Posted 5 years ago
dhhirsch
(13 items)
Anyone familiar with this version of the Benrus Airman? I have one with the blue enamel bezel, and just got one with a different bezel with blue numerals and no emamel. I've posted pictures of both. Clearly the one without the blue enamel bezel is an Airman too. The case is correct. I've found a number of ads from the 1929/30 period for the Airman and they all depict the blue enamel bezel. I can't seem to find others like the new one, only ones with blue enamel bezels. Any information or thoughts would be appreciated.
Could it be a prototype? Special order? Weird the hands are different from the other one, and the band is probably the original (Wait - the original was a mesh band per the ads) - but it is older than the enamel watch band look at the fine stitching! The chrome is worn from the winder, and the case chrome is kinda pitted. Could it be an antique fake? It does not say Shockproof" either.
The winder is a different shape, too!
Thanks Celiene,
Perhaps a prototype, but I'm guessing that the Airman case may have been used by Benrus before it became the Airman. Bulova did that famously with their Lone Eagle watch in 1927. Before that the same case was known as the Conqueror and used in 1925 and 1926. Then it was renamed the Lone Eagle and promoted by Charles Lindburgh. Perhaps something like that occured with Benrus? BTW, I realy like the Airman, which seems to be a mashup of two famous designs, Bulova's Lone Eagle and Hamiltons's 1928 watch, the Piping Rock...