Rolex X-Files
The Right Stuff
Rolex Daytona & Rolex GMT-Master
Nick Gould's recent surprise discovery of NASA Apollo Astronaut Wally Schirra wearing a Rolex Daytona took me by surprise.
I was taking with Nick about the other NASA Apollo 7 Astronaut who wore a 'Paul Newman' Rolex Daytona which was Walter Cunningham. Cunningham's 1966 Rolex Daytona [Reference 6239] is pictured below in a photo from when it was auctioned by Christie's Auction House back in 2013 for 245,000 CHF.
Walter Cunningham is pictured below wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master. It is fascinating to note two NASA Apollo 7 team members were not only both named Walter (Schirra & Cunningham) but both also wore a Pepsi GMT-Master and a Rolex Daytona!?!! I mean, what are the odds??? Reality really is stranger than fiction!?!!
Walter Cunningham's 1970 Pepsi GMT-Master [Reference 1665] was sold by Sotheby's on October 19, 2007 for $10,000 and it is pictured below.
Walter Cunningham joined the U.S. Navy in 1952 and went on to become a fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1953 to 1956, where he flew a total of 54 missions in Korea as a night fighter. He went on to get a PhD in physics from UCLA and worked for the RAND Corporation before he was selected to become a NASA Astronaut.
The official NASA caption for the image below reads: "Apollo 7 astronauts (l-r) Walter Cunningham, Donn F. Eisele, and Walter M. Schirra, Jr., compare notes at a mission debriefing conducted today at the Kennedy SpaceCenter. October 23, 1968. Notice Apollo 7 Astronaut Wally Schirra is wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master.
This next photo was also taken on October 23, 1968 shows Wally Schirra with fellow Apollo 7 Astronaut, Walter Cunningham, and we see Schirra rockin' his GMT-Master.
