I can remember the moment that the rabbit hole opened for me, and the Seiko 6139 Pogue Chronograph was the key that unlocked it. It was 2015 and I was googling watches as I wanted to upgrade from my Fossil. I had no idea there were watch forums, or strange ‘watch people’ out there, so I was flying blind. By chance I stumbled across a picture of a Pogue that made me say YES! And I’ve been in the Seiko rabbit hole ever since.

What is it about this Seiko 6139 Pogue Chronograph that sets it apart? Take your pick: The dial? Golden sunburst that catches the light a thousand ways, changing from mustard to sunflower depending on the angle. It’s a dial I can stare at for ages. The movement? The 6139A was reportedly the first automatic column wheel chrono, pipping Zenith to the post, with the earliest ones I know of dated Jan’69 and reports of production runs much earlier. The crown? What can’t all crowns be like this? It sets the time, it rotates the inner bezel, it quicksets the date and it quicksets the day. I’d be impressed with that today let alone in a 50-year-old watch. And a little-known fact: the radio button on the 2019 Peugeot 208 is based on the 6139’s crown. Yes, it really is!

The history? In Nov’73 Bill Pogue ‘snuck’ his 6139 aboard Skylab 4 in his pocket making it the first automatic chrono in space, something that nobody picked up on for about 30 years. He had bought it with $71.50 of his own money from the PX store on base (and paid in installments, just how crappily did astronauts get paid FFS!) to use in his training as astronauts weren’t issued their Omega watch until much nearer launch. Yes, I know mine isn’t a ‘proper’ Pogue… that’s a 6005 from Sept’71 and mine’s a 6002 from Mar’77, and if you want to get picky the actual Pogue has got service replacement sweep and sub-dial hands too. Couldn’t give a Paul Carter’s murdered rats arse to be honest.