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They want all…watches of heroes!
By WatchPro | November 6, 2008
The old wrist watches always attracted many admirers. And the models of the epoch popularized by mythic personalities, from Lawrence of Arabia to the commander Cousteau, from Neil Armstrong to James Bond, are even more popular.
It is impossible not to feel excited, trying on Omega Speedmaster of the same age as the one that Neil Armstrong was wearing on the Moon in 1969, a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms similar to that of the commander Cousteau and his team in The World of Silence, or Rolex Submariner identical to that of Sean Connery in James Bond: Dr. No, marking the famous scene on a beach with Ursula Andress in tiny bikini. The collection watches were worn by brave adventurers, explorers, pilots of all types of machines, deep-sea divers, cult actors, commandoes and high-rank servicemen «These chronometers, which can resist bad weather and extreme conditions, represent the highest technical level of the moment», reminds Olivier Fort, who organises the Salon Men’s World together with Lionel Deschamps (watches, fountain pens, knives and collection lighters) in the palace Brongniart, on November 23rd.
It is true that extreme conditions were the reason of the popularisation of wristwatches. During the World War I soldiers pointed out that those who took the time to open their coat to search for their pocket watch had an unfortunate tendency to be fired by the enemy. Thus pocket watches gave place to wristwatches, which soon became indispensable in the modern world of speed.
But the manufacturers did not wait for the World War I to be unleashed to promote their brand. Vacheron &Constantin designed a wristwatch for the brothers Wright on the occasion of the first flight of aviation (59 seconds) in history, December 17th, 1903. Two years later, Cartier created a wristwatch for another pilot, Alberto Santos-Dumont, who made his first 21 seconds flight near Paris in 1906. Since then, the famous Santos watch has remained one of the mythic models of Cartier.
No brand, however, reminds of the aicraft world better than Breitling with its chronograph Chronomat (1941) and its Navitimer (1952), which include a slide rule allowing the pilot to calculate its average speed or its level of rise and of descent.
Of course, the soldiers benefitted from these spectacular advances while they were not the initiators of progress. Nowadays not only the soldiers can use the achievements of watchmakers - everybody who has more than 300 euro (to 1 million) can also purchase the masterpieces of brands which worked for the French Air Force: Dodane, Bronze, Vixa, Auricoste, and Breguet.
Topics: News Watch, Watch Series |
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