Reply With QuoteThat looks really good.. I like the aged lume and red bezel.
Is the dial black or a really dark blue?
I bought this months ago from the US and basically thought I'd done my money as it never arrived. But it turned up a couple of days ago, and after a quick journey through the customs office, I finally got it home.
Not a big deal, but it does have something... I think:
- The Landeron movement is in wonderful condition for its age.
- Beautiful aged lume
- Fabulous hand-set
- Interesting history (Wittnauer: company started in the US by an émigré Swiss family, later had a relationship with Longines, they also made a model which was tested by NASA for use in space)
- Large diameter for its age (40mm with the crown)
- Bi-directional friction bezel with a really nice red(-ish) insert... looks bright red in some light, brown in other light.
- Strange 5 min countdown markers on the minute sub-dial
- Tachy scale... well, if it wasn't there then you'd wonder what to do with all that extra space :lol:
Any thoughts...?
Cheers,
-flugzeit
That looks really good.. I like the aged lume and red bezel.
Is the dial black or a really dark blue?
Looks really nice , would love to see it on a bracelet though :)
I had one, great watch, now wish I hadn't sold it :(
Dave
Originally Posted by flugzeit
I bought this months ago from the US and basically thought I'd done my money as it never arrived. But it turned up a couple of days ago, and after a quick journey through the customs office, I finally got it home.
Not a big deal, but it does have something... I think:
- The Landeron movement is in wonderful condition for its age.
- Beautiful aged lume
- Fabulous hand-set
- Interesting history (Wittnauer: company started in the US by an émigré Swiss family, later had a relationship with Longines, they also made a model which was tested by NASA for use in space)
- Large diameter for its age (40mm with the crown)
- Bi-directional friction bezel with a really nice red(-ish) insert... looks bright red in some light, brown in other light.
- Strange 5 min countdown markers on the minute sub-dial
- Tachy scale... well, if it wasn't there then you'd wonder what to do with all that extra space :lol:
Any thoughts...?
Cheers,
-flugzeit
Looks a bit bigger than 40mm... I like it !
It was definitely worth the wait :wink:
Interesting watch, but it needs to come off that nato.
Ah, well, I like that red bezel/Nato combo. How thick is it? Overall, I really like it. Thanks for the photos.
That's a handsome beast.
What's the deal with the counting down 5 minutes on the mins subdial or am I being thick (more likely)?
Lovely - nice one, the Wittnauers really stand out with that colouration to the bezel. Lovely lume too. Cool watch.
Five minute countdown will be for sailing - regatta timing.
They were the company that imported Longines into the US.
It failed the tests though :wink:
Nice looking watch. :)
Cheers,
Neil.
Here's a photo taken in different light
As I mentioned, the bezel colour seems to shift subtly between red, maroon, and brown depending on the light.
Well, it is a full 40mm across the case, but it has 20mm lug width so the lugs sweep inwards quite a bit and perhaps this gives the feeling of wearing smaller...
Point taken... but beggars can't be choosers... and I have to say, I think the aged honey colour lume suits this particular NATO.
Good question. These older handwinding chrono movements are often quite thin making them easy and comfortable to wear. This one is 10mm thick from bottom to the bezel, and 14mm to the top of the crystal (which is domed acrylic).
Not sure... and you're not being thick at all! I could probably do some research and find out... but if I was to take a guess, I would say that it is intended for something like the start of a sailing/yacht race or a regatta countdown (although these would usually have a 10 min countdown, I think). But, something like that I guess. It was probably completely obvious at the time this watch was produced but we lack this understanding from our viewpoint today.
-flugzeit
A fine example, congratulations 8)
Gray
:lol: :lol: True, but I wasn't claiming anything beyond them being tested.It failed the tests though :wink:
If I remember correctly, the final three candidates were: Wittnauer, Rolex, and Omega. As we all know, it was the latter maker whose watch was selected.
However, if you look here, apparently a Wittnauer was actually carried into space by Neil Armstrong during the Gemini 8 mission... so still something of a space connection. :wink:
-flugzeit
Very nice watch I hadn't seen one of those before.
I might be wrong (and please correct me if I am), but I think this is the model which was in the running for the Nasa selection.:lol: :lol: True, but I wasn't claiming anything beyond them being tested.It failed the tests though :wink:
If I remember correctly, the final three candidates were: Wittnauer, Rolex, and Omega. As we all know, it was the latter maker whose watch was selected.
Pretty sweet, IMO... :) It has the same handset as the one I've picked up (above) which was one of the main interests I had in this watch. I really love the huge, straight hands and the lume dot 'on steroids' on the seconds hand.
-flugzeit
Have you got a profile view to post? I'd love to see the domed crystal! [Sorry, you may have sent one, but it will be on the dead computer.]
Very cool watch that, I love the size of the lume dot on the seconds hand.
contrary to what others have said, I quite like the nato.
Jim, actually no. I ditched a bunch of photos which I didn't like. But, as it happens, I'm about to pull the crystal out and get it polished so there should be no shortage of photos of the crystal once that is done.
-flugzeit
Great, looking forward to that. Thanks.
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