Sorry that I have been inactive on the blog over the week plus, as I had been travelling deep in the jungles of Borneo and the monsoon season made communication a bit of a challenge. But I'm back to civilisation now, and would start off the entry with a bit of a Seiko trivia.
Did you know that the late Bruce Lee was also a Seiko fan, and that he was also a modder of sorts? Well, perhaps just on the surface, with a change to the bracelet so as to differentiate from the masses; but a mod's a mod. His was a Seiko Speed Timer model no. 6139-6010.
Officially released as Seiko Speed Timer in 1969, the model was later nicknamed as Seiko Pogue when Colonel Pogue of NASA fame purchased a 6139-6002 "Pepsi" for USD71 on 13/7/1972, and wore it during the NASA Skylab 4 mission. It was later auctioned off in 2008 for USD5,975 to raise funds towards the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
The official NASA-issued timepiece was Omega Speedmaster; but as Colonel Pogue was more familiar on his own Seiko chronograph, he tucked his own Speed Timer into his pocket and used it during the mission. So while Omega Speedmaster was worn on his left arm, he had his own Seiko Speed Timer on his right arm. It was a bit of a shame then that he did not have a spare NASA-issued Nato long strap to pair to the Seiko; otherwise he could have brought it out for the EVA spacewalk along with the Omega.
So there you have it- if you were a Bruce Lee fan, and a space enthusiast, you could add a Seiko Pogue into your collection and without breaking the bank too.
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