The boys at Bremont have done it again, this time with their limited edition Codebreaker ($18,700 in steel), honoring the UK’s Government Code and Cipher School (GC & CS) at Bletchley Park.
GC & CS, in case you didn’t know, is credited with shortening World War II by up to two years thanks to successfully cracking the infamous German Enigma and Lorenz cryptography machines. At its height, over 9,000 scientists and mathematicians worked around the clock to break the German codes and provide the Allied military command with the intelligence needed to bring the war to an end.
As with their previous limited edition pieces (like the HMS Victory and the P-51), Bremont co-founders Giles and Nick English weren’t content to merely limit production and slap a number on the case back. Rather, the Codebreaker incorporates historic elements of the Bletchley Park operations in its trademark Trip-Tick case. To wit, the crown is inlaid with pine recovered from Hut 6, where German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe Enigma ciphers were cracked; the barrel of the case showcases the limited edition number, as printed on a paper from an actual punch card used in analyzing daily Enigma communiques; and finally, the automatic movement’s counterbalance is designed to resemble the “Bombe” machine that was developed to crack the Enigma, and is fashioned out of pieces of an actual Enigma rotor.
The end result is a classically styled 1940s officer’s watch replete with a flyback chronograph and second timezone. Beyond a handsome look, each watch provides a dose of philanthropy: a portion of the sale of each watch will be donated to the Bletchley Park Trust, which is tasked with the restoration and care of this historic landmark. The Codebreaker will be made in a series of 240 in stainless steel and 50 in rose gold, so decrypt your decision (and find a lump of cash) quickly.
