By April 1972, the US https://www.rmuhren.de/produkt-Sammlungen/rm-22/ and the Soviet-Union signed an agreement to start work on https://www.apmontres.cz/Collection/royal-oak-offshore/ a joint Apollo-Soyuz spaceflight mission. Since that time, several https://www.rmmontres.com/Collection/rm-59/ astronauts and cosmonauts had visited Switzerland and Omega's technical manager Hans Widmer invited several cosmonauts to the Omega headquarters in Bienne. By 1974, Russian cosmonauts started wearing several Omega models, among which were the Flightmaster and the Speedmaster Mark III self-winding chronograph.