Horological Meandering

Pilot's Watches Cont:....Mainly military and a MODEM BURNER!!!

 

When AndrewD first submitted the post on pilots watches he contacted me to see if i had any pictures i could contribute from my recently dissolved collection. at first i was reluctant for two reasons, the first being that pics of 'watches you no longer own' is a bit like posting pics of the waste basket to show what we'd had for dinner the night before. the second and most important reason was that i had only a couple of weeks previously deleted the portfolio of pics from my laptop

miracles, however, can happen and yesterday i discovered the whole lot on some emails in my sent items box from nearly 9 months ago when i started to sell them privately.

i contacted Andrew again, still unsure about their relevance and he pointed out quite rightly that this forum is about watches, not just our latest aquisition or the amount we can spend on a watch. i myself have been guilty of posting new purchases with a wish to induce praise from others, as i'm sure have others.

i now fully agree with Andrew and will share with you some pictures of military and historic pilots watches that formed a part of my recently dissolved collection. some pics are a number of years old and the quality may not be great, but its too late to do anything about it now

they are in no particular order.

enjoy.

 

 Algerian airforce breitling from early '80's. i also had an Iranian issue identical piece, but perhaps no pic.

Breitling Cosmonaute 1966.

1930's Breitling Luftwaffe

1969 Chrono-matic

2001 Spatiographe. very unusual chrono display.

Bulova US issue reissued to RAF. WW2 period.

 

US airforce Navigators watch 1956

Cyma WW2 Luftwaffe

with swastika blanked to avoid causing offence

One of the earliest pilots watches around. a WW1 Doxa Royal Flying Corps 30 hour non luminous mkV designed for clamped in a bracket on the 'flight deck'.

 Eterna Czech airforce 1938. the rarest of the 3 brands used. hopefully i have pics of the Longines and Lemania as well.

1930's Luftwaffe issue. i believe that Mimo were produced by Girard perregaux.

Glycine Airman a favourite of US pilots in the '60's

Hamilton GCT P/watch. no caseback pic i'm afraid as this is a solid silver case. from research i've tried to do, Hamilton didnt have enough nickel cases to supply demand by the Military so used some of the solid silver civilian cases just to keep production going.

Helvetia 1030's Luftwaffe issue

NOS unissued Heuer Bundeswehr issue. this is the first model from 1967(?) with the red 3H logo.

WW2 RAF issue Le Coultre

this one deserves several pics as it probably one of the most famous Luftwaffe issue watches of all time. still with original strap so not one to wear. the 3 manufacturers of these pieces, lange & sohne, laco and wempe were of similar very high quality and the watches were so expensive that they were only issued to the observers when they went on a mission and had to be handed back upon return.

 2 Lemania 1 button chrono's. the first with white dial is a Fleet Air Arm HS9

the second is an RAF issue with black dial

here's the Longines Czech airforce 1938 issue

 

this one deserves special attention as it is in fact a Marine chronometer, but issued to the USAAC for use in their Long range bombers. note the very rare 24 hour movement and dial

 

omega FAA issue HS8

the famous 1953 RAF issue Omega. no caseback pic i'm afraid

 

another Omega RAF issue

interesting clock. bakelite case, seth thomas 24 hour movement probably sat on the wall of some USAAF officers ofice.

 

Royal naval Air Service WW1 pocketwatch.

 

Zenith RFC WW1 issue 30 hour non luminous

 

Zenith HS4 FAA observers pocket watch intended for putting in the flight control panel same as the WW1 RFC pieces.

thats all the pics folks. there were plenty more watches, but i was a bit lax in taking pictures for insurance purposes. this is about 1/2 of the pilots pieces and some important pieces are missing. i've learnt a valuable lesson. PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING!!!!!

i think what you've seen gives an insight into the last 10 years or more of my life. these are only the pilots pieces, if we ever do a post on marine chronometers or ordinary military watches i'll be able to add to it.

all the best

Graham