Bremont’s authorised dealers love the annual autumn launch of their limited editions, which pique demand for their loyal band of customers.
They were not disappointed as they gathered at London’s V&A Museum tonight to witness the H-4 Hercules timepiece take flight.
The H-4 Hercules, also known as the Spruce Goose, may not be as well-known as Concorde, which Bremont paid homage to last year with a sell-out limited edition, but it is another extraordinary piece of aviation history.
The sea plane was created by the legendary film mogul and aircraft pioneer Howard Hughes, and managed to take flight only once, airborne for just one mile a few metres above the water.
Conceived during World War II as a means of transporting heavy weaponry across the Atlantic, it missed the conflict and made its sole flight in 1947.
Bremont co-founders Nick and Giles English decided to shine a light on the story five years ago after visiting the aircraft at a museum in Oregon, USA, where the plane, which is the height of an 8-storey building and 218 feet long, resides.
They designed a proprietary automatic BWC/01 calibre in partnership with movement house, La Joux Perret, and housed it in 43mm cases milled from steel, rose gold or platinum; a first for Bremont.
The dial displays hours, minutes, a second time zone hour, seconds on a sub-dial and the date.
There are just 300 made in stainless steel priced at £9,495, 75 rose gold selling for £17,995 and 75 platinum at £24,995.
All have a crystal case backs showing the movement behind a miniature wooden propeller made from a piece of the H-4’s fuselage.
Nick English says: “Giles and I have been fascinated by the story of the H-4 Hercules since childhood. The sheer ambition of building an aircraft on that scale using wood is remarkable. The Hercules is a true engineering triumph that pushed the boundaries of aeronautical design. It paved the way for the large aircraft we use today, and did it with style, panache and just a dash of Hollywood.”
