Fake watches: When we were young, we always had many fantasies about the sky. What kind of secrets are hidden above the blue sky and behind the white clouds? When I was having fun with the children, the roar of the engine came through the air. Everyone involuntarily raised their heads and waited to see the plane as big as an eagle. Their eyes just followed until its figure and sound disappeared in our field of vision. in view. Because we eagerly want to know the secrets of the sky, we all fantasized about becoming pilots when we were children, and we even had military dreams.
Dreams are dreams after all. When we grow up, different circumstances make us farther and farther away from the dream of flying. But when we encounter related things from time to time, we still can’t help throbbing in our hearts. This is probably why many people like pilot watches. One of the reasons, but the pilot’s advantage is more than that.
Let’s start with the history of pilot watches.
Pilot watches are very typical, starting with practicality and ending with beauty. In the early 20th century, the famous flying adventurer Dumont needed to control the aircraft while flying, but also needed to know the time accurately, but because the pocket watch needed to be freed up with both hands, it lacked a certain degree of convenience. In order to solve this problem, Dumont went to his good friend Louis Cartier to help him find a way. After understanding the situation, Louis Cartier launched the world’s first pilot’s watch in 1904: the Cartier Santos watch. Of course, there are many theories about whether the first real pilot watch is a Cartier Santos watch, but most of them cannot be verified.
But what can be confirmed is that the Cartier Santos watch has been in the limelight in flying competitions and social occasions, and together with Dumont’s trendy clothing, it has become a sought-after accessory for many people.
When did pilot watches develop rapidly? In World War II, due to the military flight needs of various countries, pilot watches of major watch brands were launched one after another in a short period of time, and quickly developed rapidly.
As mentioned earlier, as the originator of modern pilot watches, Cartier Santos has solved the problem that pilots are inconvenient to watch the time during flight. At the same time, this watch design has also brought qualitative development to the watch industry. As the first modern watch designed to be worn on the wrist, the Santos watch used a leather strap that was very rare in the watchmaking field at the time, which solved the problem of high restrictions on pocket watches.
Cartier Santos has a history of more than 100 years since its birth in 1904, but it is undeniable that until today, it is still one of the most popular watches on the market. For a hundred years, the Santos series watches have been adhering to the simple and classic design, and its square case has always been highly recognizable with its sharp shape. The chic design of eight rivets also makes the watch more refined and casual, making the parts that should be hidden under the watch become decorations of the watch. Although it has been a century, the design is still bold and novel.
However, with the development of watchmaking technology, although the overall design of the Santos series watches has always been adhering to the classics, to be honest, the changes are not big, but there are very obvious improvements in the movement and watchmaking skills.
This Cartier fake Santos-Dumont XL manual watch is called “the most original charm” watch by many watch friends. The design of the rounded rectangular screw bezel is almost identical to the original, and the blue spinel cabochon crown with beaded decoration also pays homage to the 1904 model. However, compared with the small-sized watches that were popular at the time, modern aesthetics tended to have a larger diameter. The size of this new Santos-Dumont XL was expanded to 46.6mm X 33.9mm. From the perspective of modern aesthetics, although it is a formal watch It’s a bit big for a watch, but as a pilot’s sports watch, it’s not unacceptable.
As a manual watch, this watch has no automatic logo on the dial, which also makes the dial simpler and more in line with the original design. Compared with the original dial, the dial of the new watch uses a silver-plated dial with a satin sunburst decoration, which looks more textured, which was impossible in the era when the watch first appeared.
After the end of World War I, the aviation industry developed rapidly under the stimulation of the war and entered a golden age. In short-distance flights, the orientation can be roughly determined by visual landmarks, and the flight time and fuel consumption can be estimated from the simple clock on the instrument panel. However, in the long-distance flight, more accurate time measurement is needed to assist navigation. Probably inspired by Cartier Sandos, early pilots would usually find craftsmen to weld pocket watches to ear buckles, wear belts or metal chains, and make simple Swiss Fake Watches. Of course, this method is definitely not a long-term solution, and it is the brand we are now familiar with-Longines that has changed this situation.
The relationship between Longines and the aviation industry dates back to 1919. Since then, it has provided the official timing tool for the International Aviation Federation
and participated in and witnessed a series of famous flight expeditions. In May 1927, the American “Lone Eagle” Charles Lindbergh (Charles Lindbergh) flew the “Spirit of St. Louis” plane alone for 33 hours and 30 minutes as a non-stop feat from New York to Paris,
which was also recorded by the Longines watch worn by Lindbergh.
It was also Lindbergh who improved the design of the Longines watch used
based on the experience of astronomical navigation and handed over the design sketch to Longines.
In 1931, Longines launched a “hour angle watch” according to Lindbergh’s demand. The diameter of the watch was 47.5 mm. tied to represent longitude),
the central dial and outer ring can also be manually rotated to adjust the time. The pilot calculates according to the scale readings, combined with the sextant and the astronomical calendar,
he can determine his geographical location at any time. Once this watch was launched, it brought about a qualitative change in the development of pilot watches.
Today, pilot watches are actually not very practical for pilots. On the contrary, they are more practical for business people who often travel at home and abroad. This year Longines launched the new forerunner Zulu time watch, which is a good verification of this point.
The appearance design of this watch continues the classic element design of the Forerunner series. The difference is that the new watch adds a calendar display window at 6 o’clock,
which improves the practicality of the watch. The stainless steel case has been brushed as a whole, and the sides of the lugs have been polished to make the watch look layered. The quality of the movement equipped inside the watch can be seen from the 5 stars above the dial at 6 o’clock. In the history of Longines, this represents the highest-level movement, and the L844.4 movement uses a non-caliber silicon hairspring structure. The power reserve has reached 72 hours, and it has passed the certification of the Swiss official observatory. It has precision, antimagnetic and long power.
Pilot watches ushered in a golden age of development with the beginning of World War II,
but the golden age of flying ended with the end of World War II. In this war, although Germany was defeated,
the pilot’s watch manufactured and launched by it became a classic in the war.
The B-Uhr observation watch is a product of the war. In 1930, Germany formulated the design draft of the Air Force observation watch for the Nazi Air Force. In 1940, the German government entrusted Lange, IWC, Luculent, Stowa,
and Wempe to five professional Watchmaking companies carry out large-scale production. At that time, the design size of the pilot’s watch was very large, nearly 55mm. These watches used Breguet hairsprings, and the internal movement was surrounded
by a soft iron case to make it anti-magnetic necessary for aviation. In order to correct the time deviation,
the movement must be able to stop the central seconds hand by pulling the crown,
and have an oversized diamond or onion crown for easy operation with gloves. A longer double-rivet leather strap, long enough to wrap around the cuffs of a leather bomber jacket.
Of the five professional watchmaking companies, four are German and one is Swiss. In watch production, WEMPE uses THOMMEN CAL.31 movement, and STOWA uses Unitas Cal.2812 movement. Lange uses the large movement CAL.48 and Cal.48.1 movement, and Laco adopts the (Durowe) CAL.5 movement. When WEMPE’s production capacity increased in 1938, it could assist Lange and Laco with limited production. WEMPE helped They assemble watches. To meet demand, Lange also distributes movements and cases for assembly and adjustment by various other manufacturers. As the only Swiss IWC company, IWC also provides watches for the air forces of the Axis and Allied countries,
and produces B-Uhr (CAL.52T SC) Replica Watches Store for the German Air Force.
The watches created during this time period are very recognizable in appearance and easy to identify. They almost all have the following characteristics:
1. First of all, the dial should be large enough and eye-catching, with a diameter of not less than 55 mm,
so that the pilot can see the reading clearly with just a casual glance;
2. The movement should use Breguet with accurate travel time, drop resistance and shock resistance. Balanced hairspring structure, coupled with anti-magnetic treatment,
fundamentally eliminates the possibility of failure during flight (this is also used for reference by all subsequent flight watches);
3. The dial adopts a dark surface, the numbers use light-colored Arabic numerals,
the size of the crown is enlarged so that it can be easily adjusted without taking off gloves,
and the strap is extended so that it can be worn directly outside the sleeve of a flight jacket.
However, as the war gradually ended, the production of various watch factories began to be in a difficult situation. After the Soviet army occupied Glashütte in 1945,
many watch manufacturers were confiscated, and many watch brands in German history died out. IWC, located in Switzerland, enjoys exclusive dividends. As the surviving manufacturer of the B-Uhr observation watch after the war,
IWC has developed the IWC IWC Pilot Series on the basis of the B-Uhr,
which is now the much-loved “big watch”. fly”.
The reason why IWC pilots are called “Da Fei” is because although it has reduced the diameter of the B-Uhr observation watch by 55mm,
the diameter of 46 and 47mm still discourages many watch friends, who wear too large a size in their lives. It is very troublesome to wear. But if the diameter of the watch is reduced to 39 or 40 mm,
it seems that the essence of “Da Fei” is missing,
so IWC made a compromise and launched several models with a diameter of 43 mm. Although they are still large, they are relatively small. Much friendlier.
This Spitfire 43 watch is made of titanium alloy. It is light in texture and does not weigh on the wrist when worn. The dial layout adopts the mil-spec military observation method, more or less the shadow of the original watch. The dark dial, light-colored Arabic numerals,
and enlarged onion crown are very in line with the characteristics of the B-Uhr watch, full of retro feeling.
