The Watch That Won The War - The Ultimate Piece of Military History For The Wrist
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- The year is 1941. There is no technology and no way to tell time unless you have a functioning, accurate timepiece. This is especially true for pilots flying B-bombers in WWII. In order to provide our bomber pilots with an accurate way to tell time, the American Government commissioned all of the Great American Watch Companies of the time to craft the most accurate timepiece possible for the navigators on these aircraft. Three companies accepted this contract, among which was Hamilton, and began tweaking their finest engineering into watches for American flight navigators.
Fast forward through years of fascinating history, and you have what we believe to be one of the coolest and rarest wristwatches you can get your hands on. These watches sell out within 24 hours, and we only offer them for sale once a year on Veteran's Day, so you don’t want to miss this opportunity! You can head to our website right now and see get on the waitlist for one of these beautiful watches, as well as check out all the other beautiful products we have available.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:39 The setup: historical context
01:09 What is a Master Navigator Chronometer?
02:03 Who wanted the watches made, and why
02:46 Which companies were involved?
03:09 How many watches were made?
03:40 What are the features of a Master Navigator watch?
04:50 What makes the Master Navigator watches different than railroad watches?
06:29 Why did they just reuse existing engineering?
07:49 What happens to the "original" watch case?
09:18 How were the watches used?
10:08 Why did they need to be so accurate
11:59 Why does it say GCT?
13:03 Why is the dial marked from 1 to 24?
14:40 Why did they use a negative dial (black dial with white numbers)?
17:02 Why was the attrition rate so high?
18:02 Where do we get the watches from?
18:47 Sometimes we find they've been altered!
20:10 Why are there so few watches left?
21:05 We finally gathered 16 Elgin Master Navigator Chronometers.
21:22 Why are we doing this?
23:30 What is that cone-shaped thing?
24:53 Why did the Great American Watch companies go out of business?
26:33 Wrap-up
We’re Building a Watch Company with Custer + Wolfe and giving you an inside look into what it takes to manufacture in America and build mechanical watches. We want to bring you along on all the successes, failures, innovations, and inventions that go into American manufacturing and watchmaking. Follow along as we restore vintage pocket watch movements and give them new life with Vortic Watch Co., and as we build a brand new watch company from scratch, focused on making high-quality American-machined watches.
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#vortic #wristwatch #watch #americanhistory #military #militarywatch #antiquerestoration
I really enjoyed this episode. I’m a Hamilton historian myself, and have owned a couple Model 21s, have a Model. 22 boxed gimbaled and unmounted, 992B (1941 and 1950). I have also visited the factory in Lancaster, PA that is now a condominium. I highly recommend visiting the NAWCC museum in Columbia. The original Hamilton archives are stored there for researchers. For example, I located the Model 21 timing cards for that were used at the Naval Observatory for initial quality control.
My boxed and gimbaled Mod . 22 is one of my most prized possessions because of the engineering, science and technology that went into its production. A true masterpiece.
Thank you so much for sharing, it's great to hear from others with a similar passion! What cool pieces you have found. Absolute masterpieces indeed. Thanks again!
Great story , I have a few Waltham/ Elgin civilian p/watches. plus swiss G.S.T.P military, Lots of history.
Great info. I never thought about how the R&D went away along with the workforce due to the war. Got to look up how to fold that flag. LOL. Very cool edition. Great work and for a good cause. I did 30 years in the Marine Corps so I love it when vets are given unique opportunities.
Very fascinating! I love the retro detail! I want your new modern watches though… 😊
We're working on it!
Great information and history lesson R.T. I love my Military Edition Series #2. I receive so many questions/ compliments about it and I feel like I am the keeper of a piece of history.
You are! It's a time capsule on your wrist.
Time was, and still is, synchronized at the end if the ops brief.
Errr..no it didn't win the war...it was just a pocket watch, no more no less.
The A11's, 6B/159's, Mk VIIB's, 6B/234's A.T.P's and Ord Corps watches (Hamilton, Bulova, Elgin, Waltham) did far far more than a few Bomber crew timepieces.
Thanks for adding your opinion! We'll try to address this in a future video.
I believe that they were all important during WW II.
Hamilton also made M21 snd M22 ship chronometers and deck watches. I have the Ball Hamilton 999b which was made during the war. Hamilton still made rail road pocket watches for both the US and Canadian rail roads as the rail roads were critical for the war effort.
Keep up the great work you do preserving pocket watch movements.