Thomas Pesquet — watch collection

About Thomas Pesquet’s watch collection

Thomas Pesquet is a French engineer, pilot, and European Space Agency astronaut born in Rouen in 1978. After training as an Air France commercial pilot and logging thousands of flight hours, he was selected by ESA in 2009 as part of its astronaut class. He completed two long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station: Proxima (2016–17) and Alpha (2021), the latter of which he commanded — making him the first French commander of the ISS. Beyond spaceflight, Pesquet has become one of the most publicly visible ESA astronauts, known for his photography from orbit and his science communication work.

The Thomas Pesquet watch collection, as far as public sightings confirm, is built around a single, purpose-driven piece: the Omega Speedmaster Skywalker X-33. This titanium multi-function chronograph is the third-generation descendant of Omega's original X-33, developed in close collaboration with professional spaceflight crews in the 1990s. It features a solar-impulse movement, a polyamide LCD display alongside analog hands, and functions including mission elapsed time, universal time, multiple alarms, and a perpetual calendar — everything a working astronaut actually needs on orbit. Pesquet's connection to this watch is occupational rather than promotional; it is a certified crew instrument, not a gifted endorsement piece.

What the collection reflects, at least from what has been documented, is a straightforward prioritization of function over fashion. The Skywalker X-33 is a relatively niche reference within Omega's lineup — it sits outside the more commercially prominent Seamaster or Constellation families — and it rarely appears on red carpets or in style coverage. Spotting it on Pesquet is, in that sense, more technically interesting than most celebrity watch sightings: it is a reminder that the Speedmaster's original identity was always about utility, and that lineage is still very much alive in active service.