The Jardur Bezelmeter is one of the most uniquely designed and magnificent watches that came out of the 1940’s. Produced in extremely small quantities and intended for aviation, they were tool watches that were sold in the Post Exchanges (PX) of the American Army and Navy. While they were never officially issued to the military, many army aviators and personnel purchased and used these in action.
Described as a cockpit instrument for the wrist, there is a graduated countdown scale engraved into the rotatable bezel, where the user can align duration hours with the hour hand to keep track of flight time. Furthermore, there is a red degree meter scale on the dial, from 0 to 180 and alongside the chronograph function, the user is able to measure turns while flying. Standard turn rates were 3 degrees a second and this is very unique as most wrist watches did not feature these, even those that were made for aviation. While this may seem fairly complicated today, I’ve met army pilots before who have told me that without their watch, they wouldn't have been able to navigate accurately.
With a hefty size of 38mm, this sits well on the wrist and despite the amount of information on the dial, remains relatively legible. With all of these functions in a single wristwatch, it is no wonder why they were popular amongst the American aviators.
