Seiko Solar Black Dial Men's Watch SNE215

Technique - Military Watches

The Watch Review, Summer 1994 Special

Having been entrusted by the Directory with the Egypt campaign in an attempt to keep him at arm's length, Napoleon Bonaparte, the first to carry the name, went to war. He had a fleet, which would end up being destroyed by Nelson, a hat perched jauntily on his head and a Breguet in his pocket. It is quite likely that this is what ticked continuously when he placed his hand on his breast. It appears that he was obsessed with time. To the extent that he would exhort his officers to buy a Breguet, the best watch in his opinion.
By the time he returned in 1799, his hat and his watch were covered in sand. Little harm was caused to the hat, but the Breguet was permanently clogged. The future emperor ordered a new one, claiming dishonestly that his own had gone wrong again for no reason. Breguet obliged and Napoleon remained faithful to it. At the close of the century, horologists were called upon to equip the French army and navy.
A few years elapsed. This was the age of competitions, each admiralty offering handsome rewards for seaworthy chronometers. The observatory committees fell joyfully into their clutches, instituted proceedings to their hearts' content so their proteges would be placed in pole position and they would lay their hands on the royalties.
In 1815, a very self-satisfied Bonaparte became emperor. He seems from his expression to be saying "apres moi le deluge". One year later, Europe was promptly hit by downpours. In Switzerland, people fished for trout from their balconies. By hand. Around 1830, Breguet won a contract with the French navy and built its first marine chronometer. It would take at least 10 years to produce a chronometer worthy of the name.
The best trademarks were in the teeth. In 1865, Guido Panerai set up his Panerai workshop in Florence, the then Italian capital. He specialised in precision instrumentation and received his first official order for watches from the Italian navy in 1867.
In 1876, Paul-David Nardin joined the marine chronometer race, hotly pursued by Girard-Perregaux and Henry Grand-Jean from Le Locle who also responded to the competition announced by the German Imperial Admiralty in 1877. In all, nine German and two Swiss manufacturers competed.
The first recorded purchase of a military watch was a pocket watch in polished or mat gold or silver, fitted with handles through which a chain could be slid so that it could be worn on the wrist. Besides a bracelet, Wilhelm II had wanted casing to protect the watch glass. Wilhelm might almost have been rated intelligent had he not swiped Alsace and Lorraine from the French in 1871. But enough of this nonsense, let's get back to our watch. It was signed Girard-Perregaux and was designed for the officers of the German Imperial Navy.
Wilhelm of Prussia, proclaimed Emperor of Germany at Versailles, would receive two thousand of these timepieces from 1880 onwards. A decade later, the British Navy was seeking delivery of comparison watches and approached the leading manufacturers, including Vacheron & Constantin which had already turned its attention to the deck watch.
The object of the game was as follows: once a vessel anchored in port, a ship's boy would set off to find out the time at the observatory and set his comparison watch by it. On his return to the deck, the sailor's time would be compared against that of the onboard chronometer. The commander would note the difference in minutes and seconds between the two in a moleskin logbook, wisely return his pen to the inkwell and touch nothing else.
Indeed, the timekeepers on board were only changed at a precise time. Beforehand is too early, afterwards is too late. Dismiss! At the start of the 20th Century, Eberhard became the supplier of watches to the Italian navy. From 1903 to 1906, Paul-David Nardin produced forty-five timepieces on average each year. In 1910, Longines shipped its fob watches as far as the Ottoman Empire, from which it had received an order to equip the Navy.
At the outset of the Great War, the Navy ordered navigation watches from Hamilton which would be installed in torpedoes, destroyers and submarines.
Elgin, Waltham and Longines joined the ranks with their Deck Watch. All of which still only involved surface navigation.
At the height of the First World War, the Italians conceived of a revolutionary undersea strategy. The imperial fleet of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not anchor outside its fortified ports. So, since the enemy sailors would not come to them, the Italians went to the enemy sailors. They invented the combat submarine and brought out their combat craft in 1915.
In the secret confines of his workshop, Panerai artfully tinkered with optical systems as well as a mechanical calculator for torpedo launches. He knew what the Navy was plotting. A special unit was set up by the name of Motoscafi Anti Sommergibile and took to the open seas. The first attack by the naval frogmen of the MAS successfully took place on 31 May 1918. Engineer Lieutenant Commander Raffaele Rossetti and naval doctor Raffaelle Paolucci sank the 20,000 tonne warship Viribus Unitis, anchored in the Dalmatian port of Pula. A couple of bombs and the warship was defeated at the city walls.
Costanzo Ciano, a naval officer, would develop the strategy. From 1921 onwards, radio time signals changed matters for marine chronometers. Exit the comparison watch and observatories. Enter the hourly pips. In the 1930s, Eberhard chronographs adorned the wrists of Italian naval officers and Omega created a rectangular-shaped diver's watch in a double case.
On the military side, various methods were under study. The British Home Fleet was deployed in the Mediterranean to intimidate the Italians who were encroaching un poco troppo on the African continent. Italy was clearly no match. In 1938, the combat craft answered to the 'molto simpatico' name of First Assault Vehicle Flotilla. Deemed a little long-winded, it was replaced by Decima Mas in 1941.
Piloted torpedoes nicknamed pigs were bestrode by Italian swimmers, explosive dinghies and combat divers from the Gamma Group. Such was the programme of delights conjured by the lovers of the Dolce Vita. The divers had dark rubber suits, warm underclothes, short flippers, breathing apparatus withstanding immersion for three hours and a dagger. Complete with instruments comprising a navigation watch, depth sensor and compass, all of which were manufactured in Panerai's Florentine workshop.
The Panerai Radiomir, the ancestor of the Luminor reissued by Panerai, was unlike the Luminor in that it used harmful radium and was larger than normal. It was fitted with two types of mechanical movement: one manufactured by Angelus, the other by Rolex. There are two models of Rolex type classic screwed winding crowns or a special patented locking system. The dial is black with fluorescent numerals. On board their assault craft, the officers sported a Panerai Mare Nostrum, a chronograph with a luminous dial.
During the Second World War, the habits of the good old days in the Navy were resumed. The warships observed radio silence to prevent detection by the enemy. So ended the time pips. And back to square one with marine chronometers. Which had to be accurate to within one second, as we know, to calculate longitude and to avoid crashing into rocks or an enemy vessel. That would be messy.
In 1939, the US Navy entreated the eight best American manufacturers to make it marine chronometers. In 1941, Hamilton was contracted to produce 337 of them, taking over from Ulysse Nardin who was the main supplier.
On receipt of the first two chronometers, their commissioners leapt with joy: they were excellent. Suddenly, Hamilton was asked to make not 337 but 1,000 pieces. The warships, heavy cruisers and submarines were swiftly supplied with several Hamilton gimbal chronometers stored in their chests.
So pleased were the Americans that demand grew and grew. President Roosevelt, the recipient of a Hamilton marine chronometer, promised in writing that he would take care of it and keep it at the White House until the end of the war, afterwards finding a place for it in his library in Hyde Park. Hamilton met with universal approval, especially since the US Navy had approached Elgin and Roth Brothers and found that their chronometers were not up to the task.
On the other hand, Elgin was developing a diver's watch at the same time as Hamilton. It was a waterproof version of the General Purpose Wrist Watch, featuring a waterproof cabochon winding crown, held by a chain. Hamilton would produce no fewer than 8,902 watches for Uncle Sam's Marines, plus 898 for the Maritime Commission and others. The Hamilton watches of the marine riflemen were engraved with the letters US MC and were, of course, part of their kit. The Germans of the Kriegsmarine had Berg, Alpina, Siegerin and a few Panerai watches, which had a white dial marked KM. The Royal Navy used Jaeger-LeCoultre, Hamilton, Omega, Longines while the Japanese Imperial Navy was supplied by Seiko.
The groundswell that took 50 million human lives ended jubilantly. In 1945, Lauren Bacall suggested that Humphrey Bogart whistle if he needed anything. And he whistled.
In 1946 the Indochina war broke out. The French set off with their Waltham, Elgin and Hamilton watches and the - denazified - Kriegsmarine watches received in compensation for war damages. Meaning that the Nazi emblem on the dial, an eagle holding the world in its grip, was milled off. The sextants met the same fate.
In 1947, the English left their Indian colonies and the maharajas abdicated. Al Capone, or Alphonse to his family, died amid general indifference under the Miami sun. In 1953, the Submariner was baptised by Rolex. The Submariner was water-resistant to a depth of 100 metres.
Blancpain launched Fifty Fathoms, a diver's watch able to withstand a depth of 200 metres. Both were adopted by the divers of the French Navy. The Fifty Fathoms killed three birds with the one stone, equipping the US Navy, the Kampfschwimmer and the German Navy. Admittedly, Blancpain made waves as soon as it was introduced into the Navy. During a drill, one diver lost his at a depth of 53 metres and found it again by chance the next day. The Fifty Fathoms was also waterproof.
The Bundeswehr has since replaced the Blancpain with a military version of the Porsche Design Ocean 2000 in titanium, which IWC designed for the German Federal Army.
In Italy, Panerai reissued the Panerai Mare Nostrum and the Luminor which appeared after the Second World War. Nine hundred copies of each were released for sale, while a further one hundred of each went to the Italian Navy. Marina militare was stamped on the dial and they were treated with a titanium anti-reflection coating.
In France, besides the Submariner, the Rolex Tudor made an appearance along with the Yema Navigraph Quartz, Tag Heuer, Auricoste, Dodane, Triton, Le Forban, Paul Bianchi, Beuchat.
The American divers who were operational during the Vietnam War checked each hour, minute and second by a Benrus, an Elgin, or a Waltham. They would have had ample time to acquaint themselves with the mechanism of each watch by heart, down to each screw. They put up with it for ten years and more.