Bremont are the sole luxury watch producer legitimately allowed to use the signs, symbols and Heraldic Badges of all three services; the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.
This means that potentially (one day) we might even see diver’s watch made in honor of the British SBS (special boat service), the special forces attached to the Royal Navy.
But until that day, here’s a rather nice new collection known as the Broadsword Bronze which joins Bremont’s original British Armed Forces line up.
The collection’s use of bronze pays homage to the material’s importance in naval engineering due to its high corrosion resistance to salt water.
The particular bronze alloy that Bremont has chosen for the new Broadsword’s case is CuSn8 bronze, made popular by Panerai.
CuSn8 is strengthened copper alloy with 8% tin which helps to strengthen, wear and resistance to corrosion.
The design of the Broadsword was inspired by the famous Dirty Dozen watches, nicknamed so after the famous 1967 WWII, film of the same name.
The special watch series was commissioned by the British Army during World War Two when Britain’s Ministry of Defence needed watches to issue to their military personnel.
Above all else, the watches had to be able to deal with the rigors of military life; a dozen brands produced watches that met with the requirements – these included:
Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Jaeger Le-Coultre, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor and Vertex.
During the 1940s, stringent performance specifications for the original Dirty Dozen were set which included: waterproofing, regulation to chronometer specification, luminous markings on the dial and a robust case construction.
The Broadsword has not only been designed and engineered to meet these criteria but also to reflect the needs of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces today.
Being such a young watch company Bremont weren’t around in the 1940s but no doubt they would have made it a baker’s dirty dozen if they were. ;)
The new bronze editions will be available in three different colored dial and strap variations, complementing the existing range.
The slate, sotek (a military green/teal color) and tobacco dials feature a sub-seconds hand at six o’clock as well as multiple layers of luminous paint on both the dial and hands to complete the original specification for the British Army.
The Broadsword Bronze houses the chronometer rated BE-95-2AV movement inside its two-piece 40mm case featuring a Stainless steel, screw-down case-back stamped with the badges of all three services.
Thoughts? These are pure class – just wish they were in steel as I’m a bit over bronze. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment