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ABOARD THE FIRST CONCORDE

1969

ABOARD THE FIRST CONCORDE

In 1969, a new aircraft was unveiled for a new age – the Concorde SST. Extreme precision was required to meet the needs of this extraordinarily fast plane during its test flight programme. Therefore, mounted in the cockpit panels of this prototype supersonic jet, were nine OMEGA instruments used to measure time.

After successful testing of the Concorde, OMEGA time measuring instruments were made standard components for several Concordes built until the fleet was retired in 2003. Many of the Concorde crew also chose to wear OMEGA watches to keep accurate time close at hand. One of those was Captain John Hackett, the first person to pilot Concorde over the Atlantic Ocean. He wore the same model of OMEGA Speedmaster that was flight-qualified by NASA for its manned space missions.

John Hackett’s watch can be seen at the OMEGA Museum
OMEGA instruments on the cockpit panel of the Concorde
OMEGA time measuring instruments used in the Concorde
The story of Omega