Another Old post from 2017..
Saturday, May 06, 2017
Jardur Pilot Chronograph watch 1940s
The Jardur Import Company was started by Samuel Klepper in New York City N.Y. in 1937. It was located at 874 Broadway in the McIntyre Building. In 1945, based on the production of various aviation and flight accessories, the company changed their names to the Jardur Aviation Company.
This was an accident buy as I was doing my usual weekend hunting and saw this lovely piece that looks like a Type XX. I have traded my vintage Seiko Bullhead plus cash top up for this Jardur Chronograph. From my search, the case number 29747 should be from the early 1940s as case nos 49460 is from 1945 and case number 56879 is from 1947. Following my whats-app conversation with my friend, the Jardur chronograph has an important role in aviation.
This was an accident buy as I was doing my usual weekend hunting and saw this lovely piece that looks like a Type XX. I have traded my vintage Seiko Bullhead plus cash top up for this Jardur Chronograph. From my search, the case number 29747 should be from the early 1940s as case nos 49460 is from 1945 and case number 56879 is from 1947. Following my whats-app conversation with my friend, the Jardur chronograph has an important role in aviation.
1941 Jardur Bezelmeter. This watch is a real piece of Aviation History Jardur Bezelmeter, a watch ahead of his time. The Bezelmeter, was designed for pilots. It was essentially a cockpit instrument for the wrist. Two features incorporated in the design give clear evidence of this intent. The bezel on the case is an independent chapter ring graduated in counter clockwise hours. Rotating the ring to align the mission duration hours with the hour hand on the dial at take off gives the pilot a quick reference of the flight time remaining during any point in the mission.
This watch has the nicest hands of any watch from the mid century ear I have ever seen, reminiscent of the Smiths aircraft clocks these hands are known as Cathedral hands with a tear drop nose on the hour hand. The Arabic numbers were made of solid lume.
The dial is essentially a 12 hour recording chronograph with 30 minute elapsed time recorder on the right. It also can track a second time zone with the 12 hour bezel by setting an offset to the hour hand of the actual time. These things are essential to a pilot from that area for both calculating way points for fuel stops and setting the 2nd time zone for crossing from one to another.
A Tachymetre on the outside edge and 60 sec counter around the center including the sub-dials.The second feature is the red degreemeter scale on the dial, which is graduated from 0 to 180. The Aircraft have control settings to produce a standard turns rate of 3 degrees/sec, meaning that the chronograph function can be used to measure the amount of turn.This is a large watch particularly for one that is 70 + years old, watches just weren’t made this big then but now it is just right.
The case is a very sturdy and solid stainless steel design and flat industrial brushed sides, underside of which one lug has the case number 592, something you don’t see very much but a feature of several pre War military watches. The bezel has a sharp coin edge that is perfect and is brushed and engraved with Arabic 12 hour, filled in black with the aviation symbol triangle in red at 12 o’clock.
The Jardur Import Company was started by Samuel Klepper in New York City N.Y. in 1937. It was located at 874 Broadway in the McIntyre Building. In 1945, based on the production of various aviation and flight accessories, the company changed their names to the Jardur Aviation Company.
After creating their signature Jardur model, the Bezelmeter, they began selling their watches in United States Army and Navy Post Exchanges (PX). The Jardur private label was never commissioned for any military branch, however, many aviators and military personnel wound up possessing one of these Swiss made watches.
Jardur distributed its watches and navigational flight plotters exclusively to the military through post exchanges and ships stores, clear evidence that the Jardur watch company regarded their watches as professional tools. Samuel was a pilot and the watches he designed were for a special class of users for whom the management of time was an important element of their profession.
All the watches in the blog belongs to me unless otherwise stated.
