Reply With QuoteNo, it's real. There has been debate on MWR as to the meaning of BAF; IIRC Belgian or Bangladesh Air Force seemed the most popular guesses.
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What's the BAF stand for? British Air Force? :?
Very strange.....franken?
No, it's real. There has been debate on MWR as to the meaning of BAF; IIRC Belgian or Bangladesh Air Force seemed the most popular guesses.
Definately Bangladesh Air Force.
Cheers
Peter
What makes you say that, where´s the wisdom from? ...as I´ve just bought one, and I´ve looked into a few watch forums, where a Belgium pilot chipped in on one of them, saying it´s definately Belgium Air Force issued, as he rememberd seeing them in operations in Yugoslavia (Bosnia)[Definately Bangladesh Air Force.
...From October 1996, the Belgian Air Force cooperated with the Dutch Royal Air Force in the Deployable Air Task Force in patrolling former Yugoslavian airspace. F-16's of the 2nd and 10th Tactical Wings, operating from the Italian bases of Villafranca and Amendola, were assigned to missions insuring the control of a No-Fly Zone over Yugoslavia, and providing the air support necessary for UN and NATO troops. Between March 24 and June 10, 1999, 12 Belgian F-16s carried out 679 combat sorties - the first time since the second World War that Belgian aircraft took part in active war operations in enemy territory - against Serbia during the Kosovo crisis. The last Belgian F-16 detachment left Italy in August 2001.
source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Air_Force
Well, the Belgians don't use the broad arrow. That's a British thing, despite what those revisionist harlots at Omega would have you believe. And Bangladesh was once "British". Two, the Belgians air force probably would not translate their force's name into English and use its capital initials, whereas Anglicisms still pepper life in the former colonial India. Three, and this is hardly going out on a limb, if the Belgians did put a tender out for watches you can be quite sure they wouldn't choose anything British ;).Originally Posted by Geronimo
The only exception I can think of is that the Force Aerienne Belge bought a job lot of chronos previously stamped with the broad arrow then some enterprising chap decided to stamp "B A F" standing literally for Belgian Air Force :D. It's a bit crude, like a Belgian writing the Royal Air Force as "FAR".
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Well, what a lot of nonsense, It depends who was contracted with the actual supply! The broad arrow was applied during manufacture!
I suggest you read the AC/135 Guide to the NATO Codification System...and how they are to be marked!
Then you should read up how, where and when and the story behind the Belgian Air Force and how they are situated within the NATO!
Apart from that the watch has been previously scrutinised here, where this was posted;
http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic...7997&p=1517933This is what I was told it was and Richard @ Silverman's elaborated on. What is for certain according to him, was that there were 2 separate orders for these (1999-2001) and the ones that were actually issued were marked BAF (Belgian Air Contingent), and issued to UK air crew operating in Bosnia during that time.
My interest in this model began a little over a year ago when a well worn example on a tatty nato was being sold by a former aircrew who had served in Bosnia on ebay along with some of his old kit. That was the first I ever saw of this model and the BAF marking. I missed the outcome of the auction by a few quid and with my curiosity tweaked, began to find out more about these and sent an email to Silverman's who confirmed their existence and the what the markings meant. It was out of that conversation that I learned they had a few left and asked if it would be possible to buy one of these unissued left overs.
I was also told that there was a special metal bracelet made for this watch but there were no samples left at the factory..
Anyhow, it is what it is but NOT issued..just a left over from the original order..
Cheers,
Konrad
http://www.mil.be/aircomp/index.asp?LAN=fr
Recent operations
Belgian Air Component F-16 in Brno
In January 1991, 18 Mirage 5 aircraft of the 3rd Tactical Wing were deployed to Turkey's Diyarbak?r air base. During this operation, Belgian planes carried out several flights along the Iraqi border. After this operation the obsolete Mirage 5's were phased out.
On 15 July 1996, a C-130 with serial CH-06 carrying 37 members of the Dutch Army Fanfare Band and four crew crashed at Eindhoven after a birdstrike while executing a go-around, resulting in the loss of power to three engines. 34 Dutch soldiers were killed, and only 7 survived.
From October 1996, the Belgian Air Force cooperated with the Dutch Royal Air Force in the Deployable Air Task Force in patrolling former Yuguslavian airspace. F-16's of the 2nd and 10th Tactical Wings, operating from the Italian bases of Villafranca and Amendola, were assigned to missions insuring the control of a No-Fly Zone over Yugoslavia, and providing the air support necessary for UN and NATO troops. Between March 24 and June 10, 1999, 12 Belgian F-16s carried out 679 combat sorties - the first time since the second World War that Belgian aircraft took part in active war operations in enemy territory - against Serbia during the Kosovo crisis. The last Belgian F-16 detachment left Italy in August 2001.
Which is what I supposed :roll:. Though I still find it strange that they would keep the broad arrow on the back, and not strike or grind it out.
It's not called the "Belgian Air Force" any more, not even in the Anglosphere :). Back then, I guess they were, but I also believe one of NATO's official languages is French. (NATO's European HQ is in Belgium, after all.) So it also seems strange that a French-speaking force within NATO would stamp the initials of its force in English - unless someone in England did it for them.Then you should read up how, where and when and the story behind the Belgian Air Force and how they are situated within the NATO!
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
If you were to say French was the main Language used, you´d cause a riot...The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well.
Close to 60% of the country's population speaks Dutch as their primary (Belgian) language.[1] Though the standard form of Dutch used in Belgium is almost identical to that spoken in the Netherlands and the different dialects spread across the border, it is often colloquially called "Flemish".
The second-most spoken primary (Belgian) language, used natively by almost 40% of the population, is French.[1] It is the official language of the French Community (which, like the Flemish Community, is a political entity), the dominant language in Wallonia (having also a small German-speaking Community) as well as the Brussels-Capital Region. Almost all of the inhabitants of the Capital region speak French as either their primary language (50%) or as a lingua franca (45%).[2][3] There are also many Flemish people who speak French as a second language. Belgian French is in most respects identical to standard, Parisian French, but differs in some points of vocabulary, pronunciation, and semantics.
German is the least prevalent official language in Belgium, spoken natively by less than 1% of the population. The German-speaking Community of Belgium numbers 71,000, residing in an area of Belgium that ceded by the former German Empire as part of the Treaty of Versailles, which concluded World War I. In 1940, Nazi Germany re-annexed the region following its invasion of Belgium during World War II.
all to be read here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Belgium
Does anyone know what movement is used in this watch? I have the civi version which has the Ronda 5030.D movement but the subdials are different on the issued version. Just wondering.
EDIT: The NSN on the BAF watch contains the UK country code 99 so presumably (?) the watches in question were originally manufactured for the UK MoD and the issue number added after the NSN number
I have also noticed my civi version has the same NSN ie 6645-99 814-9181 with "issue" number above the NSN of Cxxx/05. (Is the C for civilian I wonder?).
Kind regards
Dave
De Gaulle said 'Belgium is a country invented by the English to annoy the Frencn'.
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