Victorinox is best known for its contract, won in 1891, to supply an ‘officer’s knife’ to the military in the company’s home country. However, 90 years later, the maker of the Original Swiss Army Knife received another highly notable commission: to supply NASA astronauts with multifunction tools on all Space Shuttle missions. It certainly came in handy – on one occasion in 1995, Chris Hadfield used it to force open the door of the Mir space station (with the knowledge of the Russians, we should add).

Victorinox’s slipping the bonds of earth is celebrated in the I.N.O.X. Titanium Sky High Limited Edition timepiece. Designed and engineered entirely by the Victorinox Watch Competence Center in the Jura mountains, the heartland of Swiss watchmaking expertise, the I.N.O.X. Titanium Sky High is powered by a Ronda 715 quartz movement and has a 43mm case.

The matt-white face and sandblasted titanium case echo the classic colours of famous NASA missions, but it is the innovative, interplanetary strap which is most striking. It is woven from white and black-speckled Naimakka paracord, with Technora para-aramid inner strings – eight times stronger than steel. Paracord was used to hold the chutes which slowed the landing of the Mars Rover and has also been used to repair the Hubble space telescope.

The I.N.O.X. Titanium Sky High displays further design nods to the history of space travel and the early days of supersonic aeronautics. Beneath the scratch-resistant, triple-coated anti-reflective sapphire crystal, military time is printed in red for those with the right stuff, while a planet Earth blue second hand keeps time as you push the outside of the envelope.

Victorinox’s commitment to high-functioning attractive design means this watch has been rigorously tested, undergoing thermal shocks, depths of up to 200m underwater and altitudes of 21,300m (almost as high as Chuck Yeager reached when his engine cut out).

Only 2,000 I.N.O.X. Titanium Sky High Limited Edition pieces will be received, each entering the atmosphere in a shockproof, waterproof capsule. Should there be a problem, Houston, and you need to unravel the paracord for an Apollo 13-style fix, there is an alternate strap, made from white rubber. The capsule also contains a special-edition white replica of the Swiss Army Knife used on NASA missions, with a metal astronaut inlay and paracord keyring.

I.N.O.X. Titanium Sky High Limited Edition timepiece, £715, victorinox.com