Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 11:29 am
I'd followed up with two more emails to William Le Calvez, to which I initially received no response. So I decided some well-deserved negative publicity was in order. I added my comments to a couple of existing threads on Forumamontres and Forum Conquête Spatiale. A few sympathetic replies were forthcoming, but the general consensus was that French auction houses were a law unto themselves. This morning I was considering sending an email to host auctioneers Drouot, lodging a formal complaint, when I finally received a reply from William Le Calvez. Evidently he already has my letter of authentication to hand and wanted my postal address.
Note the date of that quote - September 8th. Naturally, I immediately replied to Le Calvez's email, providing my postal address (which they should have had on record as the winning bidder). Then I waited another month - till 11th October, when it still hadn't arrived - so I sent them another chaser enquiring whether they'd actually posted it. I received a reply on the 14th from an employee of Le Calvez. Evidently they still hadn't mailed it, but were going that day !
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This morning the postman delivered a slightly soggy A4 envelope containing my certificate. It was postmarked 14-10-22.
Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:11 pm
Although Jean-Loup Chrétien seemed generally indifferent to the watch that had been specifically designed for his mission, preferring to wear the Omega Speedmaster, there were other French and Russian cosmonauts who evidently appreciated it. JLC's statement: 'Each crew member got his watch' sent me off on another tangent. It wasn't just the Soyuz TM-7 primary and back-up crews who received them, but certain 'long duration' Soviet cosmonauts aboard Mir who were photographed wearing them, so there must have been at least nine of these prototype versions produced.
Aleksandr Viktorenko.......Soyuz TM-7 back up-crew and Soyuz TM-8 (1989).
Unfortunately, during the course of my enquiries, I failed to track down a single Russian cosmonaut who still possessed their watch ....
R.I.P. Aleksandr Viktorenko
On sad note, I read on the French Conquete-Spatiale forum that another Mir-era Soviet cosmonaut has passed away recently. Aleksandr Viktorenko died on 10th August 2023 aged 76. Although he was Soyuz TM-7 back-up commander, I never managed to find a photo of him wearing a Yema Spationaute III; he seemed to prefer Russian-made LCD watches.
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He's pictured above left with his Soyuz TM-8 crew-mate, the late Aleksandr Serebrov, who's wearing his in this photo.
On a more cheerful note, I remembered that 20th August is Jean-Loup Chrétien's birthday. France's elder spaceman is 85 today. So I thought I'd wear his 1988 Aragatz mission flown Yema Spationaute III in his honour. Here's a slightly different photo to the one I posted in the WRUW thread. Bon Anniversaire, JLC !
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