To commemorate the 50th anniversary of a record breaking year in aviation, Avi-8 has released the Hawker Harrier Retrograde Chronograph Blue Nylon Limited Edition.
Working closely with restoration company Jet Art Aviation, the watch has been released to celebrate an RAF operation, code-named Blue Nylon.
As part of the operation, a Harrier GR MK 1 aircraft was enlisted to participate in the 1969 Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race organised to commemorate Flight Lieutenants Alcock and Brown’s first non-stop flight across the Atlantic in 1919.
The race was held between May 4 and 11 in 1969 and although named an air race, it was actually a race of individuals between the Post Office Tower in London to the Empire State Building in New York.
On the 5 May 1969, flying Harrier XV741, Squadron Leader Tom Lecky-Thompson flew from St. Pancras railway station in London, landing in New York in 6 hours and 11 minutes.
In celebration of this limited to 300 pieces, the new Blue Nylon Limited Edition from Avi-8 features a genuine piece of the fuselage of the original Harrier XV741.
It has a split time Japanese precision quartz chronograph, featuring a retrograde date display along with split-second elapsed timing read off, triggered by the anodized aluminium pusher.
The canvas wrapped gift box holds a display stand, which abridges the anniversary and shows off the Blue Nylon Limited Edition timepiece from Avi-8 to superb effect.