Zenith Pilot Montre D Aeronef Automatic Black Dial Brown Leather Men's Watch 872430405421C721

HODINKEE - 15 October 2012

Add one more record to the list of those broken this afternoon when Felix Baumgartner stepped out of a pressurized capsule at nearly 128,000 feet and became the first human to freefall at Mach 1. Strapped to his wrist, outside of his spacesuit, was the Zenith Stratos Flyback Striking 10th, making it the first wristwatch to be exposed to such a velocity outside of an air- or spacecraft. This is officially the fastest watch in the world.
With this feat, the Stratos joins an elite list of legendary "space" watches, such as the Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute and the Omega Speedmaster Professional. During the lead up to Baumgartner's "mission to the edge of space," we got our hands on one of these highly capable watches.
Nowadays, there aren't a lot of high-end sports watches that are proven in real world conditions or used as standard equipment (Richard Mille and the Rolex DeepSea Sea Dweller notwithstanding). They're typically just strapped on at the end of a tennis match or given a limited edition engraved caseback. But Zenith was confident enough in its Stratos Flyback Striking 10th to strap one on to Baumgartner's arm and to expose it to the harsh environment and shock waves of a supersonic skydive from 24 miles high.

The watch Baumgartner wore was a stock Stratos Flyback, with the exception of a solid caseback in place of the transparent sapphire back. The caseback of this edition features an engraving of Baumgartner in his space helmet and commemorative text around the outer edge. Zenith has told us that this is not a limited edition watch.
The Stratos Flyback Striking 10th features Zenith's vaunted high-frequency El Primero self-winding calibre with foudryante complication, capable of timing events to 1/10th of a second, thanks to a center seconds hand that traverses the dial once every ten seconds. It is the first Striking 10th to feature a flyback complication, allowing for one-touch resetting and restarting of the chronograph. The dial is virtually identical to the standard El Primero Striking 10th, with the trademark tri-color subdials that echo the original El Primero A386 from 1969. The Stratos case is 14mm thick, 45.5mm across, and features a chunky uni-directional ratcheting timing bezel with a ceramic insert. The chronograph pushers are rectangular and low-profile, providing protection for the screw-down crown nestled between them. This is one big watch and it wears heavy, even on a strap?

Speaking of straps, the Stratos Flyback "Tribute to Felix Baumgartner" has two available options. The first is an excellent thick black rubber strap with fitted steel endlinks (which provide a flush fit to the case) and a foldover deployant clasp. The deployant has a pushbutton closure and a small foldout extension that allows the watch to fit over your wrist - but certainly not enough for a spacesuit sleeve. For that, you'd need the extra-long nylon hook-and-loop strap that Zenith is not selling as an option, since, presumably, there isn't a huge market requiring that kind of wear.
Most members of the Red Bull Stratos project team were wearing their watches on the three-link steel bracelet, with polished center links and double pushbutton deployant clasp. We didn't get our hands on this one, but one can imagine the heft of that configuration. A third strap option is a lovely wide alligator strap fitted with the same steel endlinks as the rubber strap. The gator strap is actually standard on the non-Baumgartner version of the watch, but can be ordered separately as well?

The Stratos Flyback Striking 10th Tribute to Felix Baumgartner is brimming with technology and refinement, yet it comes in under $10,000. On the rubber strap, the price is $9,200, though if you opt for the steel bracelet, you'll move into five figures at $10,400. Sure, that's a lot of money, but for an innovative manufacture column wheel flyback foudryante chronograph movement, it may be the best value haute horlogerie watch on earth in addition to the fastest. For more information on the watch and the mission click here.