A US Army Commissioned Wristwatch Gets a Remake as the Titoni Airmaster Pilot Chronometer

Titoni is an independent family-owned watch brand founded in 1919 by Fritz Schluep in Grenchen, Switzerland, now in the hands of great-grandsons Marc and Olivier Schluep. With a variety of contemporary collections and even an in-house automatic powering its Line 1919 dress watch collection, the genuine interest in this brand resides in its remakes of golden oldies. Marking the 80^th anniversary of a watch ordered by the US Army in 1945, Titoni releases the retro-inspired Airmaster Pilot Chronometer. With a balanced marriage of heritage features and contemporary specs, the Airmaster Pilot joins Titoni’s growing fleet of vintage-inspired models.

Unlike the Heritage 83109 and the Heritage Chronograph, which form part of the Heritage collection and have caught the eye of retro-styled watch fans, the Airmaster Pilot Chronometer shares a hangar with the more contemporary Airmaster collection. The Airmaster collection was, in fact, named after the brand’s all-purpose 1969 Airmaster, coinciding with the Moon landing.

From early on in its trajectory, Titoni looked beyond its Swiss borders and courted overseas clients in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Originally registered under the name Felca in 1919 and then Felca Watch S.A., one of the brand’s first international commissions came from the US Army Exchange Service/ European Theater of Operation on February the 1^st, 1945. The original order commissioned 30,000 “Ref. 1187 wristwatches, chromium cases – steel back – waterproof – push pins – screw bottom –  silvered dials with luminous Arabic figures – lever movements, 17 jewels, beryllium balance, flat hairsprings, Nivarox II…sweep seconds – strap good heavy grade leather with heavy push pin steel buckles”.

Interpreting the external features of the watch in more contemporary codes, the 43mm case is not chromium-plated but grade 5 titanium, weighing just 86 grams. Alternating matte finishes and polished areas are used on the case, which has a knurled crown for easy grip and is decorated with the brand’s plum blossom flower logo. Water-resistant to 100m, the crown has a double security system, and the sealed caseback has an embossed image of a 1940s pilot and a stylised propeller.

For the sake of legibility, the original order in 1945 specified “silvered dials with luminous Arabic figures”. Although we only have photographs of the black dial, there is a second option in a silvery-white colour. Similar to Panerai’s sandwich dials, the Airmaster has a dual-layered dial with the lower dial coated in beige vintage-style Super-LumiNova and the upper dial with cut-out Arabic numerals, hour markers and the triangle with two dots at noon. The hour and minute hands are also treated with SLN, and the central sweep seconds hand is brushed. A flat scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides protects the dial.

To shield the Sellita SW200-1 chronometer-certified calibre from magnetic fields up to 500 gauss, the movement is placed inside a soft iron casing, reducing magnetic disturbances provoked by everyday appliances. Beating at 4Hz, the movement delivers a 38-hour power reserve. The 1945 request for a “good heavy grade leather (strap) with heavy push pin steel buckles” has been respected, and the new Airmaster comes on a thick brown vegetable-tanned leather strap with square holes for the large pin buckle. The new Airmaster Pilot Chronometer retails for USD 2,300.

For more information, please visit titoni.ch.