Watches that were 'requested' to be made

[Bob_Defly]

What watches came from being requested, by a certain profession or group?

Two that I can think of is the GMT by pilots (or did Rolex just come up with it themselves?) And the Reverso by polo players. I'm guessing a few divers were made to request too, but I'm not sure of the specifics.

[T6 vanman]

AI Bot derived ... The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was introduced in 1953 and was the first purpose-designed diving watch. It was created by Jean-Jacques Fiechter, the CEO of Blancpain at the time, and was inspired by his own needs as an amateur diver

[Super Sonic]

A Swedish Count named Alex von Ferson the Younger once asked Breguet to make a watch.

[klootzak]

Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont certainly inspired and may even have requested the original Cartier pilot watch that still bears his name.

Indeed Fliegers in general were designed to meet a specification issued by the German government. And while the sizes may have changed, they still look pretty much the same (and may even come from the original manufacturers too).

I think the "Dirty Dozen" style field watches were a response to a similar military specification as well.

Oh and ...

Bob_Defly said:

the GMT by pilots (or did Rolex just come up with it themselves?)

Nope, not Rolex. Glycine had a GMT the year before Rolex and Longines made a two time-zone pocket watch in the early 1900s.

k

[rab.s]

Rolex Milgauss and Omega Railmaster.
Both released in the 50’s to meet the demand of scientists and engineers who worked in or around high magnetic fields or HV electricity induced fields.

[glazbagun]

The British Military would spec watches with certain features which the Swiss made in great numbers. They used to be cheap and interesting if that was your thing. Now they're mostly overpriced:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/dirty-dozen-twel...

The IWC Type X is still being made and the Hamilton Khaki range mostly follow the same style though neither are the same obviously.

Bregues Type XX and Type XI are similarly (tenuously) derived from generic spec watches made for the French Airforce.

The Hamilton model 22 was a Deck Watch made to spec for the US Navy in WWII. They also mass produced the Model 21 Marine Chronometer which is legendary if ugly compared to European ones.

Edited by glazbagun on Monday 3rd March 07:34

[BrokenSkunk]

[glazbagun]

Well if we're going that far back, here's one from across the river fit for a Queen:

[Zio Di Roma]

glazbagun said:

Well if we're going that far back, here's one from across the river fit for a Queen:

Some timepieces have beautiful movements. That's not one of them.

[CoupeKid]

I take it that's the Marie Antionette watch. There's a lot going on in there. It took 40 odd years (1783-1802 according to Wikipedia, 1783 to 1820 according to the Science Museum website) and 2 generations of Breguet watchmakers to complete it. See the Wikipedia page for more detail.

It's being exhibited at the Science Museum until late April 2025, if you want to see it.