The Jardur Company of 874 Broadway, New York were a manufacture of 'Avigation
Instruments as well as importers of the Jardur Bezelmeter and Super
Flightmaster aviation wrist watches and chronographs. Essentially in
the early days of flight someone had to provide the navigational
instruments, log books and elapsed time recorders to make long distance
flight possible and Jardur were one of those companies. I contacted
AOAPA to find out about Jardur and they didn't know anything. I looked
up the Pilgrim electric Corp. in the US business records as this is the
name on the bridge of these watches. (a parent company maybe)
So
I will tell you what I know, I have seen them sold from Australia to
Canada and from Africa to the USA. Always from an out of the way
address, way North Canada, North Africa, Outback Australia and the
Midwest USA. Places were this kind of aviation 'tool' would have been
used and then left in a draw. It is difficult in Britain to capture the
importance of correct timing as a navigational aid at a time when if
you ran out of fuel in Montana you may be over 100 miles in any
direction from the nearest person.
I have also seen these
watches sold having come from the estates of US Fortress Pilots based
over here in the UK during WWII and date engraved from 1945 belonging
to a Mustang P51 pilot.
Essentially i believe that this is the
watch that was used by pilots everywhere at that time as their log
books, flight computers and Navigational Plotters were often from
Jardur or Jardur - Warner as they became...........
IWC have recently made a watch celebrating the early French aviator Antoine de Saint Exupéry
who was a Mail and bush pilot in all of the French territories
from Tobruk to Saigon who wrote many a story of his epic flights. He was killed flying reconnaissance in a P38 Lightening
over the Mediterranean
in the Summer of 1944.
This watch is a real piece of Aviation History as well as being a very beautiful object.
This is a large watch particularly
for one that is 60 + years old, watches just weren't made this big then but now it is just right.
The
case is a very sturdy and solid stainless steel design, flat industrial
brushed sides with diving polished lugs underside of which one lug has
the case number 844, something you don't see very much but a feature of
several pre War military watches including the Czech Longines. The
bezel has a sharp coin edge that is perfect and is brushed and engraved
with Arabic 12 hour, filled in black with the aviation symbol triangle
in red at 12 o'clock. The case back is the only one I have seen which
is snap back but then the Super Flight Master watches i have seen
normally have a val.72 movement and a large screw in case back. I think
this is an early one as they moved from the sharper lugged 2 register
'Lemania' movement watches to the newer waterproof design.
remember
at this time notched screw down case backs were unusual as hardly any
watches were deemed waterproof. When this watch was disassembled for
servicing my watchmaker called me and asked me to pop in to see the
watch stripped down. What amazed my was that the 3 areas were water
could egress were the holes for the crown/stem and the chronograph
pushers. Well on this watch there are tubed shoulders soldered into the
holes made in the case by the extraneous function buttons. Through the
tubes the pushers and the stem them selves slide and a tight fit is
provided by the tubes being lined with cork to ensure water resistance.
Hence
the dial claim 'Waterproof', so yes that's right after 60 odd years the
cork lining that was moulded onto the interior of the protective
shoulders is lined with cork that is still there to this day.
Dimensions: Width 38mm (without crown) Depth 14mm Length 45.5mm
The
watch has a beautiful movement, a yellow gilt valjoux 71 12 hour manual
wind chronograph the forerunner of one of the best movements of all
time. The movement is very clean and has never had any rust with just a
slight discolouring of the gilt which is to be expected with a watch of
this age. My watchmaker has serviced this watch and it is running fine.
Now
the dial of this watch is something else, to begin with you hardly ever
see the dial in this condition, this watch is essentially a 12 hour
recording chronograph with 30 minute elapsed time recorder on the
right. It also can track a second time zone with the 24 hour bezel by
setting an offset to the hour hand of the actual time. These things are
essential to a pilot from that area for both calculating way points for
fuel stops and setting the 2nd time zone for crossing from one to
another.
The dial is gloss black with the registers being both
sunken and riven so as to show contrast at an angle making them stand
out on the complicated dial. The light colour printing is in a pale
gold guilt which includes a Tachymetre on the outside edge and 60 sec
counter around the centre including the sub-dials. The Arabic numbers
were made of solid lume and have aged into a mellow Khaki which looks
fantastic against the guilt The final amazing part of the dial is that
it has a marked 180 degrees ring like a protractor which can I imagine
give you a head while suing the watch as a rough compass aimed at the
sun. Just amazing.
This watch also has the nicest hands of any
watch from the mid century ear I have ever seen, reminiscent of the
Smiths aircraft clocks these hands are known as Catherdral hands with a
tear drop nose on the hour hand. Easy to see and in incredible
condition.
I
have matched the watch with a strap that I designed myself in the Mil
style with a narrow strip of rubber to keep it flexible. I may
manufacture these in the future but they are very expensive to produce.
It matches the style of these watches perfectly and I hope I can offer
them in the future. The watch comes in an ATG watch box as is my
standard custom.
Below
is a letter I obtained while researching this watch which shows the
Super Flightmaster in the letterhead and the date 1944. The small
picture is a LINK to the whole frame.
This is a fantastic purchase for both the horological and the aviation enthusiast.