Yasha Jackson wears a Hamilton Ventura

In 1957 the Hamilton Ventura was about as close to the future as a wristwatch came. It was the world's first electric watch, powered by a battery instead of a mainspring, and Richard Arbib shaped the case to match: an asymmetric shield with every line swept back. Elvis Presley wore one in Blue Hawaii four years later.

That makes it an odd, fitting choice for a film about NASA. Space Cadet (2024), Liz Garcia's comedy, follows Rex Simpson (Emma Roberts), a Florida bartender who bluffs her way into NASA astronaut training on a faked resume. Yasha Jackson plays Grace Jackson, one of the recruits, and the watch on her wrist is the Ventura XXL Auto, reference H24655331, the oversized automatic version of the 1957 original: a 46mm case in stainless steel, black dial, red second hand, water-resistant to 50 meters, about 1,845 dollars. Hamilton lists the film on the watch's product page and names the character and the actress, which brands rarely do.

Everyone in Space Cadet is chasing space, and the recruits' last test is a two-week Mars habitat simulation. The most futuristic object in any of it is also the oldest piece of design on screen: a watch drawn in 1957, worn through a NASA comedy on a trainee's wrist.