Bell & Ross Instrument BR 01 Airborne - The Talisman Watch

Instrument BR01 Airborne

The Talisman watch

"The BR 01 Airborne is an anthem to the extraordinary saga of military paratroopers. This new watch is a tribute to those brave young men who fought in one of the toughest army corps, particularly the US Airborne divisions.

The Airborne divisions were born during the Second World War. They were the first to be exposed to danger and the first ones to face death. Their most famous motto was “Death from Above” symbolised by a skull that was a reminder to them of both their power and vulnerability.

Since then, the symbol has spread to other military regiments. It is often embossed on uniforms patches or on fighter planes. The skull is a constant reminder of the omnipresence of death on each military mission."

By wearing the skull, the soldiers are attempting
to both defy death and intimidate the enemy

"The BR 01 Airborne reinvents the notion of the talisman, and personifies the very spirit of these outstanding men. It is a genuine tribute to the noblest of military values as well as to the bravery of soldiers who face death on a daily basis to defend their country."

• Movement: Automatic mechanical ETA 2892.
• Functions: Hours, minutes.
• Case: 46mm diameter. 316L glass bead blasted steel with black finishing type carbon powder coating.
• Dial: black. Photoluminescent hands and skull for optimum night readability.
• Glass: anti-reflection sapphire crystal.
• Water-resistance: 100 meters.
• Bracelet: rubber, leather or heavy-duty synthetic fabric

via TheWatchQuote

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Top Ten Haunted Horrorology - The Ghosts of Halloween Past

A Compendium of all the scariest posts on The Watchismo Times. Have the time of your life death!

Click each title for links to the original stories.

• 1. Mary Queen of Scots Memento Mori Skull Watch (above)

• 2. 1610 Animated Screaming Skull Clock With Snake Eyes

• 3. Killing Time - Horological Weaponry

• 4. Remember, You Will Die Watch - Mr. Jones Accurate

• 5. Wake Up, Time to Die! 19th Century Victorian Skeleton Clock

• 6. Clearly Evil - Crystal 1710 Skull Watch

• 7. 1810 Death Pocket Watch
  
  
  
  
• 8. 1930s Oswald Rolling Eyeball Skull Clocks

• 9. Painfully Real Dead Cuckoo Clock

• 10. 19th Century Bone Watches

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"Wake up! Time to Die" - 19th Century Victorian Skeleton Automaton Alarm Clock - Haunted Horology #5

Yup, I'm quoting Leon Kowalsky's parting words from the futuristic movie Blade Runner... I just saw the latest director's Final Cut at the Ziegfeld theater in Manhattan recently and must say, it was one of the best cinematic experiences of my life. If you get a chance to see it on a big screen during the current re-release, do it!

This antique 19th century alarm clock (circa 1840-1880) couldn't be further from the future and wish there were more information about its functions to share with y'all but alas, you must imagine the Steampunk-esque automaton mechanics for yourself. I will say the obvious; the skeleton is sitting on an alarm bell, the coffin-boat, complete with Chadburn Telegraph is the clock dial and there are two holes in the coffin that might have something (or someone) that pops out.

via Ingenious.org.uk

See all the posts from my Haunted Horology Week;
1610 Screaming Skull Clock
Mary Queen of Scots Skull Watch
Rock Crystal 1710 Skull Watch
Rolling Eyeball Skull Clocks
All Memento Mori Posts


LAST DAY to enter The Watchismo Times 1st anniversary vintage chronograph giveway!-->LINK


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Clearly Evil - Memento Mori Crystal Skull watch from 1715 - Haunted Horology #4

This skull watch/clock, circa 1715, by watchmaker James Harmar of London was carved from rock-crystal and fitted with a gold-mounted watch. Three-body skull, made of three solid pieces of rock crystal, the top and the bottom mounted in gold engraved frames, the lower frame housing the movement, the jaw articulated on the sides opening to expose the silver champlevé with Roman chapters and half-hour divisions, outer minute ring with Arabic five-minute numerals. Blued-steel, 'beetle and poker' hands. 39.5 mm o, hinged, gilt brass full plate, tulip pillars, fusee and chain for the going train, English single-footed cock pierced and engraved with symmetrical foliage and a mask in the base, rack and pinion with silver plate. Signed on the dial and movement. Dim. Length 85 mm, width 50 mm, height 80 mm. Published in the Sandberg book (Antiquorum), pages 376-377.

Via Antiquorum

All Haunted Horology Posts;
1610 Screaming Skull Clock
Mary Queen of Scots Skull Watch
Rolling Eyeball Skull Clocks
All Memento Mori Posts

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TIME OF DEATH - Antique Rotating Eyeball Skull Clocks by Oswald - HAUNTED HOROLOGY #3

I recently featured the antique rotating eyeball clock genre (here), but since I can't seem to stop featuring death related timepieces, here are a few more of the very rare skull versions. These eight day novelty clocks were built by Oswald of Germany between 1926 and 1944. These models are quite hard to find and generally cost a few thousand dollars.

The dials are represented as the eyes separating the hours on the left and minutes to the right. Most of their collection feature cross-eyed genies, monkeys, gnomes, owls, and dogs (LOTS of dogs).

Patent information here-->Link


Related posts;
1610 Screaming Skull Clock
Mary Queen of Scots Skull Watch
All Memento Mori Posts
Other Oswald Eyeball Clocks

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HORROR-OLOGY - 1610 Mechanical Screaming Biting Skull Clock with Animated Snakes for Eyeballs!

Never mind this skull & crossbones automaton clock is nearly 400 years old, just look what it can do! Way scarier than any special effects from Pirates of the Caribbean.

During the first minute, the skull's expression seems to smile, the second minute it seems to laugh, the next appears to scream and finally, the jaws snap shut, as if the skull were trying to bite something. At the same time, one of the snakes slowly sinks back down into one of the eye sockets, while the other slowly comes out of the other eye, before retracting suddenly, as the first snake again springs out from its eye-socket. And to view the time, just open up the skull cap! It sold recently for $135,000.

Designed & built in 1610 by Nicolaus Schmidt der Junger (Augsburg, Germany) as a skull set on two crossed shinbones and mounted on a gilt brass tripod, the hinged skull cap (restored) disclosing the dial. Later hexagonal ebony molded base. D. Silver champlevé enameled dial with floral decoration. Gilt brass single hand. M. Hinged oval gilt brass full plate with urn pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain steel two-arm balance without spring, gilt brass pierced and engraved irregular cock secured by a screw, with matching click for the ratchet wheel set-up. The movements of the automaton jaw and the snakes in the eyes are controlled by two six-spoke cams driven by the fusee and revolving twenty times an hour, so that the jaws take three minutes to open and then close suddenly while the snakes alternately pop out of, then return back into, each eye socket, twice a minute. Height 14 cm, including the base. Back plate signed.

You can see the open-skull dial of the clock in the background

Movement: fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain steel two-arm balance without spring

Provenance: Previously in the collection of Charles Georgi, one of the commissioners in charge of the Musée Rétrospectif de la classe 96 (horlogerie) at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition, this watch was exhibited there in a showcase dedicated to this famous collection. According to Mathieu Planchon, the author of the catalogue, in addition to his collection of early watches and table clocks, Charles Georgi at one time owned on of the best “Cabinets de Curiosité”, upon which the organizers drew heavily, to fill most of the gaps in the various classes of the Musée Rétrospectif.

Related Posts;
Mary Queen of Scots Skull Watch
All Memento Mori Posts
Hatching Astronomical Clock

Via Antiquorum

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Haunted Horology Week! Mary Queen of Scots Skull Watch

I'm celebrating the week leading to Halloween with a variety of spooky timepieces!

Not long before Mary Queen of Scots had her own head chopped off, she had this bone chilling silver skull watch made. The case is opened by dropping the under jaw, which turns upon a hinge, while the watchworks occupy the place of the brain.

Likely one of the earliest examples of horological "Memento Mori" (artistic reminders of ones mortality).

See all my past Memento Mori watch posts-->Link

Sideview

The original engraved dial with 18th century modified to a balance-spring movement by J. Moysan of Blois, France.

Early representations of the watch
(before photography proved its existence)

It is believed Mary gave this watch as a gift to Mary Seaton, one of her maids of honor. The skull is of silver gilt and is engraved with lines of Horace, figures of Death with his scythe and hourglass, Adam and Eve, and the Crucifixion. The lower part of the skull is pierced to emit the sound when it strikes, being cut in the form of emblems of the Crucifixion. The works occupy the brain's position in the skull fitting into a silver bell which fills the entire hollow of the skulL The hours are struck on this bell by a small hammer on a separate train..

She sure must have been a barrel of laughs...

There's something about Mary...

Related Post: 1810 Skull Pocket Watch-->Link

More related posts;
Mr. Jones Watches Part I
Mr. Jones Watches Part II

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