012-jean-loup-chretien (see photo).

So naturally, I expected she of all people would have had a poster-sized image of Jean-Loup stripped to the waist (as per the above).

This is the best Caroline's managed to come up with so far - a small cropped version, which is pixellated - like a poor quality scan:

However, from the bullet shaped dial markers, this is likely the Yema Spationaute III, and if it is, may yet provide the best image of it.

In the meantime, impatience had got the better of me (remember, it is nearly 3 years since I found that 'mission flags' dial on eBay).

I wanted some answers to a few long-standing un-answered questions.

So I thought I'd try getting them 'straight from the horse's mouth' (so to speak). I googled Jean-Loup, looking for an email address.

It's not too difficult to find him. Nowadays, he's resident in the U.S.A., and V.P. of R&D for a software company in Houston, Texas.

I sent him a introductory email, to first ensure I'd made contact, then followed up with my three burning questions:

1) Was the watch case Stainless Steel or Titanium ?

2) Did you wear it on your EVA ? Possibly under your Orlan DMA suit ? 

3) Before you left Mir, in Soyuz TM-6 on the 21st December, did you present this watch to Aleksandr Volkov ?

Bearing in mind this was over the weekend, his very brief reply came back rather sooner than I'd expected.

1) He simply highlighted Stainless Steel (in yellow).

2) He declined to reply.

3) Came back as an emphatic NO (highlighted again in yellow). You could almost imagine it to read as Non!

Firstly, I was relieved that the 'urban myth' of the Titanium-cased Spationaute III prototype had been well-and-truly busted.

If nothing else, it made me feel a lot better about the watch that I'd cobbled together around the ex-eBay 'mission flags' dial.

Nor was I entirely surprised by his lack of response to the second question.

In the various (duplicated) threads on both ForumaMontres and Forum-Conquete-Spatiale, 'Jecko' has asked the same question:

Mais portait-il sa Spationaute III lors de l’EVA ?

But his third reply took me by surprise - bearing in mind the conclusion I'd already arrived at, by myself, from studying the Soyuz TM-7 post-landing photo, and observing that a grinning Aleksander Volkov appeared to be wearing a Yema Spationaute III on his right wrist.

Meanwhile, Caroline a.k.a. 'Aragatz' had provided another clue, in a post-script to her reply to me on Forum-Conquête-Spatiale.

After my initial disappointment at the photos she posted, I didn't get round to translating it properly until later that evening. She wrote:

Pour l'anecdote, sur le JT Antenne 2 du 21 Décembre 1988 (voir sur www.ina.fr), au moment où il est interviewé à peine extirpé du Soyouz, il avoue avoir perdu sa montre !

Which translates as:

For the record, on the JT (Journal Télévisé = TV News) Antenna 2 of 21st December 1988 (see on www.ina.fr),

at the time when he is interviewed, just extricated from the Soyuz (capsule), he admits to losing his watch !

So perhaps this wasn't a case of Franco-Russian 'Entente Cordiale', as I'd assumed, but possibly a 'Finders, Keepers' by Volkov ! 

This gets more and more intriguing the deeper I dig. 

As you can see in her post, Caroline ('Aragatz') had written 'voir sur www.ina.fr'.

Although there was a screen capture (and link) on one of her old web pages: http://chezpeps.free.fr/jl/caro/caro_page_home.htm

I searched for it myself on www.ina.fr without success. 

Then a helpful poster on forum-conquête-spatiale kindly pointed out the URL had been moved (within ina.fr - to their boutique).

See: http://boutique.ina.fr/video/CAB02046018/ja2-20h-emission-du-21-decembre-1988.fr.html (the 1.99€ fee is for downloading).

It's the first part of a half-hour news programme, and this segment lasts nearly 6 minutes before moving onto the next news article.

About 1 minute 47 seconds into the video, when interviewed, Jean-Loup can be heard to say something about having lost his watch.

Yet he doesn't seem particularly dismayed by the loss.

At approx. 2:10 Jean-Loup gives Volkov a last embrace, before getting into his space-suit and the Soyuz TM-6 capsule for departure.

Both men appear to be wearing large-ish stainless watches on black nylon / velcro straps, but the images aren't quite sharp enough. 

Could somebody have a look at the footage and give me a second opinion, please ?

Incidentally, the footage included in the video between approx. 3:30 and 3:40 is from Jean-Loup's previous 1982 Soyuz T-6 landing. 

I had a look at the video and as you say the images are quite poor, both watches seem to have dark dials, so possibly both astronauts were wearing Omega Speedmasters.

I'm still not sure, Chris. 

I've looked at that video over and over, and I'm convinced that at @ 2:10, at the point where Jean-Loup embraces Aleksandr Volkov, he is still wearing the Yema Spationaute III (on his right wrist). But don't forget, at that stage, he is yet to change into his flight suit .... and the next frames we see, after that, are of the docking hatch being closed.

But this gets stranger and stranger.

Those two official pre-launch photos of the Aragatz crew, which I included in my third post were obviously staged publicity shots.

In fact, I remember reading somewhere that one of them was actually taken in September 1988, some two months before the launch !

Here's two more photos taken just before the actual Soyuz TM-7 launch - late afternoon on 26th November 1988:

 (Left © videocosmos.com / © C.N.E.S below)

Although the first image is much smaller, if you zoom in on it, it provides a far better (if somewhat surprising) result.

Aleksandr Volkov is wearing what appears to be a stainless blue-faced watch on a black nylon / velcro strap on his right wrist.

Jean-Loup appears to be wearing an Omega Speedmaster on a thin black nylon / velcro strap on his left arm, just below the elbow.

If you look again at the photo of him juggling the weightless 'Speedy's, I suspect this is the left-most of those three floating watches.

Could it have been that there was only one Yema Spationaute III aboard 'Aragatz', and that both astronauts took turns at wearing it ?

That might possibly explain the vague statement in the Yema catalogue:

November, 1988 launch of Aragatz. On board, the Yema Spationaute III watch. (Not even claiming it was on J-L's wrist).

Was the watch actually on Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Volkov's wrist at take-off, rather than Jean-Loup Chrétien's ? Sacre Bleu !!

Many many years ago at school, I got a Grade A in O-Level French. However much as I may have loved the language, I never followed up after that, and my command of it has deteriorated even from 'schoolboy' level. Nowadays, I tend to fall back on Babelfish or Google for translating text, simply because it's quicker. But when one needs to transcribe and translate 10 seconds of spoken French, it's not quite so easy. So I enlisted the help of Dominique M. and a lovely French lady, Carla at work. They both wrote down slightly different variations, so having listened to the video a few times more, I give you my combined version of their efforts, from 1m 47s onwards:

http://boutique.ina.fr/video/CAB02046018/ja2-20h-emission-du-21-decembre-1988.fr.html

About 1 minute 47 seconds into the video, when interviewed, Jean-Loup can be heard to say something about having lost his watch.

Journaliste:  Vous rentrez à l’heure à la maison ? (allusion aux problèmes d’ordinateur de bord et de retard)

J-L Chrétien: Ah! c’est un peu tard. Mouah … je … tiens (il est surpris), j’ai perdu ma montre dans tout ça.

Journaliste:  Bah à part ça, comment vous sentez-vous actuellement sur votre chaise longue ?

J-L Chrétien: Ah bien, argh …

Reporter: You come back home on time ? (alluding to the fact they were 3 hours late due to an onboard computer malfunction)

Chrétien:  Ah! it’s a little bit late (?) I ... hold on (expression of surprise), I've lost my watch in all this. (but still smiling)

Reporter: Apart from that, how are you feeling (now you're actually sat) in your long reclining chair ?

Chrétien:  Oh, fine .... argh !

I've fallen behind in writing up this topic. I was hoping to finish it off last weekend, but something cropped up. 

As it happens, I'm still (im)patiently waiting for a couple more photos, which may (or not) yet materialize, and so, he writes stalling ....

My first trivia post # 1 – a short* musical interlude. 

When I uploaded that photo of Jean-Loup playing his portable keyboard aboard Mir, in my second post, I was tempted to make a quip, comparing him to the French composer and keyboardist Jean-Michel Jarre, another of their national icons. But apparently Jean-Loup is actually an accomplished church organ player, amongst his other abilities.

It would seem that his fellow Russian cosmonauts aboard Sozuz TM-7 had more eclectic tastes in music ....

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_TM-7 and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicate_Sound_of_Thunder 

The crew took with them a cassette of Pink Floyd's newly-released live album Delicate Sound of Thunder (minus the cassette box, for weight reasons) and played it in orbit; this was claimed by David Gilmour to have been the first rock music recording in space. The tape was left on Mir when the mission crew returned to Earth.

Delicate Sound of Thunder became the first rock album to be played in space, as Soviet cosmonauts took it aboard Soyuz TM-7. They left the cassette box on Earth to save weight. The members of Pink Floyd were present at the launch. The double LP was also the band's only album to be officially released in the Soviet Union by the state-owned label Melodiya.

A subsequent Pink Floyd ‘road movie’, produced 10 years later in 1998, had the alternate title: Pink Floyd: Still First in Space

*I was chilling to a bit of Floyd last Sunday evening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViEOGiRrhSs - except it's not exactly short ! 

My second, albeit somewhat more relevant  post. As mentioned earlier, I'd recently signed up to a French space forum. 

There's loads of information on there, once you get into it, and using Google Chrome to translate into English makes life easier.

Last week, I came across this old thread, dating back to June 2009 - asking a question in a similar vein to my own particular quest:

http://www.forum-conquete-spatiale.fr/t8179-ou-se-trouve-la-combinaison-de-jean-loup-chretien-portee-lors-de-la-mission-aragatz?

Où se trouve la combinaison de Jean-Loup Chrétien portée lors de la mission Aragatz ?

Where is Jean-Loup Chrétien's space-suit that he wore during the Aragatz mission ?

The first post roughly translates the as:

In March 2009, a space-suit was shown at the Book Fair in Turin. According to the sign, this was the suit worn by Jean-Loup Chrétien during the 1988 Soyuz TM-7 mission, in December 1988. Who loaned it, and where is it normally kept on display ? 

There are more, better quality images on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/famillesebile/sets/72157612452338219/with/7170527071/

Here's 3 from that set:

Here's an original Aragatz mission patch (courtesey www.spacepatches.nl):

The original artwork by the late French artist and designer, Didier Bécet, from which it was produced (courtesey www.spacefacts.de):

Some time last year, and quite 'incroyable', if it was indeed the genuine article, I came across a square tin box for sale on LeBonCoin.

It purported to contain unopened crew rations from the 1988 Soyuz TM-7 / Mir 'Aragatz' mission. There were various unidentifiable packages and what appeared to be a white serviette or napkin with the Aragatz mission logo printed on, which caught my attention.

At the time, I did email the French seller, but typically received no response to my enquiry. 

Unfortunately, I seem to have omitted to save the photo(s) from that advertisment, which has long since disappeared into the ether. 

It was something like this, but in otherwise plain (but labelled) packages, and I'm sure it was in a tin (or aluminium) box:

http://www.cnes-observatoire.net/site_0305/contributions/contrib_2009/contrib_alimentarium_contrib.htm

Of course, all I was really interested in was the napkin or serviette - for use as a photo back-drop.  Not the 24-year old rations. 

Anyway, thanks to the kindness of Joachim Becker of www.spacefacts.de ....

I now have a high resolution version of the Aragatz mission patch artwork, without their watermark nor the added black background. 

There is a slightly different hi-res version available online: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESAhistory/SEMH6RCUE1G_mg_74_s.html

Some of you may have noticed in the (full view) photos of Jean-Loup's space-suit, that it is 'holding' an envelope (actually wired to it).

It's a 'First Day Cover'. Like many young lads in the 1960's I was a budding stamp collector.

In the early days, most of my weekly pocket money went towards bankrolling Stanley Gibbons.

Later, as with any form of collecting, I realized the need to 'specialize' - which indeed I did - in British 'First day of issue' covers.

My own FDC collection was sold off many years ago - to a stamp dealer, but there's still a huge worldwide collecting community.

This was the first 'Aragatz' FDC that I came across on eBay a couple of years ago. I didn't buy it - just saved the eBay listing photo:

Here's the postage stamp - based on (and credited to) Didier Bécet's original artwork. Sadly Didier passed away in February this year.

See: http://www.autonewsinfo.com/2012/02/19/didier-becet-est-mort-un-artiste-nous-a-quitte-38765.html

The official 'La Poste' postcard:

Another first day cover design (note the respective positions of the flags have been incorrectly interposed) - signed by Didier Bécet:

What appears to be another photo of the same FDC, but with Jean-Loup Chrétien's autograph subsequently added:

Although neither signed by Bécet nor Chretien, this French 'philatelic document' is very likely the most expensive 'stamp' collectible.

See: http://www.ussr-airspace.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=24_54_123&products_id=2076

N° 760 of a French Philatelic Association limited edition of 1700. Five of such Documents were placed on board

Soyuz TM-7 with the Soviet-French crew and on board MIR were cancelled with round French onboard stamp.

These two different FDC designs appeared on eBay France a couple of weeks ago:

Must have been a 'nostalgia' thing, but I bought the lower design - thinking about how to use it in a photo with my Yema Spationaute III.

Getting back to the all-important photos (of J-L Chrétien and Volkov wearing Yema Spationaute III's), which I'm hoping may materialize. 

I was going to enquire if videocosmos.com could supply anything. It actually appears to be a US-owned concern, rather than Russian. 

According to this page: http://www.videocosmos.com/plib2.shtm they have 19 images from Soyuz TM-7 / Mir mission 4 (a.k.a Aragatz).

But nothing has been updated on their website since 2007. However, before I emailed them, I first looked at their pricing structure ....

http://www.videocosmos.com/pprices.shtm Still Images $60 - $150 based on Common or Premium. 

So, nice as it may have been to see a better quality photo of the 3 cosmonauts as they were about to board, I've decided to pass. 

Besides, I'm rather doubtful as to whether one would be better able to identify the watches they were wearing just before the launch. 

If you watch this JT Antenne 2 newsreel footage of the Soyuz TM-7 launch on 26th November 1988 (from approx. 03:35 to 03:50):

http://boutique.ina.fr/video/CAB02042120/ja2-20h-emission-du-26-novembre-1988.fr.html 

.... although it must be around 3:00pm local time, it's already very dark. So all the press photos were taken using flash guns. 

Instead, in the hope they might contain some useful photos, I bought a couple of old issues of Paris Match on eBay - for 3 Euros each.

There were two which I thought might yield something, firstly issue N° 2070, dated 26th January, 1989, which carried the headline ....

EXCLUSIF JEAN-LOUP CHRETIEN "MES PHOTOGRAPHIES DE L'ESPACE" - 22 pages que vous n'oubliez pas.

Jean-Loup had taken aboard with him a Minox 35 GT  - then the world's smallest 35mm camera.

Unfortunately, most of his spectacular photos published in this 22-page feature were of Earth - taken during his 5h 57m EVA.

So, a bit of a disappointment, as far as I was concerned. I wasn't really expecting to see any 'wrist shots', anyway. But how about this ?

Yup - a grinning Aleksandr Volkov, taken aboard Mir, proudly showing off his Soviet-made Elektronika-5 LCD digital. 

The other copy of Paris Match I'd bought, issue N° 2063 dated 8th December 1988, promised even less. It was only a 4-page article.

I haven't got round to translating it, but it's basically a pre-launch interview, featuring Jean-Loup's young wife Amy and son François.

On pages 60 and 61, there is a double-page spread photo, captioned:

LE TENDRE AU-REVOIR D'AMY, SA FEMME AMERICAINE, ET DE FRANÇOIS, SON FILS, A JEAN-LOUP CHRETIEN.

It's too big for my scanner in its entirety, but shows his young family talking to Jean-Loup in a 'clean room' via microphones.

The image is grainy; there are reflections in the glass and Jean-Loup is only visible in the upper quarter of the right-hand page ....

But what is he wearing on his left wrist ?

Could it actually be the Yema Spationaute III, on its black nylon / velcro strap ? Note the light coloured lettering on the underside.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of Jean-Loup and his personal photos, I picked up this recent snippet from the french Conquête Spatiale forum:

http://www.forum-conquete-spatiale.fr/t14353-expo-photos-des-chretien-pere-et-fils#274491

The second poster's response in that thread roughly translates as: 

There are also photos taken by Jean-Loup Chrétien himself aboard Mir during his missions. Of course, this is mostly photos of aviation.

From 4th to 31st October, Jean-Loup Chrétien and his son Emmanuel (Manalo) are staging a joint exhibition of their photos:

See: http://www.paperblog.fr/5820209/exposition-transmission-jean-loup-et-manolo-chretien/

and: http://www.3i3s.org/lng_FR_srub_28_iart_476-Vernissage-exposition-Transmission-Jean-Loup-Manolo-Chre-.html

As I wrote earlier, unfortunately due to the events of last weekend, I'm a week behind in writing up this particular topic.

Although Jean-Loup seemed somewhat reluctant to reply to my emails, I hadn't entirely given up on this line of enquiry.

On the 22nd September, and also remembering his statement of surprise (on discovering the loss), after the Soyuz TM-6 landing ....

I emailed him asking:

Were there more than one of this particular watch onboard Mir, besides yours ? - i.e. was Volkov also given one by Yema ? 

Do you still have yours, or do you know what might have become of it afterwards (returned to Yema possibly) ?

No reply.

On 27th September, knowing he was due to fly to France on 29th, I him sent a chaser, asking if he could expand on his earlier replies.

On 28th September, I received this:

Each crew member got his watch. 

Mine is now at my son's. 

Jean-Loup CHRETIEN (USA)

Not quite the answer I was expecting, after my earlier hypotheses as to what might have become of his Yema Spationaute III.

For those of you following my Spationaute III space saga, more recently, there has been another rather surprising little development.

Subtitled: A tale of 3 Aleksandr's.

My quest for further clear images of Jean-Loup Chrétien or Aleksandr Volkov wearing the Yema Spationaute III had proven fruitless.

I'd emailed C.N.E.S. a few times, asking for help - both through their website and Flickr, to no avail - no acknowledgment nor response.

Despite my disparaging comments about videocosmos.com's dated-looking website, and my concerns about their charges for images,

I decided to 'eat humble pie' and try to contact them - to at least find out what suitable images they might have in their photo library.

The following day, I received a reply from videocosmos.com's owner Vladimir Semenov:

Yes, our website is still active, though not updated very often.

As to Soyuz TM-7 / Mir 'Aragatz' mission we have for now 43 images (all digitized,as well as original negatives).

Our standard procedure and rates (Photo Library) are as follows ....

.... Rate for the images - $100-250 per image depending on the planned circulation for the publication.

From the 19 stated on their website, videocosmos.com's 'Aragatz' image count had more than doubled since 2007 (or whenever their website was last updated), but their price per image had increased somewhat. Undeterred, I swallowed hard, and decided to follow up.

Before I go any further, I need to refer back to Jean-Loup's very brief statement in his last email: Each crew member got his watch.

'Crew' implies that 3 such Yema Spationaute III's were supplied to: Jean-Loup Chrétien, Aleksandr Volkov and Sergei Krikalev.

We've already seen clear photos of Jean-Loup wearing his aboard Mir, and Volkov wearing another at Soyuz TM-7 post-landing.

I have searched, trying many varied sources, to find any kind of photo showing Sergei Krikalev wearing one - without success.

Indeed, I get the general impression that he preferred to go 'bare-wristed' - certainly when he was aboard Mir, at least.

But, as with all Soviet space missions, there was also a 'back-up' crew for the 1988 Soyuz TM-7 'Aragatz' mission, comprising:

Aleksandr Serebrov, Aleksandr Viktorenko and Michel Tognini, the French astronaut, who was later to fly on the 'Antares' mission. 

('Antares' was the next Franco-Russian Soyuz TM-15 / Mir misson in 1992, for which Yema produced a 7T32-based chronograph).

All three of these 'back-up' cosmonauts went through the exact same training programme as the 'primary' crew, at Star City in 1988.

Aleksandr(s) Serebrov and Viktorenko subsequently flew (2 crew only) on the next Soyuz TM-8 mission to Mir in September 1989.

So, on Wednesday this week, I wrote back to Vladimir Semenov, explaining exactly what I was looking for: i.e. close-up photos of any of the 'Aragatz' crew members wearing the Yema Spationaute III. I included a link to C.N.E.S. image # P14705, and also attached a couple of other very small photos, as examples, which might prove fruitful in larger image sizes, and one of my own 'mission flags dial' watch.

In his original reply to my email, Vladimir had laid out videocosmos.com's normal methods of business / modus operandi:

After we get a request from the customer (exact description of the images required) - we send them via Internet low res images for selection.

After the selection of necessary images is done - we request 100 % advance payment for the rights and as soon as our bank confirms the payment, images are sent to the customer in digital form (no less than 300 dpi) on CD-DVD discs (Customer's mailing address and FedEx account required).

Although not stated in the above, the images they send out on CD / DVD are in the old TIFF graphics format, rather than JPEG files.

Yesterday, Vladimir replied again:

Interesting question....

So, out of 43 images on Soyuz TM-7 we found only 2 where you could see something, possibly of interest to you. While those images are of a high resolution, the watches are not very visible - have a look yourself. 2 images in a low res. and high res. crop from them, of the watches.

I won't bore you with all the details*, but as it turned out, both Vladimir and myself were mistaken in our assessment of the two photos.

There was actually only one 'suitable' image, for which I am deeply indebted to Vladimir for supplying (regardless of the low resolution),

.... and I can now only humbly apologise for my earlier desparaging comments about his 'out-dated-looking' videocosmos.com website.

Behind that dated facade, there obviously lies a wealth of rare and valuable research material, for those willing to pay the asking price.

That photograph was not taken in space, but in the Mir training module at Star City. The lack of clutter (compared to the real Mir space station's central core, being the obvious giveaway). Standing, in the green TK-2 training suit is Aleksandr Serebrov. In the orange suit, squatting near the docking hatch, is Aleksandr Viktorenko. Seated left, holding a manual, is Mir's research doctor, Valery Polyakov.

*As Polyakov had returned to earth (from Mir) on Soyuz TM-7 on April 27, 1989 and Serebrov flew on Soyuz TM-8 on 5th September,

then correctly speaking this image is of Soyuz TM-8 training, rather than TM-7 (for which Serebrov had been one of the back-up crew).

Although it might not be obvious from that small photo, Aleksandr Serebrov is wearing a Yema Spationaute III. The small crop from the hi-res image, showing the watch in close-up, which Vladimir also kindly included in his email, was like the original scan, in TIF format.

Unfortunately Photobucket doesn't support TIF files, so I had to convert it to JPEG format to post it, resulting in some loss of resolution:

The image may be grainy (it's rather better in the original TIF format - the file size is 3x larger), but it's clearly a Yema Spationaute III, on a black nylon / velcro NASA-style strap and once again, from the red area in the upper part, also has the 'twin mission flags' dial.

I thanked Vladimir for sending it, but also told him it wasn't actually any better a close-up shot of the watch, than that of Jean-Loup wearing his, in the C.N.E.S. image # P14705 in my second post. I felt guilty in a way, for haven taken up his time - and I must say now,

I am deeply indebted to Vladimir Semenov of videocosmos, for nudging me off my original intended course - onto another trajectory. 

So, instead of vainly searching for more images of J-L Chrétien or Volkov wearing the watch, I started looking for Aleksandr Serebrov.

I'm not sure why I headed for www.spacepatches.nl first, instead of www.spacefacts.de but they didn't entirely disappoint. 

I went to their Soyuz TM-8 / Mir EO-5 'Vityaz' page, rather than the customary Soyuz TM-7 / Mir EO-4 'Aragatz'.

These two small images are at the top of that page:

Left: Aleksandr Viktorenko (left) and Aleksandr Serebrov (right) in their training Sokols.

Right: Serebrov and Viktorenko in their TK-2 training suits. (Respective positions interposed)

Hard to discern properly, from the small grainy R.H. photo, but Serebrov is wearing a stainless watch on a black nylon strap ....

with White lettering on the underside, which from what I've seen previously in other images, more than likely spells out  Y E M A.

Convinced I was onto something, I switched Google's search engines to hyper-warp drive, and to searching in Russian cyrillic text.

It's not too difficult to do, all you need do is copy and paste the target in Russian. Just don't select the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' option !

When searching for images of cosmonauts in training, where better than www.gctc.ru - the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre ?

The original hi-res image available on www.gctc.ru is 1200x1200 pixels. Typically, Photobucket has reduced the size to 1024 pixels.

Zooming in on the original photo, his Yema Spationaute III is quite sharp - you can even make out the outlines of the three sub-dials.

I need to find more time, later, to navigate around the rest of this Russian website. I suspect there are further such gems to be found.

For quickness' sake, earlier this afternoon, I then flicked over to http://www.spacefacts.de and their Soyuz TM-8 / Mir EO-5 pages.

There you can find a smaller version of the same photo above, but also this official pre-launch photo of the Soyuz TM-8 2-man crew:

Again, Aleksandr Serebrov is wearing the Yema Spationaute III on his left wrist, but on what appears to be a normal leather strap.

Aleksandr Viktorenko is wearing a stainless digital LCD watch, similar to that worn by Volkov in his Soyuz TM-7 pre-launch photos.

As with Sergei Krikalev, I haven't yet had any success finding photos of Aleksandr Viktorenko wearing a Yema Spationaute III (at all).

I hadn't given up on him either, but moved on to the third member of the Soyuz TM-7 back-up crew - French astronaut Michel Tognini.

Whereas the other two Soyuz TM-7 back-up cosmonauts Aleksandr(s) Serebrov and Viktorenko, flew on the next Soyuz TM-8 mission,

Michel Tognini wasn't to fly with the Intercosmos programme until nearly 3 years later in July 1992 on Soyuz TM-15; his first spaceflight.

If you've researched the Yema Spationaute family of watches, then you'll already know that the Soyuz TM-15 mission was code-named 'Antares' and that Yema (C.G.H.) produced a Seiko 7T32 (a.k.a. Yema Y182) based quartz chronograph to commemorate the mission.

I've possibly posted this period Yema advert elsewhere on the forum, incorrectly captioned as 1989, but it actually dates from 1992.

Bottom row, outside are the Spationaute III and 1989 Flygraf. Top row, centre is the 7T32 Antares. The remainder are N945 based.

There are plenty of photos of Michel Tognini wearing the Yema Antares onboard Mir - on a wide white nylon / velcro strap, like this:

.... and video footage of Michel wearing it here: http://videotheque.cnes.fr/index.php?urlaction=doc&id_doc=14893

However, I wasn't expecting it to be quite so easy to find photos of him wearing a Yema Spationaute III. How wrong I was, it turns out.

Not in his official Soyuz TM-7 'Aragatz' back-up crew photo from 1988 ....

But courtesey of www.spacefacts.de, in the official Soyuz TM-15 crew 'walkout' photos (Michel Tognini left), presumably taken in 1992 !

The Spationaute III Michel is wearing appears to be fitted a 'double jonc' black leather strap, rather than the nylon / velcro NASA style.

So far, we have clear pictorial evidence of Jean-Loup Chrétien, Aleksandr(s) Volkov and Serebrov and Michel Tognini all wearing the Yema Spationaute III - but only Jean-Loup actually wearing it in space - aboard Mir. Taking what Jean-Loup wrote in his recent email: 'Each crew member got his watch' in its broadest sense, if we now also include the three members of the Soyuz TM-7 back-up crew, then there probably were 6 (not just 3) of these prototype Yema Spationaute III's produced, with the hand-painted 'mission flags' dial.

I am still a country mile away from proving that my watch contains the dial from any of them, let alone one that has flown in space.

But I don't give up easily, as you'll see when you turn to the next page ....

Belated edit, 19th October 2012:

Indeed, by my own subsequent efforts, I have come pretty close to proving that it most likely isn't, but just another factory prototype.