Introducing Glycine Watches – featuring the legendary Glycine Airman watch

Are you looking for a new watch? Want something a little bit different from what is on offer on the high-street? A watch with history and a story? Then look no further than Glycine watches. First, let’s start with a bit of history. Founded in 1914 in Bienne, Switzerland by Eugene Meylanan, he strove for perfection and precision in his watchmaking. The company began making precise, small movements for ladies watches; many of these movements were crafted using precious and semi-precious metals.

Glycine are known for their innovative and technically challenging timepieces. They combine traditional watchmaking techniques with the very latest fashion trends. Pioneers in the watch world, Glycine offer a stunning collection of watches that will take you from your working week to the weekend effortlessly.

Here’s a short video on the history of Glycine watches:

In 1931, Glycine began manufacturing self-winding watches, at the time these were viewed as a novelty watch and many thought they would never catch on. How wrong they were! The watch was met with increasing success and these early models of self-winding watches are now hunted down and much-prized by collectors.

Glycine were one of the first exhibitors at the first ever Basel Watch Fair back in 1939 and they have made an appearance every year since!

One of the most well-known of the Glycine watches is the now legendary Glycine Airman watch. Introduced in the early 1950s, the Airman soon became popular with both military and commercial pilots and was worn by many US Air Force pilots during the Vietnam War.

The Airman was a joint venture between Glycine and a new era of professional airline pilots who thanks to aviation advancements were shrinking the globe with new intercontinental flying routes and airlines. The Glycine Airman soon became the watch of choice for many pilots and astronaut Pete Conrad Junior even wore a Glycine watch during his record breaking Gemini 5 mission in 1965. The space mission involved a manned spaceflight, part of NASA’s Gemini program and was the first time an American space mission held the world record for duration in space, breaking the Soviet Union’s record set in 1963.

Glycine have since developed several versions of the Airman watch and brought it up to date whilst staying true to their unique flying heritage.

With references to their aviation past apparent in their design aesthetic, Glycine watches feature easy to read dials with clear numerals. The Airman introduced multiple time-zone watches to the market and they have since launched pieces with complex world timers. Ideal if you work across different time zones or if you want to know at a quick glance the time on the other side of the world!

For any diving enthusiasts out there the Glycine Combat Sub range would be perfect with stainless steel casing and an automatic movement, the collection is also water resistant up to 200m. The rubber strap is hard-wearing and will stand up to saltwater and the pressures of diving. Available in a variety of attractive colour combinations there is a Glycine to suit every taste.

If you are looking for a simple, elegant and timeless watch the Incursore collection might be the one for you. The Incursore was the brands first foray into oversized watches and started the trend towards large watch faces that has become increasingly popular over recent years. The word ‘Incursore’ means intruder and with diameters of 44mm to 48mm it is a striking looking time piece with chunky steel crown and large dial. The functionality and precision of the Incursore watches match up to their industrial design and look. The technical performance lives up to all expectations for both military and civil use. Classic watchmaking with contemporary design and style, sums up Glycine watches.

Today, Glycine are still based in Switzerland and if you are looking for a stylish, reliable watch with character and history behind it then why not take a look at the Glycine range.

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