How Did Some Effectively-known Watches Get Their Names?

Have you ever ever ever checked out positive luxurious watch names and questioned the place they received right here from? Some are pretty self-explanatory, identical to the Rolex Submariner (dive watch) or the IWC Large Pilot (aviation watch), or the Tudor Heritage Chrono (vintage-inspired chronograph). Nonetheless totally different not-so-obvious ones beg the question, the place did that watch title come from? Suppose Royal Oak, Gondolo, Milgauss, Radiomir, Pelgaos – there have to be only a few fascinating tales behind these peculiar monikers. From creative to curious, listed beneath are the back-stories on how some well-known luxurious watches acquired their names.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

In 1972, Audemars Piguet launched the now-famous Royal Oak. Its designer, Gerald Genta divulged that the groundbreaking design of the watch was, in precise truth, impressed by basic diving helmets, full with the uncovered screws on the eight-sided bezel of the watch. And consistent with the nautical theme and the amount eight, the watch is named after HMS Royal Oak – a fleet of eight ships that belong to the U.Okay.’s Royal Navy.

Breitling Chronomat

In the intervening time, Breitling watches are most associated to aviation. And the mannequin’s top-selling chronograph, the Chronomat is positioned as a pilot’s watch. Nonetheless, when Breitling first launched the Chronomat in 1942, the watch was developed with engineers, scientists, and mathematicians in ideas. The watch’s signature attribute was a slide rule to facilitate superior calculations. And the title? Chronograph + Arithmetic = Chronomat.

Breitling Navitimer

Breitling later included the slide rule proper right into a watch dedicated to pilots, and in 1952, the Navitimer was born. The Navi’s bezel was additional superior than that of the Chronomat to permit pilots to calculate gasoline consumption, cost of descent/climb, and customary speeds all through flight (the options of a information flight laptop computer). This time, Breitling blended the phrases “navigation” and “timer” to give you the title Navitimer.

Cartier Santos

Alberto Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian aviation pioneer primarily based in Paris. In 1904, the pilot complained to his good pal, Louis Cartier, {{that a}} pocket watch was too impractical to utilize whereas flying, since every his fingers have been busy manning the controls. It wasn’t prolonged after that Louis Cartier despatched Alberto Santos-Dumont a wristwatch prototype to placed on all through flight – establishing the world’s first males’s wristwatch and the world’s first pilot’s watch. In 1911, Cartier Santos watches have been purchased to most of the people, constructed using the design of the prototype, and named after the pilot himself.

Cartier Pasha

Inside the Eighties, Cartier launched a mannequin new watch assortment often called the Pasha de Cartier, designed by none other than Gerald Genta. Whereas the gathering was technically new, the design inspiration received right here from a basic waterproof Cartier watch initially made inside the Nineteen Forties for Thami El Glaoui, who was the Pasha of Marrakesh from 1912 to 1956.

Heuer Autavia

When Jack Heuer took over the family’s enterprise inside the Sixties, he received right down to make his mark by introducing a slew of newest watch fashions. He kicked points off with the Heuer Autavia chronograph in 1962. Whereas the wristwatch was new, the title Autavia was not – it was taken from Heuer dashboard clocks which have been first developed in 1933 for cars and planes. A contraction of the phrases “automobile” and “aviation“ gave us the title Autavia.

Heuer Carrera

Quickly following inside the footsteps of the Autavia chronograph was the Carrera chronograph, which made its debut in 1963. This time, Jack Heuer wished a model new title for the model new chronograph, and chosen one impressed by the Carrera Panamericana sports activities actions automotive racing event that look place via open roads in Mexico.

IWC Portugieser aka IWC Portuguese

Inside the late Nineteen Thirties, Rodrigues and Antonio Teixera, two Portuguese businessmen, had a request for the Worldwide Watch Agency to offer a wristwatch as actual as a marine chronometer. Due to this, the IWC ref. 325 was launched in 1939 as a giant steel wristwatch fitted with a hunter-style pocket watch movement. The company later adopted the title IWC Portuguese for the gathering in honor of the two males, and later renamed the gathering the IWC Portugieser.

Omega Constellation

Omega launched the Constellation in 1952 as its first mass-produced assortment of chronometer watches. The caseback of the watches featured an image of an observatory dotted with eight stars. The constellation of eight stars represents two chronometer data and 6 first-place awards that Omega earned between 1933 and 1952—and due to this fact the title, Constellation.

Panerai Luminor

In 1949, Panerai registered one different title for luminous paint—this time selecting Luminor. The model new (and fewer scary sounding) title was chosen to steer clear of the hyperlink between luminescent dials and radioactivity as additional people have been turning into aware of the dangers of radium. (However, as a result of the lume was nonetheless radium-based, the substance was nonetheless dangerous). Similar to totally different watchmakers, Panerai finally modified radium with tritium, which was lots a lot much less hazardous. Trendy-day Panerai Luminor watches, which can be outlined by thicker lugs and a bridge crown protector, borrow design elements from Panerai watches developed inside the Fifties and are named after that agency’s second branded lume.

Panerai Radiomir

In 1916, Panerai registered a self-luminous radium-based paint beneath the title Radiomir to utilize on its watch dials. In 1935, Panerai developed a prototype diving look forward to the Royal Italian Navy that features large cushion-shaped circumstances, wire lugs, and intensely luminescent dials using that Radiomir paint. Trendy-day Panerai Radimior watches are designed to look like these prototypes from the Nineteen Thirties and are named after that patented paint.

Patek Philippe Nautilus

Inside the mid-Nineteen Seventies, Patek Philippe took an online web page out of Audemars Piguet’s e e book and employed Gerald Genta to design an opulent steel sports activities actions watch that can compete in the direction of the Royal Oak that Genta had designed only a few years prior. The freelance watch designer obliged, and in 1976, Patek Philippe unveiled the sporty Nautilus watch. To emphasize the watch’s hyperlink to a marine lifestyle, the Nautilus was named after Captain Nemo’s submarine in Jules Verne’s novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues beneath the Sea.

Patek Philippe Gondolo

The Patek Philippe Gondolo assortment is comprised of the company’s “sort” (i.e. not spherical) watches, and it was formally launched inside the Nineties. However the origins of the Gondolo title stretches means once more to the 1800s. Gondolo & Labouriau was a Brazilian watch retailer primarily based in Rio de Janeiro. and in 1872, Patek Philippe purchased them a pocket watch. Plainly Gondolo & Labouriau was so good at selling Patek Philippe gadgets to the native market (thanks largely to a passionate Patek collectors group that often called themselves ‘the Gondolo Gang’) that up until 1927, one third of the Swiss watchmaker’s whole manufacturing was allotted to the Brazilian retailer! Among the many many 1000’s of timepieces that made the journey from Switzerland to Brazil have been a great deal of “sort” Patek watches with sq., rectangular, tonneau, or cushion-shaped circumstances.

Rolex Milgauss

In 1956, Rolex unveiled an antimagnetic watch geared in course of the burgeoning scientific group. As a result of the watch was resistant to 1,000 gauss, Rolex opted to name the watch Milgauss, which is a portmanteau of the French phrase for one thousand (mille) and the unit of measurement for magnetism (gauss).

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

Rolex isn’t any stranger to creating up creative names. For instance, in Rolex-speak, two-tone is Rolesor, pink gold is Everose gold, stainless-steel is Oystersteel, and ceramic is Cerachrom. And in 1963, Rolex unveiled a model new chronograph model they dubbed the Cosmograph in an effort to inform aside it from totally different producers’ chronographs. Nonetheless, shortly thereafter, the title “Daytona” joined “Cosmograph” on the dial, on account of Rolex’s sponsorship ties to the then-recently opened Daytona Worldwide Speedway in Florida. In the intervening time, the watch is solely typically often called the Daytona.

Tudor North Flag

The British North Greenland Expedition (BNGE) was a scientific mission that occurred from 1952 until 1954. Hans Wilsdorf, the founding father of Tudor, equipped the BNGE crew with Tudor Oyster Prince watches to take a look at in real-life harsh conditions. (If this story sounds acquainted, it’s because of Hans Wilsdorf moreover geared up Rolex Oyster Perpetual watches to the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, which finally consequence within the occasion of the Rolex Explorer watch.) The North Flag debuted in 2015 as the first Tudor watch to utilize an in-house movement, and it was named in honor of the company’s historic previous with the British North Greenland Expedition.

Tudor Pelagos

In 2012, Tudor launched the Pelagos, a diving watch that’s waterproof to 500 meters (1640 ft) and customary from lightweight titanium. The origin of the title? Pelagos is the Greek phrase for “open sea,” which is turning into for this large succesful diving watch from Tudor. And in case you will have been questioning, the FXD in Pelagos FXD (a not too way back launched watch made in honor of Tudor’s historic previous with the French Navy) stands for the FiXeD strap bars of the case.

Are there any watch names that stand out to you? What are a number of of your favorite watch names?