Horological Meandering

219
3826

• Show profile
• Show other posts

The Flying Bremont Boys: Racing Certainties!

If you believe that life is a series of random events, then Nick and Giles English (co-founders of Bremont Watches) are the men you need around. It was just such a random event in 1999 when they had to put down their vintage plane in a hurry in rural north-eastern France that they met the landowner and farmer of that land. A former World War II pilot : a Monsieur Antoine Bremont. Normally, all unauthorized landings need to be reported, and the pilots making such landings are penalized for doing so. But on talking to the brothers, and with similar interests in planes and mechanics, Antoine Bremont and the English brothers became friends; Monsieur Bremont reminding Giles and Nick of their late father.

I was invited to go flying with the Bremont Boys one summer’s day just recently. The English brothers had built the plane (we were flying in) themselves with their late father (who held a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from Cambridge). The North Weald Airfield (otherwise known as ‘The Squadron’ lies about 20 miles to the north east of the City of London. Once the second airfield to Biggin Hill as a squadron airfield in the second World War, North Weald Airfield is the base from which the English brothers run their aircraft restoration business specializing in World War II fighter planes. The Squadron is a family business, started by their father, and it was through their father (a collector of World War II pilot’s watches) that the English brothers learned about watches.

The English brothers’ father was a collector of pilot’s watches from the early and middle decades of the twentieth century. However, their inspiration comes from not only the past in terms of watches, but also from the racing engineering of the 1920’s and 1930’s – an era where success in competition meant superiority. Planes, trains, automobiles and even watches (Observatory timing contests) were all subject to competitive pressure and firms in all fields devoted considerable resources to supremacy at the competition events. Automobile races were fought between the Bentley Boys of Wilbur Owen against Ettore Bugatti’s engineering. In flight, the Schneider Trophy was considered the world championship of flight competition and the airplane that was supreme in the inter-war years was the Supermarine Napier. Powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the same combination would go on to use their knowledge in constructing the quintessential fighter plane for World War II – the Supermarine Spitfire. And it is here – from this combination of aircraft history and specialized knowledge of the mechanics of flight, that Bremont Watches was born.

Perhaps Bremont’s most successful watch to date was born out of this heritage. The Bremont EP120 was named after, took its design cues from, and had metal parts manufactured from the plane of the same name. The EP120 was based on the stopwatch clock that sits in the dashboard to the plane (manufactured by Smiths). The watch case is coated in the black diamond process (DLC – Diamond Like Carbon) and is resistant to scratching. The rotor was modeled on the propeller from the plane using the same material. In keeping with the serial number for the Spitfire, only 120 of the watches were made and apart from a handful still in the odd dealer, the watches sold out quickly.











The clock on which the EP120 is based.



The EP120 Supermarine Spitfire





In the same way that aeronautic materials are tested to their limit, so are the Bremont watches, using the same techniques and machinery that aircraft parts are abused on. Recently, Bremont have teamed up with Martin Baker. Unless you are into flying in a major way, you might not have heard of Martin Baker. I certainly had not until I started talking with Bremont. Martin Baker is the manufacturer behind the pilots’ ejection seat. They make approximately 80 percent of the worlds’ pilot ejection seats. What makes their product testing unique is the fact that their product needs a 100 percent success rate before it leaves the factory. The product can never fail. Further, the ejection seat might have sit dormant in a plane for 30 years before one day it is needed, and needed to work in a hurry. If it does, a pilot will lose their life. To make sure that the ejection mechanism will always work Martin Baker have devised some truly torturous testing machines; where 30 years of wear on an ejection seat can be condensed into 4 days!

Bremont watches all carry a COSC certificate, but the testing at Martin Baker makes COSC testing look a little tame by comparison. Tests at Martin Baker include live ejection testing, 40 years worth of vibration testing, extreme climatic and environmental tests, and shock tests. It is the same set of tests that are required by the more extreme military standards.

A product of the collaborative venture is the Bremont - Martin Baker chronometer. A time only watch with the second hand showing the same markings as the Martin Baker ejection seat. The yellow and black loop at the end of the second hand is the same markings as you would find on the ejection seat release handle. The movement is cased first in a Faraday cage and then within a shock dampening suspension (made of a composite rubber). The two crowns are for adjusting the time and adjusting the inner ring on the watch face. The case is nicely finished; the side of the case has a gnarled effect showing off the lines of the case down to the lugs. The watch I photographed was a prototype, and as such, likely to be altered but each watch has to survive the Martin Baker ejector seat testing. The watches are therefore constructed in a small annex to the Martin Baker company and have become some of the first watches to be manufactured in London for some time.











Bremont this year is also releasing a diving watch: the Supermarine. The name probably sounds familiar and it is: the Supermarine planes were the ones that won the Schneider Trophy (for sea-plane racing). The watches carry some of the same technology that is in the pilots’ watches: the anti-shock movement system, and the anti-magnetic faraday cage, the watch has been designed to look like a divers watch from 50 years ago. Indeed, the black version of the watch looks like a vintage Blancpain 50 fathoms. The difference here, with the improved technology for case construction is that the watch is water tight down to a depth of 500 metres. The watch I had to photograph that afternoon was only a prototype, there was no anti-reflective crystal fitted as yet, but the photos show some of the attention to detail.









Note the ‘Spot Card’ type diagram of the Supermarine Napier on the case back.

The flight we went on that summer afternoon was in a small aircraft that could be used for training. Yup – I even had a go at flying myself. And after we pulled a 3.5G right hand turn, I was almost ready to see my lunch again. I was issued with my Bremont ALT1 – C I boarded the plane and we set off. We flew east out towards Essex and the ground was a patchwork quilt. Giles English was wearing the prototype of the Martin Baker chronometer and thankfully, we did not need to test the other Martin Baker equipment in the plane (not sure there was any Martin Baker equipment!).







The plane in which we were flying!





When airborne the watch was instantly readable - almost as if the crystal was not there - the anti-reflective coating doing its job!



The Bremont Martin Baker chronometer on Giles English wrist.

A natural question had to be ‘why?’ If you wanted a pilots’ watch, then why not buy a Breitling or IWC? The reasons are two fold. The first is the often heard of reason that Bremont are borrowing techniques from the industry within which they have worked for the past 20 years. The designs for the watches must give an instantly legible read-out. The watch case was especially hardened to both preserve the brushed finishing, but also make it stand up to everyday wear and tear in the pilot’s seat. The case hardness was increased from 300 Vickers (which is the usual standard finish) to 2000 Vickers; an increase in strength by six-fold. The watches are large (at 43mm in diameter) and this presented further problems to solve regarding the crystals to the watch. Clarity of the crystal was paramount, but the probability of scratching the crystal increases with volume. Bremont overcame this by using 9 layers of hardened anti-reflective coating to keep the crystal clear.

The second reason lies with the professionals who use put watches through their paces everyday in their work or travels. Bremont watches have become the preferred choice of modern day adventurers, world record breakers, and pilots who fly in the armed forces. Pilots still rely on watches. While there might be electronic equipment in the cockpit (this is evidently not the case for the older planes that the English brothers sometimes fly), there are also mechanical back-ups in the event of electrical failure in the aircraft. For a pilot, time and timing are absolute. Time defines the parameters of flight; the time before departure, the time to the next waypoint, the time before fuel runs out, the time before arrival. There should always be a back up and check on the clock within the cockpit.

Rather than buy the same watch as everyone else in the same profession, the watch nuts who inhabit the Air Force and the Royal Navy are buying Bremont. Designed by pilots who know what they are doing, for pilots (at any altitude), Bremont watches are the preferred choice. The watches are specifically tested to be tough, take knocks and hits; the metal casing is hardened, the ninth layer of anti-reflective coating on the crystals is hardened, the movements are re-worked and finished, and while the Geneva stripes stay, the screws are blued and the movements are finished at a high level irrespective of whether or not the movement is visible through a display back. For some of the watches in the range a new rotor is fitted.

Up until very recently, the Bremont watches were concerned with flying and what would make a good pilots’ watch. They have been very smart about the segment of the market in which they are selling their watches. The watches are for professional pilots, explorers or adventurers. The watches have been tested in extreme conditions by brand ambassadors (see www . bremont .com), but have also been bought and commissioned by individuals in the Armed Forces.

The value of attention to detail in Bremont watches became apparent when airborne; the crystal was clear, no reflection, and the dials were clearly legible. The watches are then tested to the limit using the professional pilots equipment so that the watch is known to be able to withstand the same conditions as the other essentials. Bremont have hired Peter Roberts (who was previously at Rolex and taught at Hackney School of Watchmaking and who was incidentally the instructor to Peter Speake Marin and Stephen Forsey). The base ebauche (for the chronographs: the Valjoux 7750; for the time/date watches the movement comes from Soprod) are re-worked, improved finishing, blued screws, and where the watch warrants it, the movement is visible through a display back. The watches have become the choice of those in the know, the pilots who fly each and every day. They have already become the supplier of watches to professionals at the top of their field. One of the Bremont ALT1-Z’s was especially designed as a limited edition to be worn only by graduates of the US Navy Test Pilot School. It seems that with Bremont watches, what matters, is that when a random event occurs, in whatever you do, that the equipment you have with you and that you might depend on, does not fail you. The watches are tested beyond endurance and that is the living ethos behind the Bremont watch company.

Andrew H

This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2009-06-27 15:29:13

Site Info.