As watches go, the 242T has story and lineage and charm — in fact, it deserves to rank alongside the Rolex Daytona and Omega Speedmaster as one of the great sporting chronographs of the 1960s.
Also, like the Speedmaster, the 242T was most likely submitted to NASA for the Qualification Test Procedures. Several of the great watch manufactures — Omega, Bulova, Wittnauer, and Rolex, to name a few — submitted watches for consideration in the Apollo space program. They were subjected to rigorous trials that pushed the watches to the very limit of their endurance. And though it was the Speedy that was ultimately selected for official NASA use, the 242T has come to enjoy beloved status amongst chronograph collectors worldwide for its unique looks, excellent proportions, and utilitarian design.
This particular 242T features a 38mm stainless steel case with barrel pushers, an acrylic crystal, and an unsigned crown. Its signature feature is the classic 242T dial: matte black with tritium lume and a matching handset with a three-register chronograph layout and a wildly cool chapter ring in decimal time, which breaks a 24-hour day into 10 decimal hours consisting of 100 decimal minutes, each comprised of 100 decimal seconds. This feature was useful in aviation, and is fairly rare in chronographs, making the 242T unique.
Powered by the legendary Valjoux 72 manually-wound chronograph movement, this piece comes fitted to a well-suited, perforated Ralstra International rallye-style leather strap.
Why get a run-of-the-mill chronograph when you can spring for something this special?