Introducing: A Watch With Mars Ambitions

A successful Mars colony starts right here on Earth, and the AMADEE-20 mission put on by the Austrian Space Forum with support from the Israel Space Agency is part of the effort. The mission takes place in Israel's Negev Desert; it's an "analog" mission, but that doesn't mean the "analog astronauts" aren't using digital tools, it simply means that the experiment uses an Earthly environment to simulate the environment elsewhere. In this case, the Negev Desert stands in for the Martian landscape. There's also a non-digital "analog" element to the mission, and that's the Fortis watch made in its honor. The 44m titanium Fortis AMADEE-20 chronograph will be issued to a number of analog astronauts to be worn on the mission. The watch is specifically designed for space-faring duty, with an "MCB" (Mission Control Bezel) that allows for tracking time in ten-minute intervals by using a lumed PIP and triangle at the countdown-styled bezel's 50-minute marker. Fortis claims transmissions take about ten minutes to get from Earth to Mars, so theoretically, Martian explorers and settlers could track the time until the next communication with earth using the bezel. Additionally, there's an oversized 30-minute register at 12 o'clock for timing mission-critical tasks. The mission patch is applied at six o'clock to boost the esprit de corps , of course. The Spacefaring Roots of Fortis Sure, the Speedmaster may dominate the narrative when it comes to space watches. It went to the Moon, and it's still issued to astronauts today. But look outside the American space program, and you'll find that dozens of brands have a storied connection to space. Fortis is chief among them. In the same way that NASA elected Omega as its partner, the Russian Space Federation chose Fortis in 1994 to supply cosmonauts with timepieces to be used on missions. The "Official Cosmonauts Chronograph" has long been issued to cosmonauts at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City. Star City is located in Moscow's "Zvyozdny gorodok," a closed-off settlement that focuses on military and space testing and training. Shortly after the watch received its official designation, Cosmonauts wore it on Sojus TM-19, an all-rookie mission to Russia's Space Station Mir. Successive Fortis models have been a regular sight on the ISS in the years that followed. The AMADEE-20 is the first watch that's designed specifically for an Earth-bound research program. It's part of the vision of reviving the spacefaring legacy of the Fortis watches of yore put forth by Jupp Philipp, who purchased the brand in 2018 and re-launched it last year. AMADEE-20 and Applied Horology This October, the mission will kick off in the Negev Desert. The objective is to further the development of mission architectures, using the analog environment to gather information about the constraints and opportunities of future manned Mars missions. There are two parties involved in the execution of AMADEE-20: The crew at the Martian analog test site in Israel and Mission Support Center in Austria. The landscape of the test site in the Negev Desert closely mirrors the Vallis Marineris on Mars. For four weeks, six analog astronauts will focus on four key objectives established by the Austrian Space Forum: •Study equipment behavior involving the simultaneous deployment of instruments and robotic vehicles with humans-in-the-loop, including research-grade spacesuit simulators • Develop platforms for testing life-detection or geoscientific techniques, robotic support tools providing a high situational awareness • Catalyze the visibility of planetary exploration • Evolve the know-how of managing crewed missions to Mars by deploying a realistic Mission Support decision-making framework All six analog astronauts will be issued AMADEE-20 chronographs, including members from Mission Support in Innsbruck, Austria. Fortis has put together a spotlight on Anika Mehlis, one of the analog astronauts with a background in microbiology who will be delivering feedback to Fortis about the performance of the watch during the mission. Next Generation Space Watches The Fortis AMADEE-20 Chronograph occupies an interesting position when it comes to the intersection of space exploration and modern horology. Legacy standard-issue watches from NASA and ROSCOSMOS are one thing, like the Speedmaster, the Speedmaster X-33, the first Fortis Official Cosmonauts Chronograph, and the early Fortis B-42 model variants, but the AMADEE-20 is quite a different animal. It's a mission-specific watch developed in partnership with the Austrian Space Forum for eventual application on Mars. It's not a watch that was designed for one thing and co-opted for another like the Speedmaster (automobile racing and lunar exploration). Instead, the watch was built from the ground up with the end-user – an astronaut or cosmonaut – in mind. What this looks like in the case of the AMADEE-20 is a watch rich with thematic visual flourishings. Take the concentric half-rings on the right half of the dial, for instance. Those represent the orbit of Mars accounting for its axis. On the caseback, there's an engraving that reminds us that now that the Moon has been explored, Mars is "The Next Giant Leap." With the AMADEE-20, it's clear that Fortis is here to have fun with its new space watches. There's an edginess to the brand that it never had before. Just hover over the "Moon is so 20th century" text on the product website for proof. The AMADEE-20 features a 44mm full titanium case and Mission Control Bezel (MCB). The Sapphire Crystal features double-sided AR-Coating, and the crown employs a triple-gasket system for 200m of water resistance. The watch comes on a Titanium Block Bracelet, but included is a "Hook Strap" elastic strap designed to be worn on the outside of a spacesuit. Applied numerals and indexes are filled with Super-LumiNova. The movement inside is a UW-50 based on a Valjoux 7750. With hours, minutes, seconds, day-date, and chronograph functionality and 48 hours of power reserve. The watch is priced at CHF 3,600 and further information can be found here .How a flashy new Fortis is playing a small part in getting humankind to the red planet.