Sunday, March 29, 2015

Some More Glycine Goodness

It was encouraging to see the new pieces Glycine is offering this year and to hear the background behind them.

Courtesy of Glycine
Another interesting piece that caught my eye was the Airman DC-4 -

Courtesy of Glycine 

This particular version of the Airman was inspired by the DC-4 manufactured by Douglas.  For you non-aviation folks, the DC-4 was a 4 engine, propeller driven plane that was used in the "Big War" and (even more interesting to me) was pivotal in the Berlin Airlift.

Shamelessly borrowed from Wikipedia

But back to the watch -

It is available in 2 versions - The first is the "purist" version with a standard movement offering 2 timezones per the adjustable external bezel.  The second offers 3 time zones thanks to an added GMT module.

Per Glycine's press release:

It was also the DC-4 which, in 1953, led Glycine to conceive the legendary AIRMAN, the first pilot's watch with double 24-hour display function.

As chance would have it, Glycine Sales Director and aircraft enthusiast Sam Glur was on a flight from Bangkok to Calcutta when he met airline pilot and watch enthusiast Captain Chat Brown who invited him into the cockpit of his DC-4. Captain (Chat) Brown evidently made the most of the time he had with watch expert Sam Glur to explain exactly what was required in a genuine pilot's watch. Sam Glur reported back to headquarters on the very same day, sending a detailed account of the conversation and the specification. According to the brief, what pilots really wanted was an automatic watch with 24-hour display enhanced by the addition of a second 24-hour time zone. And there was no such watch on the market at that time.

The inspiration for the legendary AIRMAN therefore came on the fly, so to say. The market launch of the first AIRMAN took place before the year was out. This pioneering Swiss pilot's watch was the genuine article and was extremely popular with the American pilots. The unique AIRMAN DNA has spawned a further 29 generations based on the original.

The pilot's watch is controlled by an automatic rhodanised GL 293 movement (ETA specification). Following in the purist footsteps of the original AIRMAN, it has an exclusive market position as a 24-hour watch with two time zones. If preferred, however, it can also be used as a normal 12-hour watch with the additional feature of a 24-hour GMT display.

AIRMAN DC-4, Ref. 3904.XXX, Cal No. GL 293

Courtesy of Glycine

  • 3 hands, 2 additional time zones or double 24-hour display (purist)
  • Decorative movement
  • Water-resistant to 20 ATM
  • Stainless steel casing, 42mm diameter, locking bezel
    crown at 4H position
  • Anti-reflective sapphire glass with date magnifier
  • Screw-fitted back with sapphire glass
  • Worldwide 2-year warranty 

1 comment:

  1. They can report the price of this watch in dollars and where I can adquiriro in Argentina?

    ReplyDelete