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From the passion for flying we developed AVIONICA.
a line of wristwatches designed and manufactured FOR PILOTS. All our
items have been made as the original models keeping the atractive
design and funcionality but with the quality and advanced features
of todays watch industry in Switzerland.
PILOTS WATCHES.
The demand from the Air Forces for accurate
navigation watches was very great in the World War II. They had a
dial with an outer ring of numbers to show minutes or seconds and a
small inner ring of numbers to show hours. The centre second hand
and the minute hand were of the same length, the hour hand was short
to fit the inner, hours dial. The dials were black, the figures and
hands were luminous. It was in a stainless steel case to protect
against magnetism. As in maritime navigation, aviation required the
most precise watches and clocks possible in order to determine
geographical longitude. Precise, robust and easily read watches were
ordered for air travel to determine aircraft location and flight
duration. Pilots needed wrist watches that could be accurately and
instantly read when both hands were being used to pilot the aircraft.
Their navigation watch had to be worn on the arm over their flight
outfit. High Command gave exact instructions regarding operating
precision and the degree of movement completion required. Before
being delivered, every single watch had to be tested and given
operating certification by the official test institute. The fine
adjustment of every watch had to be conducted in six positions and
at three varying temperatures. Only then could the watch achieve ‘special
or first class’ rating.
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The watch movements were uniformly cased in 55mm diameter, gray
varnished, brass or steel housings with snap on back cover. Printed
on the inside of the back cover was the type, device and movement
numbers, stock no. and the producer’s name. The dial faces were
black with large luminous Arabic numerals and minute and second
indicators. The hour , minute and second hands were coated with
radium to glow in the dark and allow vision on low light conditions,
the seconds hand had a counter weight. All watches also had a second
hand with the drive outside the power flow and a balance stop
function for accurate time setting
The professional-watch standard pilot´s watch was
commissioned al the beginning of the second World War by the German
Luftwaffe. Fitted with pocket watch movements it featured precicion
setting. Used in deck watches for the British and pilot´s watches
for the Germans. The outstanding features of this watch included the
mat steel case, the extra-large crown for easy setting and winding,
the black dial with its extra-bright luminous hands and figures, the
stop-second function for exact setting and the extra-long leather
strap, designed for fastening over the flying suit. |
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The Beobachtungs-Uhren (B-Uhr, observer´s watch) were made for the
WWII pilots. These large watches contained high-quality pocket watch
movements for use in aircraft aviation. They were attached to the
arm with long leather straps that fitted outside of the flying
clothing. The movement has a large (20 mm) balance and 17 jewels set
in chatons and often used a swan-neck regulator. |
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