Michel Tognini's Yema Spationaute III flown on Antares mission

[Seiko7A38]

I've already covered the subject of Michel Tognini's Yema Spationaute III, as far back as December 2017 (and earlier), as part of my comprehensive research, but as something of an afterthought / sub-topic, on the third page of a thread on the old archived forum: What became of Jean-Loup Chretien's Yema Spationaute III ? There was absolutely no doubt (from numerous period photos in the public domain) that Michel had worn the watch almost continuously from when he was given it (as a member of the Aragatz back-up crew) in December 1988 through July 1992, prior to being issued with his official Yema Antares mission watch. The nagging question remained: had it ever ever actually been 'space flown'.

Having carefully studied footage from a couple of CNES videos, I spotted Michel was wearing what appeared to be his Yema Spationaute III while piloting the recovery helicopter post landing - or at least the familiar 'double jonc' leather strap that he wore it on at the time. Further searching of the CNES' photo gallery yielded this photo, which clearly shows the Michel wearing the watch on his right wrist, while being presented with the traditional bread and salt:

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I emailed Michel at the time and as always, he courteously responded to my query. Indeed here's his reply embedded in my last post of the old forum thread:

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[Seiko7A38]

Judging by my last sentence, I was sufficiently convinced. However, not wishing to cast any doubts or aspersions on Michel's statements, there were possibly a couple of slight discrepancies in his memory of events 25 years earlier, viz.: "Yes indeed that was right after landing" and "I put that one on the top of my space suit during reentry and landing."

That 'homecoming celebration' photo wasn't taken right after landing, because Michel had since flown the recovery helicopter to another site, where he was presented with the traditional bread and salt. Also, his Yema Spationaute III was fitted with that 'double jonc' leather strap, which certainly wouldn't have stretched around the girth of his space suit. Here's a photo of Michel still wearing his Sokol suit, taken immediately post landing on 20th August 1992.

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Michel is wearing the obligatory Omega Speedmaster and his Antares mission watch (or at least its broad white YEMA logo'd velcro strap can be seen) on his left wrist. But there's no sign in that photo of the other two watches he was wearing - his Breitling Chronomat and Yema Spationaute III.

[Seiko7A38]

Some of you may have already read this recent Hodinkee article about watches that have gone into space:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/think ... e-to-space

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It's an interview with Robert Jackson, owner and co-compiler of the Watches used in space exploration database. Naturally I checked their entries for the various missions to Mir where the Yema Spationaute III was worn and frankly was rather disappointed with what little they've recorded so far (compared to past research I've documented myself).

For example, starting with the Soyuz TM-7 (Mir Aragatz) mission in December 1988, only Jean-Loup Chrétien is credited with wearing the Yema Spationaute III (besides an Omega Speedmaster):

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Aleksandr Volkov is credited with only wearing an Elektronika 5 and Sergei Krikalev with nothing at all, yet both can be seen wearing Spationaute III's post landing / recovery. Plus there's that superb photo of Volkov boarding the shuttle bus.

I was surprised to find that they'd picked up Alexandr Serebrov on Soyuz TM-8:

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But conversely have nothing documented for Musa Manarov on Soyuz TM-11.

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Which brings me to Michel Tognini's watches worn on Soyuz TM-15 (Mir Antares). I guess 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

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Their embedded thumbnail of Michel's Breitling Chronomat appears to have been cropped from this Getty Images photo:

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[Seiko7A38]

It was their omission of Michel's Yema Spationaute III, worn on Soyuz TM-15 (or more correctly worn on his return flight on TM-14), which prompted me to revisit this last week. I spent (if not wasted) a couple more hours checking I hadn't missed anything previously. In the only photos I could find of him aboard Mir, he was wearing his Yema Antares and Breitling Chronomat, both on those broad white velcro straps, with their boldly emblazoned manufacturers' logos.

Here's a photo of Michel still wearing his Sokol suit, taken immediately post landing on 20th August 1992. But there's no sign in that photo of the other two watches he was wearing - his Breitling Chronomat and Yema Spationaute III.

I'd almost given up searching when I stumbled across another photo on Getty Images ©, taken immediately post landing / recovery on 20th August 1992, that somehow I'd managed to overlook before:

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On Michel's right wrist (where it remained for the subsequent helicopter flight and bread and salt presentation), almost completely hidden under his inner thermal suit cuff and the Breitling velcro strap is Michel's Yema Spationaute III. So he did wear it for his return flight, but under his Sokol suit.