British watchmakers Bremont, who were the winners of the best emerging British luxury brand in 2008, has launched the limited edition P-51, a chronograph chronometer with a difference because it is built with original parts from a 1944 Mustang WWII aircraft P-51K-10, an aircraft which served in the Pacific war and which bore the legend “Fragile but Agile”.
The Bremont P-51
Original aluminium from the fuselage is integrated into both the dial and the movement of the timepiece. As a further tribute to the Mustang P-51K-10, the dial is inspired by the clocks found in the aircraft. The 43mm hardened steel Trip-Tick case uses Bremont’s B-EBE2000 technology. This is a process in production whereby the metal is bombarded with electrons, increasing the hardness by a factor of nine compared with normal stainless steel used in watch cases, so the watch itself is not so fragile at all.
The case also integrates the new rotating ‘Roto-Click’ inner bezel that houses four ball-bearings inside the case. As with many of Bremont’s latest watch designs, the P-51 is assembled in England rather than at their workshop in Biel-Bienne in Switzerland, and houses a modified Swiss BE-54A automatic chronometer movement that also shows UTC time.
The Mustang P-51K-10 (serial number 44-12016) from which the aluminium was taken for the production of the watches, rolled off the North American Aviation assembly line in Dallas, Texas, on December 18, 1944, 3 years and 11 days after the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese. It was sent to the Far East to take part in the American campaign to retake the Philippine Islands from the Japanese.
On arrival in the Pacific Theatre, the aircraft was assigned to the 342nd Fighter Squadron of the 348th Fighter Group, stationed at the San Marcelino airbase, just north of Manila Bay. Lt. Bert Lee Jr. was assigned to fly the aircraft and was credited with two confirmed victories during the war, which accounts for the two Japanese flags painted below his name on the plane. One was a Japanese A6M “Zero” fighter near Manila and the other a twin-engine “Betty” bomber.
Needless to say, with only 251 of the watches being made, getting hold of one is going to be tougher than outmaneouvering the Mustang itself. It will retail for around £7,450 or US$11,900 in the USA. The watch will be unveiled at Basel 2011 and released in the autumn.
