This next historical watch goes back to this photo which maybe related to the watch from best guesses at this point.
It is one of the Sparrowhawks as you might remember being delivered to the Imperial Japanese Navy. Note that this is
another similar photo to the one that is floating about on the internet. That photo is in an Autrailian Air Museum.
This photo is a second photo also taken at the same time and place in England at the Gloucesteshire Gloster Aircraft Company.
Note: The aircraft does not have the hinomaru (Red Sun) painted on it yet.
This is what the aircraft will eventually look like.
As you have read in my earlier posts, this is one of the Sparrowhawks that during the experimental phase was being launched from battleships and aircraft tenders.
This story would be nothing more than a repeat of the Mark V I found earlier this year if it wasn't for the fact that I found another unusual find.
This is another 1920s pocket watch issued to the Imperial Japanese Navy.
It has some really interesting details of which the IJN markings are of course the most impressive.
The style of the kanji characters is unmistakeably Japanese imitating the brush strokes of calligraphy artists.
This is the kaisho style of writing. In the Japanese military you often see kaisho and reisho style which helps authenticate
genuine markings as most Westeners do not know the different kanji styles and choose the wrong styles or period for fakes
or simply make childrens scratch marks that are complete nonsense.
The 1910s-1920s was a period of incredibly rapidly changing times for the development of aircraft. We started with
designs that looked like Di Vinci's imagination of a flying machine to actual motorized kits that could barely lift a man.
To armies of these bi-planes.
And so too did the watches. You can see many different stages of evolution of the flight clocks in this advertisement.
You can also see some of the other purposes the watch makers were using to sell their newly developed aviator chronographs.
Some of the examples on pilots. Now I don't want to mislead you into thinking I found a Russian Pilots Longines, but they
are interesting to point out that aviation by WW1 had evolved to the point that pilots needed chronographs.
No, my watch is not a Longines. It is distinctly British. As we know the Sempill Mission was a major turning point
in Japanese aviation history.
The Mark IV and Mark V were the watch/clocks installed on the early biplanes. Many biplanes of which were sold to the IJN.
So here was a curious maker that I had not paid much attention to until now.
There is a distinct relationship between the S.Smith&Son Co and the makers of the IJN Sparrowhawk and possibly other models.
And this is the best evidence of them all. The Gloster Sparrowhawk is a Gloster Mars which is a Nieuport
And it was the fastest fighter plane of it's time
The pictures below are the Sparrowhawk and the world's first aircraft carrier, both designed with British help.
Where's the watch? I've kept you waiting long enough. This is a major discovery in my opinion.
And what is it exactly? It is an Edouard Heuer.
We found one of the first ever created Imperial Japanese Navy aviation chronographs made by Ed Heuer sold by the aircraft instrument maker S.Smith&Son that built the instrumentation for the Gloster Mars aircrafts. I have not found evidence of the instruments onboard the Sparrowhawks but maybe that is very likely at this point. After several weeks of research, it appears I may need to start contacting more sources to findout about the Sparrowhawk instrumentation. I don't beleive any Sparrowhawk still exists.
But, at least we know the Nieuports/Gloucestershire/Gloster are all the same aircraft.
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😀
