Why We Love It

At Analog/Shift we love military watches, why? Well, it's quite hard to find a watch that have more stories to tell than one that has been in the battlefields.

This Lemania RAF Monopusher Chronograph was made for the Royal Air Force, and then for the Royal Navy. The Luminous markers and hands were perfect during nighttime missions.

At the heart of this asymmetric case watch beats the Lemania Caliber 2220, in which all functions of the chronograph mechanism--start, stop, and reset--are engaged by a single pusher. For a movement intended for military use, the Caliber 2220 is quite elegant to look at, with the same artful symmetry as the dial. 

Versatile and reliable, the Lemania 6BB saw twenty years of service before being discontinued in the 1970s. Ours, with the case back designation "662/56," was the 662nd issued in 1956.

Let's face it, this particular timepiece has seen combat, and will weather the battles of civilian life just as faithfully as it did in wartime. 

The Story

Lemania, established in 1884 by Alfred Lugrin, is perhaps one of the most recognizable names in the vintage chronograph market. At  and at his own manufacture, which he ran under his own name, Lugrin gained a reputation for expertise and the soundness of his èbauches, particularly chronographs. After his death, it was under his son-in-law Maurice Meylan's leadership that the manufacture became Lemania and moved to L'Orient. In 1932, Lemania joined Omega and Tissot to form SSIH (Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogére SA). It was this relationship--particularly with Omega--that would result in the creation of some of the most iconic calibers in horological history, like the Lemania 1873 (or Omega Caliber .861) found in the legendary .

Like many manufacturers, Lemania also equipped watches to the world's militaries, including those of Sweden, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. For many collectors, they encapsulate the essence of "tool watch" in their most elemental form--if for no other reason than that they were built to be issued to sailors, soldiers, and airmen and brought into some of the harshest environments possible. Their stark, no-frills designs were universally practical and rugged, intended for maximum utility.