The ultimate enthusiast's timepiece?
The D-Day anniversary celebrations of 2024 have been many and varied, but one of the more unusual has to be ‘The Few’ collection from The Great British Watch Company, made from the wreckage of Mk 9 Spitfire ML295, which was shot down over Normandy on July 30, 1944 — 80 years ago almost to the day. As far as we know, this is the first time any Spitfire has been reincarnated in wristwatch form.
Royal Canadian Air Force 411 ‘Grizzly Bears’ Squadron pilot Harold Kramer survived the crash — hidden by the French Resistance in the loft of a cottage for a month until the Allies liberated the area — but his aeroplane did not and the wreckage was used as target practice by the Germans. After the war, it was all but forgotten until the 1980s, when it was excavated and displayed in museums around Normandy.
In 2017, vintage-aircraft enthusiast Graham Oliver transported the ML295’s remains back to England and began a £3 million restoration; it finally flew again two years ago. ‘The tail-section was completely missing and many bits were unusable,’ he says, ‘but we managed to use some of the original airworthy parts, including the cockpit surround, inboard flaps, gear selector, some of the gauges and parts of the undercarriage.’
‘I was looking for an interesting project, so I was thrilled to be given some bits of the wing — one piece has a shell-hole in it,’ explains Colin Andrews, founder of The Great British Watch Company, which specialises in bespoke, handcrafted watches. ‘I’ve managed to find enough good parts to make the dials and hands for nearly 100 watches — it’s the first time parts from a Spitfire have been used as an integral part of a watch.’
Credit: Rod Kirkpatrick/RKP Photography
Based on the Omega CK2129, the original watch Battle of Britain pilots wore into battle, ‘The Few’ is an edition of 60. Each watch costs £19,950 and comes in a box made from a type of wood specially created for Spitfire propellors called hydulignum (‘beech laminated in thin strips and impregnated with resin’), with a leather strap, handmade silver buckle, a silk ‘escape map’ (a replica of those issued to pilots) and handmade silver cufflinks, brooch and earrings, each containing a Spitfire fragment.
‘There’s a choice of movement with the watch, either British or Swiss-made, and everything is made not only in Britain, but local to my workshop (near Chester), with the case, which has been made from steel from a British mill, having travelled the furthest at 15 miles away,’ continues Mr Andrews. ‘I hope this proves the point that the talent, skill and equipment to make watches in Britain is not only still here, but it is also possible using local businesses and resources.’
The crown, hands and dial are constructed entirely from Spitfire parts — the latter from ‘the original skin of the Spitfire… [each with] its own unique patina and scars’ — and a portion of sales will go towards the aeroplane’s upkeep. ‘Harold Kramer and the names of the other 11 pilots who flew the Spitfire are engraved on the back of each one,’ adds Mr Andrews. ‘It’s taken me five years to make this collection and the first watches will be ready in the next couple of months.’ At the time of writing, 58 of 60 had already sold and, depending on demand, there may be a further edition making the total almost 100 — ‘after that, I’ll have run out of material’; visit www.great-british-watch.co.uk. Anyone wishing to fly in the restored Mk 9 Spitfire ML295, now based at Leeds East Airport (formerly RAF Church Fenton) near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, should visit www.spitfires.com
