I had posted this in another forum but thought it may be of interest to others at OF. The Jacques Bianchi "Armée de Terre" watch. This watch was issued to divers in the French Army (note, not the Navy - or better known to mil collectors as "MN/Marine Nationale") - les plongeurs de l'Armée de Terre. There were two basic groups - the SAF (spécialistes d'aide au franchissement) and the TSIO (travaux subaquatiques/intervention offensive). The SAF had duties that included specialization in assisting with armored crossings, mine clearance, and recon missions in "dirty" water, or inner waters, rivers, lakes, and sewage. The TSIO were a specialized subgroup of the SAF, who were known as combat divers. The history of these watches started in 1992, at the CEPAT (Centre Ecole de Plongée de l'Armée de Terre or the main Army Diving School). The Captains of CEPAT put together the specs/standards for the eventual contract. In a French forum, one of the moderators happened to work in the J Bianchi workshop (atelier) in Marseilles, France, during the time the French army let out the contract. The Bianchi workshop was (and still is) quite a large outfit who handled all the dive watches of the French army/navy, including COMEX watches. He describes Mr Bianchi having designed the watch with the following characteristics in mind: shock resistance, oversized bezel (for that time), special notches on the bezel to make it easier for gloves to handle, satin finished to reduce reflections, maximal amount of tritium on the dial, and topped with a nylon perlon bracelet with a special buckle. Bianchi sent 3 prototypes to the French army for testing, along with other competitors for the contract. Two protos were completely destroyed. Bianchi finally won the contract and the army put in an initial order for 300 watches, which were delivered in May, 1993. Following that, the army requested two additional orders (delivered through the end of 1994), for a total of 1000 watches delivered. The watches were to be issued to divers when they were first assigned to the units. If they changed to another part of the army, the watches were to be returned and re-issued to new divers. These watches were supposedly never decommissioned nor sold to the public. And, contrary to the MN who kept all record-keeping of assets in a central location (in Lorient and Toulon), the Bianchis were registered within each individual diving unit. There were 16 individual diving units, thus, it's virtually impossible to completely trace a watch's history. Here's the example that I just picked up. Unfortunately, it didn't have the original perlon strap. I just put on a MN parachute strap. However, according to some, the watches from the first order came with these elastic parachute straps. This is a very substantial watch, considering it was made in the early 90s. When showing it to other watch enthusiasts, it's the first thing they notice. And solid, very solid. I do note the satin finish, the large bezel with substantial grooves (which I could imagine diving gloves easily gripping), nice large lume dots and lots of lume on the hands. Supposedly, the original batch had a protruding crystal, which were promptly replaced with a flat crystal. Here's a shot of the caseback, showing the two star CETEHOR (CEntre TEchnique de l'industrie HORlogere) engraving and an manufacture date of November 1994. Mine is number 1XX. These watches were not only made to be worn but they were also made to be put on an underwater navigation board. (Photos from the internet.) A couple of other interesting observations about the watch: - The movement is an ETA 2824 (throughout all batches). The width (without crown) is 42mm. - The first order/batch had tritium lume. Later batches/orders had luminova. Mine is from the later order. - Each hour index on the dial doubles up with the military/24h clock. - Unidirectional bezel with 60 clicks. Minute markers extend throughout the entire bezel. As mentioned, large serrated bezel designed to allow for easy grip with gloves. Lastly, it's worth mentioning these are the REAL DEAL military issued watches. They are (supposedly) difficult to find as they were never released to the public. Personally, I feel they are under the radar as they've been mainly found in France (and that's how I got mine). That fact allowed me to get a real issued mildiver at a very reasonable price. I hope you've enjoyed this little history on a pretty obscure mildiver. NB: The info on this watch is scattered throughout the web and I just tried to consolidate into a single spot. Much of the info is found in French watch forums, so the translation has already been done for you. However, I must give credit to: mwrforum.net/forums/showthread.php?65741-Bianchi-Arm%E9e-de-Terre-vintage-french-army-diver forumamontres.forumactif.com/t18362-montres-bianchi forumamontres.forumactif.com/t68135-la-montre-des-plongeurs-de-larmee-de-terre-la-bianchi-300#942121[/QUOTE]
Great find and thank you for the very insightful research. Interesting these watches designed for a single purpose still have date windows. When you're swimming in sewage you just gotta know the date!!
Great write up and a very interesting piece. I particularly like the pics of the watch in the instrumental panel. True tool / instrument watch.
I was fortunate enough to have done Nageur Recce (Recce Swimmer) in Calvi, Corsica, Plongeur De Bord [basic Navy Diver] at St Mandrier outside Toulon and then the CTE & CT1 SAF (basic and team leader) at La Valbonne [CEPAT] just outside Lyon in the late eighties; as you say there was no officially issued watch that I was aware of - I can't for the life of me remember what was on the swim-boards - but I noticed the Citizen ProMaster (or similar) was used by the Navy instructors a lot. My company back in the regiment was specialised in all things amphibious and in that era most of the guys had personal Submariners - a good watch of course but I remember three failing at once on one particular land-locked tour abroad - I think they missed the water! ETA - Oh, by the way, the strap comes from the reserve parachute elastic and I saw them used late-eighties but on an ad-hoc basis. My watch at the time was a Seiko 7A28-7040 which did very well and still runs to this day with only 1 service in its life!
Great write up, thank you. Here are photos of one I saw at a military watch meeting this year, owned by a good friend from Paris. Could you translate the divers notes for us?
I'm assuming the numbering refers to the 3 different pieces on the board (with the #3 faded?). I'm not ex-military, let alone French military, but it seems to be a listing of "action". One would have to talk to the owner to pinpoint what Region(s) the board is referring to.
It says : Way back 1: - Go past 2e dock -go left side of it -go south bound 2: -Go to the extremity -Take right side of the buoy - Go left side -go by the dock -go sought bound -come from the outside of the dam -double check the glowstick is there -go past the dam (?? and count the plots??) -Take the glowstick -Back heading (W-15 ) time.
Brilliant, thank you. As there is a glow stick mentioned, it sounds like a training dive rather than "real action" Still very cool indeed though. C
I used to own one of these. It certainly looked like it had been to war or at least training a lot for it. Very nice watch and story.
Very interesting writeup. Stumbled over it, when looking for some history info on MN divers after I bought this one (which only got an MN diver in its second life, after Auricoste bought the license from Tag Heuer). Still looking for more info or a list of MN divers though, so if anybody knows, please point me to it! Thanks, Daniel
On the swim-boards, I don't know what this one refers to but at the end of the IO course ('Infiltration Offensive' - I think it's called something else nowadays) the guys were expected to remember [not write] and execute up to ten successive 'caps', caps are 'bearing + time'. The depth had to be maintained at (iirc) 7m as they were on rebreathers and O2 becomes toxic much below that. Pace had to be consistent (to gauge distance). Usually one swimmer concentrated on 'cap' navigation and the second positioned himself above and slightly behind to look forward for obstacles and check pace and depth. Long autonomy was about 3 hours. It's a tough old course.