Rattrapante Navigators Timer

[Maurice]

A chap I know recently cleared his departed Grandfathers belongings and came across this very nice and interesting piece.

Apparently the Grandfather flew Lancasters during the war which works with the dial in degrees. But that is all we know.

Its a lovely item in fantastic condition and apart from cleaning it and a service I would like to attribute it to a maker and roughly date it (year and month will do not too concerned which day)!

What I know is, It has no markings visible only a serial no inside the case back, no military stamps nothing at all only the no 260 on the underside of the balance cock which is the same as the last 3 of the case no. I haven't yet taken it apart but I don't expect to see any more.

The movement is approx 17.5''' to 17.75''' and beats at 18000 bph and is a Swiss jeweled very nice quality split second timer.

Now having googled until I was goggle eyed I believe it was probably made by C L Guinard around 1915-1930. But I would appreciate any input or correcting that any of you may know to fit a better picture around its history.

Also this will be the first column wheel chrono I have worked on so any input there would also be much appreciated.

Thanks Guys

Oh as an aside I set the timer against a chronometer last night (Omega co ax) and a minute later another (Chopard 7754) and this morning after running for 7 hours they were all still in sync !! How good is that?

[Geo]

I can't help you with any information Maurice, but thank you for posting images of a really interesting piece. B)

[WillFly]

That's not dissimilar in construction to the Hamilton single button WW2 chronograph - the main differences in the Hamilton having a black dial with white lumed numerals and hands, and the chrono button being embedded in the centre of the crown. These early'ish chronos are very attractive indeed.

 

Will

[Maurice]

Thanks Will But I'm fairly sure this is a Guinand, There's lots of his about with this movement.

This pic is one off the bay!

[Maurice]

I believe that Jules Racine sold a lot to his cousins the famous Gallet bros.

[anilv]

Hi Maurice,

Lovely piece and the family connection is priceless.

On the dial, I don't think that it is related to a compass but rather it counts off 6 minutes.

In air navigation, a lot of calculation is done using blocks of 6 minutes because its easier to convert to units per hour (just times 10).eg if you've covered 8miles in six minute you been traveling at a rate of 80mph.

I'm sure ther are more things that this watch can do but finding someone who actually used one is the problem!

Anil

[WillFly]

Yes Maurice - I was quite aware it wasn't actually a Hamilton - just that there's a similarity in the construction of some of the single-button chronograph movements of that period.

[bobm12]

That's a very beautiful and interesting timepiece Maurice. Thank you for posting it...and no, I have no clue about the information you are looking for but that's the beauty of this forum, eventually someone will find out and we'll all learn!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Affnan]

Wow.. what an interesting piece, the outer dial can be use to get your bearing from a light house. Start when you see a red light and stop when you see white... the indicated reading will be the bearing to a reference light house.

For air they may use a primitive VOR system as an alternative to light pulses.

Very cool piece.