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jimmyd13
·Hi folks,
It's been a very long time since I started a thread here but I have spent a couple of hours this morning writing a piece on one of the rarest watches that have ever crossed my path and I thought some of you might enjoy it. Now, for transparency, I wrote this because the watch is going up for sale but I have cropped the piece to remove all references and this is purely for reference and information. So here goes ....
I found this watch in something of a poor state at auction and just had to have it. I had to bring it back to life and wear it and ...
Let's try to explain this watch: in the late 50s, Lemania developed a variation on their monopusher chronograph to facilitate the easy synchronisation of watches between a group of people. Those people were artillery personnel in the Swedish Army. The Swedes gave the watch the designation "TG195" and the "Time Giver" was born. The TG195 has a 12 hour, black, dial; asymmetrical case to protect the crown and pusher (the same they had used for the RAF); fixed bars; screw down caseback; inner dust cover; magnetic resistance and so on. It was, is, an incredibly tough tool watch that is in great demand.
Lemania offered the watch to other countries and with slight variations but it didn't seem to be adopted. Lemania's records have been lost and diluted over the years as the maker was sold but there is a good possibility that they supplied some of these watches to the South African government. There doesn't seem to be any civilian version but there are some examples with sterile casebacks and dials (ie. No Swedish Army markings). These may have come from South Africa.
This has to be the easiest watch in the world to set or alter the time. Pressing the pusher disengages the hands and resets the sweep hand to 12 o clock. It also moves the crown to the setting position. This allows you to change the displayed time. Depressing the crown then restarts the watch. This allows a room full of people to set all their watches to exactly the same time in just a few moments. Alternately, it would allow someone to quickly synchronise to a radio signal. It's something you find yourself playing with and explaining to everyone who asks. And they do ask. This is a very noticeable watch as looks as unique as it is.
There is another strange thing that this watch does: it changes your perception of the day. It actually affects the way you see your time. You see, 6am is at the 3 o clock position. You feel like the whole day is ahead of you. 6pm is at the 9 o clock position which sort of makes you want to wind down. Until you experience it, it is hard to understand how your view of the day changes and then you realise how the man made concept of measuring time affects our lives. This watch changes you. (OK, that's probably a little too prosaic but it's really cool).
Hope you enjoyed.
SJ
It's been a very long time since I started a thread here but I have spent a couple of hours this morning writing a piece on one of the rarest watches that have ever crossed my path and I thought some of you might enjoy it. Now, for transparency, I wrote this because the watch is going up for sale but I have cropped the piece to remove all references and this is purely for reference and information. So here goes ....
I found this watch in something of a poor state at auction and just had to have it. I had to bring it back to life and wear it and ...
Let's try to explain this watch: in the late 50s, Lemania developed a variation on their monopusher chronograph to facilitate the easy synchronisation of watches between a group of people. Those people were artillery personnel in the Swedish Army. The Swedes gave the watch the designation "TG195" and the "Time Giver" was born. The TG195 has a 12 hour, black, dial; asymmetrical case to protect the crown and pusher (the same they had used for the RAF); fixed bars; screw down caseback; inner dust cover; magnetic resistance and so on. It was, is, an incredibly tough tool watch that is in great demand.
Lemania offered the watch to other countries and with slight variations but it didn't seem to be adopted. Lemania's records have been lost and diluted over the years as the maker was sold but there is a good possibility that they supplied some of these watches to the South African government. There doesn't seem to be any civilian version but there are some examples with sterile casebacks and dials (ie. No Swedish Army markings). These may have come from South Africa.
This has to be the easiest watch in the world to set or alter the time. Pressing the pusher disengages the hands and resets the sweep hand to 12 o clock. It also moves the crown to the setting position. This allows you to change the displayed time. Depressing the crown then restarts the watch. This allows a room full of people to set all their watches to exactly the same time in just a few moments. Alternately, it would allow someone to quickly synchronise to a radio signal. It's something you find yourself playing with and explaining to everyone who asks. And they do ask. This is a very noticeable watch as looks as unique as it is.
There is another strange thing that this watch does: it changes your perception of the day. It actually affects the way you see your time. You see, 6am is at the 3 o clock position. You feel like the whole day is ahead of you. 6pm is at the 9 o clock position which sort of makes you want to wind down. Until you experience it, it is hard to understand how your view of the day changes and then you realise how the man made concept of measuring time affects our lives. This watch changes you. (OK, that's probably a little too prosaic but it's really cool).
Hope you enjoyed.
SJ
