Adanac Military Diver

.






In the late eighties, both the USAF and Canadian Armed Force had issued these tough looking Adanac watches to their service members. The one pictured in this review was issued by USAF in 1988. It's an interesting watch because it has "Adanac" written on the dial but the case is signed "Gallet". Not only that, the watch was actually produced under government contract by Marathon Watch Co. based in Ontario, Canada.


The styling of the watch is very similar, if not identical, to USAF issue Marathon Military Pilot's Watch that I had reviewed earlier. Adanac is the predecessor to that model, albeit without the tritium vials. A careful reader might have noticed that "Adanac" is Canada spelled backwards. I've been told that it's an old Canadian joke. And these Adanac's were quite popular such that they have made its way into the European scene, with some of the English troops who got these watches issued to them.


The watch has an unusual 0-11 marked bidirectional bezel, which makes it look like a hybrid of diver's and pilot's watches. Some prefer to call it simply a navigator's watch. Anyway, it has a screw-down crown, has fixed bars that takes a 20mm black nylon band, and is water resistant to 660 feet, which pretty much qualifies it as a military diver's watch.


Dial has the usual 24 hour markings found on many military watches. The hour and minute hands are applied with rectangular shaped tritium paint. The second hand is applied with tritium at its tip. Hour indexes on the dial and the zero position on the bezel are also tritium coated. The Adanac shown here has H3 and radioative propeller markings on the dial. There exists a version of Adanac with these H3 markings omitted.


The large stainless steel case, made by Gallet, measures 47.8MM lug to lug and 43.8MM across the crown diameter. It houses a Swiss made quartz movement. There is a separate latch (which you can open with a coin) for replacing batteries, so you do not have to unscrew the entire caseback.


Caseback is marked with the following military stock codes:

GALLET AND CO
6645-01-150-8115
211
F41608-85-D-0179
April 1988

via : Hyunsuk's Military Watch



.

Vintage Military Watches

.




Benrus - near mint stainless steel signed one piece case (40mm diameter, [sterile back]) with serial number, fixed bars, rotating outer bezel, correct plain screw down crown with dash, originally waterproof to 150 meters, [another view]. near mint unsigned black dial with luminous markers, luminous hands & sweep seconds, correct crystal. 17 jewel signed full rotor automatic [movement] correct caliber GS1 D2, Hack setting, Rare Benrus Type I "Sterile" Aka the "CIA watch" presumably for covert operations with no markings indicating the country of origin, lovely example.


Glycine - near mint stainless steel signed round screw case w/ lock down rotating 24 hour bezel (36mm diameter), correct cross hatch pattern winding crown & plain (correct) lock down crown, another. near mint signed black dial with luminous Arabic numerals (original), sweep seconds, aperture for date at 3 o'clock. 17 jewel full rotor automatic (A.S. 1700/01, true 24hr movement, still hacks through a small hole at 24:00), Vietnam era favorite, early production - Glycine "Airman" with true 24 hour movement, still hacking (most of the hacking mechanisms on these watches are trashed).


Tudor - near mint stainless steel signed round screw back case with 1982 Marine Nationale (39mm, reference 94010, serial #937,582), Rolex signed crown, another, no evidence of ever having had a bracelet (these were generally used on diving boards). mint signed original black dial with rounds and trangular luminous markers, sweep seconds, heavy leather strap and [French Navy decommission papers] matching that of case serial number. 25 jewel signed full rotor automatic, hack set, ETA 2776, Rare black dial 1982 MN, issued by the French Navy in 1982 with decommissioning papers indicating it was retired from service in Sept. 1999 with easily the most military provenance of any Rolex product.


Alpina Kreigsmarine Military Watches Alpina - very good+ chrome and stainless steel signed round case (31mm, diameter, chrome mostly worn off), solid lug bars, plain crown, another. excellent signed silver dial (original) with painted black Arabic numerals, subsidiary seconds. 15 jewel signed manual wind, Scarce Alpina WWII "Kreigsmarine" German Navy service watch with original dial. Relatively few examples of these survive.

want to know more : classicwatch


.

Doxa Watches

.




Doxa S.A. is a Swiss company, founded in 1889, that manufactures watches. Doxa is best known for its dive watches.Doxa, founded in 1889 by George Ducommun, began as a maker of fine dress watches and other timepieces. Over the years, Doxa gained in size and branched out into other timekeeping markets.
In the late 1960s Doxa realized that diving was becoming more popular—especially given the success of early innovators like Rolex and Blancpain in the early 1950s.

Picture courtesy of : lesmala.net

In fact the success of Rolex's Submariner and Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms helped originate a market for followers such as Doxa. This may have been due to the efforts of Jacques Cousteau and increased general awareness of the sport. Doxa decided to devote resources to create a watch to be used for diving. Tests indicated that an orange face was more visible in murky water. Doxa also consulted with divers, including Cousteau, then chairman of "U.S. Divers," and Claude Wesly (a Cousteau companion and the first man to spend seven days thirty-three feet underwater). A staff of engineers and professional divers was assembled to create a watch with features important to the diving industry. The Sub300t was purchased in quantity by U.S. Divers, who resold the watch in the United States. It was an instant hit with divers and quickly sold out upon its introduction.

The Doxa Sub300t features an orange face to make it more visible in the water. It has a rotating bezel with the official US Navy air dive table for no-decompression dives engraved onto its surface. The watch could be used to calculate decompression times, and other information useful to divers. It was rated to work 300 meters below sea level, and later versions were introduced that could work up to 750 meters below sea level.

Other watchmakers then followed with similar bezels, as well as colorful and bright faces.
Soon after the introduction of the Sub300t, the Swiss watch industry was hard-hit economically by the quartz watch revolution. Accurate, reliable and small timepieces could now be made without the mechanical movements that the Swiss specialized in constructing. In response, Doxa joined a group of Swiss watchmakers to consolidate resources. This eventually failed and Doxa, after being sold, ceased operations in about 1980.

Picture courtesy of : lesmala.net

Recently, Doxa has been revived by the Jenny family of Switzerland, who owns the brand. Since August 2002, Doxa has introduced re-editions of its well known watches and timepieces in limited quantities. Many are faithful to their original models in design and construction, and all use Swiss movements.



First Orange Faced dive watch, Sub300t in 1967.
First watch with a rotating bezel to compute no-decompression times, Sub 300t, 1967
First Publicly Available Dive Watch with Helium Release Valve named the Conquistador. In certain diving situations, helium can penetrate the watch seals and cause a pressure buildup in the watch, eventually blowing the crystal off the watch face. Rolex, invented and introduced the first dive watches with a helium release valve in 1969, which prevented this helium buildup. While this was a major advance at the time, few actual watches with this feature were produced. Doxa introduced the Sub300t Conquistador in 1969 featuring a helium release valve.



According to the sales brochures and advertisements in Skin diver magazine, DOXA was the first watch company to introduce this device to the public for general sale. Rolex was manufacturing watches with the Helium Release Valve at the same time, but was only selling them to Commercial Diving Companies such as COMEX. Rolex offered the Sea Dweller with Helium Escape Valve to the public in 1972. Omega also eventually introduced a helium release valve, in its Seamaster watch.



In the media
The hero of the Dirk Pitt book series by author Clive Cussler wears an Orange faced Doxa watch and also in the movie Sahara an orange faced Doxa is worn by Dirk Pitt. In recognition of this Doxa have officially recognised Clive Cussler and presented him with a special watch.

.