Bulova
us army airborne ord-dept - band of brothers

US military watch Bulova cal-10 from the second world war. Bulova, like Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin, were urgently requested by the US State Department to produce during the formidable American war effort initiated after the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Cal-10 type ord dept watches for the US and allied armed forces. Some models, such as the A-11, were produced specifically for the air corps (solid and painted metal needles), the others for using the ground forces (generally with hands enriched with radium).

One of these models produced during the Second World War is the watch presented here and available in our shop in Aix en Provence: the Cal 10 "ord dept 1917 soldier watch" model. These watches (also famous in the cinema in many productions such as the longest day or the band of brothers series) were intended for non-aeronautical personnel and were available with black or white dials, almost all equipped with small seconds counters at six hours at the bottom of the dial.

The characteristics of the call for tenders for this watch were intended to standardize the watch production expected by the United States army to simplify maintenance and, above all, to be perfectly suitable for the desired use, whatever the theatre of operations. At the beginning of the conflict in which the United States was precipitated, two fronts were under pressure from the axis forces: the European theatre, with a temperate or cold climate, and the pacific theatre, which has only the name, with its legendary humidity and its monsoon periods.

The chosen solution will be a simple and precise watch equipped with a manual winding movement (for ease of maintenance), fifteen jewels or more (for high tolerance to shocks and vibrations), small permanent seconds (to see at any time that the watch is in operation and therefore displays the real-time). Furthermore, it will also feature a winder which allows it to be manipulated easily with gloves, a luminescent dial and hands (luminous enough to be readable in the dark) and a white dial and black inscriptions easily read during periods of darkness or facing sunlight.