World
08:56, 08-Oct-2017
All that glitters: Entrepreneur makes watches from space rocket debris
["other","Kazakhstan"]
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By CGTN's Michal Bardavid
In the wilds of central Kazakhstan, Patrick Hohmann is on the lookout for rocket debris.
With the idea of selling wristwatches made of "space-borne" material, Hohmann has been collecting the wreckage of space rockets crash-landed on the Kazakhstan steppe and transforming it into high-quality timepieces.
NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos both launch piloted Soyuz rockets from the Kazakh city of Baikonur. Its climate and distance from the equator make it perfect for launches. The debris falls about 700 kilometers away, in Zhezkesgan, Hohmann’s hunting ground.
Hohmann has faced a long research process to find the perfect method to melt the raw material, which he sends to Zurich for transformation into high-quality Swiss watches in Zurich. He plans to use different parts of the rocket for different watch models.
Hohmann has been backing the initiative with a crowd-funding campaign. In November 2017, his supporters will receive their watches, and be the first ones to wear "rocket debris" on their wrists.