I have been eyeing on this extremely rare single-button Lemania chronograph for several years. What makes this watch particularly rare and distinctive is that this Lemania watch was one that was delivered to the navy use during the mid-1960s to coincide with the commissioning of the United Kingdom's first nuclear submarine. For this reason the dial and handset features no luminous compound, which would have been radium based and so could have interfered with the radiation sensors on-board.
The general shape of these watches evolved over time to become asymmetrical (in order to protect the push piece), but the movements remained almost identical in their construction.
This one here is part of the third series of military mono-pushers delivered to the British military and it looks a little different to the others. They were made with black dials and luminous compound on the dial and hands, which is exactly what you want if you're about to cross into enemy lines at night, but isn't as well-suited for missions on a military submarine that's equipped with highly sensitive radiation detectors. The Navy, therefore, requested a small batch of watches without any luminous compound on the dial.
These Nuclear Submariner’s chronographs were produced in very small numbers and are one of the most highly sought after of all military watches.The single button operates the chronograph (stop-watch function) - the button in turn starts, stops and resets the chronograph. There is an elapsed minute counter, which allows for timing intervals up to 30 minutes.
Lemania has supplied chronographs for the Royal Navy for use by pilots and navigators in the late 1940s and Lemania continued supplying them until the early 1960s. The watches evolved over the years.
Back to some history. The first British nuclear-powered submarine was commissioned in 1963; at that time the Royal Navy was using Lemania chronographs which had been issued from 1945 onwards, starting with the Series 1 and 2 watches with a round case until 1955, and then the Series 3 with an asymmetric case from 1957 until 1970.
To meet the new need for non-luminous watches a number of existing Lemanias were converted from lumed versions (which generally had a black dial) by fitting a white un-lumed dial and non-luminous black metal hands. The NSN was then re-marked by crossing out the 3306 and marking 3312 above it. These very rare and special watches were issued to crew of the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines from the early 1960s until around 1990.
This Lemania Series III Royal Navy Nuclear Submarine Non-Lume Chronograph is from c.1964.
For safety reasons, the radiation levels onboard nuclear submarines needed to be constantly monitored. Consequently, no luminous material was applied to the dial and hands of these chronographs so as not to affect the readings of the onboard radiation monitoring equipment.
Other than the absence of any luminous material, the Lemania Series III chronographs issued to crew of the Royal Navy’s nuclear fleet were essentially the same as those issued to pilots of the Fleet Air Arm.
The Lemania Series III differs from its earlier predecessors Series 2 in that it features an asymmetrical case with an integrated crown and pusher and is powered by a rhodium-plated shock-resistant version of the 15CHT known as the calibre 2220.
The vast majority of the Lemania Series III watches issued to the Royal Navy were assigned the NATO stock number 0552/924-3306. However, and as can be seen with the watches issued to nuclear submarine crew had the last four digits replaced with the number “3312”, which refers to the dial and hands being non-luminous.
Sadly, the Lemania watch company is no longer in existence as it has been bought by Breguet in 1992. So the Lemania watch brands has become something of a cult brand in recent years and its watches are very much cherished by collectors.
Lemania supplied many different armed forces around the world - their movements are very solidly constructed and keep excellent time, making them a good fit for a rugged life in the services.
The Lemania company specialised in the production of chronographs (watches with a built-in stopwatch function). Chronographs are inherently complicated things to manufacture and for this reason, many watch companies brought in movements from specialists like Lemania. They supplied, amongst others, Omega (the movement that powered the first watch on the moon was made by Lemania), and luxury brands Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe. Because Lemania often supplied movements to other brands (for which they were uncredited), watches which are signed by Lemania are especially prized.
It is believed only a few hundred Lemania Series III Non-Lume Chronographs were ever issued and good original examples are very rare and seldom offered for sale.
The case back has the original military markings: 0552/924 is the stores code for a chronograph wristwatch, 3306 denotes a black, luminous dial. This is stuck out and re-engraved with 3312 which is the code for the Nuclear Submariner’s chronograph with no luminous compound and a white dial. The number below, 80xxx is the unique identifier for this particular watch.
The nuclear submarine fleet was small and so obviously the overall issue was small too. These watches would only have been issued to those whose job on-board involved making timing observations.
The nuclear submarine fleet was small and so obviously the overall issue was small too. These watches would only have been issued to those whose job on-board involved making timing observations.
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