Bremont Watch Company is working with the Bletchley Park Trust to create the Codebreaker, which will incorporate historical artefacts from Bletchley Park.
Proceeds from the limited edition watch will be used towards the ongoing restoration of Bletchley Park, which during World War II was converted into a codebreaking factory and became the UK’s main decryption establishment ¬ the Government Code and Cipher School. The ciphers that were decrypted were most famously generated by the German Enigma and Lorenz machines.
The Codebreaker timepiece is inspired by a classic 40’s officer’s watch and will be made with a flyback chronograph and GMT automatic movement. It will also incorporate pine from Hut 6, which was the centre of the operations to decrypt the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe Enigma ciphers, and paper from one of the few remaining punch cards, which were used to analyse the vast amount of coded data created from the daily Enigma communications.
Additionally, part of the rotor of the watch will be made from the wheel of an original Enigma machine.
Talking about the watch, Bremont co-founder Nick English said: “Mechanically we have made some considerable movement developments and incorporated materials that have never been built into a watch before. By moving the chronograph
dials, building a flyback chronograph function and GMT second timezone we have accomplished a wonderful mechanical timepiece.
"Both Giles and I were inspired by the ‘Bombe machine’ and the rotor balance is based on the Bombe’s drums. Each watch will have its limited edition number embedded into the case barrel, which will be made of Bakelite as per the original Bombe machine. Hut 6 is part of the current restoration programme and fragments of its floorboards, on which codebreaking giants, such as Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman walked, have been incorporated into the watch crown."
