Description
ZENITH EL PRIMERO STRATOS FLYBACK STRIKING 10TH CHRONOGRAPH WRISTWATCH
Maker: Zenith
Model: El Primero 'Stratos'
Reference: 03.2062.4057/69.R515
Date: 2012 (Serial number: 1814**) - Unworn
Movement: Automatic, cal.4057 B, 50 hours power reserve
Dial: Silver sunray, black outer rim, three coloured subsidiary dials (grey, black, blue), polished hands and faceted indexes with luminous fill, red centre seconds hand, date aperture at the 6 o'clock position
Case: Steel, screw down case back with Stratos Mission logo, unidirectional bezel with ceramic insert, screw down crown
Strap: Rubber, steel double deployment clasp.
Size: 45.5mm
Accompaniments: Full set - Box, warranty card (in leather pouch), instruction and warranty book/booklet, leather tag, Stratos mission gilt metal medallion
Provenance: Gifted to the current owner by Stratos sponsor Red Bull, for the part she played in the momentous Felix Baumgartner's freefall Stratos mission. The watch is unworn and presented as a full set as gifted.
As the global communications manager, she was responsible for ensuring that millions saw Felix’s history-making jump all over the world.
Working with the project for three years, she followed the Stratos team to Austria, Red Bull’s HQ, and later to Roswell - New Mexico, where the final jump took place.
ABOUT PROJECT:
In 2012, daredevil Felix Baumgartner took on the impossible: the Red Bull Stratos mission. With his Zenith on his wrist, Felix Baumgartner plunged into the stratosphere from a space capsule lifted by a helium balloon. During the free-fall, Felix Baumgartner reached a record speed of 1,342 km an hour.
The launch was originally scheduled for 9 October 2012 but was aborted due to adverse weather conditions. Launch was rescheduled and took place on 14 October 2012. Baumgartner landed in eastern New Mexico after jumping from a then world-record 38,969.4 metres (127,852 ft), falling a record distance of 36,402.6 metres (119,431 feet) and parachuting the final 2,566.7 metres (8,421 feet).
During this descent Baumgartner set the record for fastest speed of free fall at 1,357.6 km/h (843.6 mph), making him the first human to break the sound barrier without mechanical intervention. Baumgartner was in free fall for 4 minutes and 19 seconds, a fall time 17 seconds shorter than the record set during his mission mentor Joseph Kittinger's jump on 16 August 1960.
A giant balloon, as tall as the Statue of Liberty when fully inflated and with a capacity of approximately 850,000 m³ (30 million cu ft), carried Felix inside a capsule to an altitude of 38,969.4 m (127,852 ft).
The balloon had around 5,097 m³ (180,000 cu ft) of helium inserted by the crew prior to its launch. This was enough helium for lift off, but did not fill the balloon envelope to capacity because they needed to leave space to allow the helium to expand while the balloon rose. As the air pressure decreased with the balloon's rising altitude, the helium inside it expanded, eventually filling the entire envelope to its full capacity of approximately 850,000 m³ (30 million ft³) at jump altitude.
The helium-filled balloon took Felix on his two-hour journey into the stratosphere. The danger of the event was emphasised by the fact that the "live" broadcast had a built-in delay, allowing the public to be spared a gruesome spectacle in the event of tragedy. After the long tension-building ascent, Felix could be heard running through the checklist with Col Kittinger and telling of the unexpected fogging of his visor. This issue was resolved quickly.
After depressurising the capsule – the point of no return – Felix perched on its ledge for a few final moments before making his death-defying, multiple record-breaking leap to Earth. "I'm going home now," he said. He started 99,000 ft higher than Mount Everest and it took him just 9:09 minutes to get back to Earth.
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