Airman 44 Horizon GMT Bronze Ref. GL0167

Since its founding by Eugène Meylan in 1914, Glycine has been producing watches at its factory in Bienne, Switzerland.

Glycine Airman 44 Horizon GMT Bronze Ref. GL0167

Meylan was an uncompromising watch engineer who strove for perfection and nothing less. He had a profound understanding of both the market demands and the possibilities offered by the technological advances of the time.

Today, offering excellent value at reasonable prices is an essential part of Glycine's philosophy. The company's strong foundation, coupled with its emphasis on rugged and reliable products, make Glycine a respected name in Swiss watchmaking today.

Since the early 60s, Glycine has served the market with this line of sturdy and captivating watches, made for severe conditions of wear and use. The precise automatic and chronograph movements are housed in a high-grade steel case of rugged construction, offering excellent value for money.

Whenever the subject of aviation comes up, the name of Glycine mentioned as one of the pioneers of watchmaking for pilots and frequent travelers. Beginning in 1953, Glycine started production of the Airman, a watch that became legendary for introducing multiple time-zone watches to the market. Since then, Glycine has developed an unbroken chain of aviation watches, ranging from successively more complex world timers to unique collector's items. Examples in their archive are like during the Gemini 5 and Apollo 12 flights in 1965 and 1969. Both these missions, astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad wears a Glycine Airman on his wrist throughout.

Based on the original 1953 Airman

The Glycine Airman 44 Horizon GMT Bronze Ref. GL0167 based on their original and famous watch from 1953. It features an attractive gradient blue dial, a unique handset which is read through a domed sapphire crystal, doing things the Glycine way.

Made from bronze material, The Airman 44 Horizon GMT Bronze bears nostalgic yet with a distinctive vintage aesthetic. It’s classic aviator case style measures at 44mm and 12mm thin for unsurpassed comfort on all wrist sizes. The slender lugs with lugs to lugs length of 51mm, help the watch to wrap around the wrist like a pair of gloves while glamouring on one’s wrist.

Glycine’s Airman collection are all based historically from their 1950s tool watches, this particular model, is traditionally styled to the Airman No. 1 watch (even it’s reference name), the very first edition of the 1950s. It is a faithful reproduction alright.

Unique gradient blue dial

Entirely hand finished and Made in Switzerland, the watch is satin brushed throughout to a very high standard, again synonymous with Glycine. Bronze patinated naturally as it oxidizes, so that each watch will take on a unique finish over time. The transitions between the brushed and polished parts are very well defined.

The bezel is true to the 50s Airman design through and through; featuring the hallmark 24-hour bezel of the original Airman. Furthermore, the only way to rotate it is through manipulating the retained locking feature on the thumbscrew crown at the 4 o'clock position on the case. Once it is unlocked, the friction bezel can rotate in both directions at ease — absolutely pure charming 1950s technology. The crown at 3 o’clock features all the necessary time, date and GMT adjustments.

What are good looks without performance? The Airman 44 Horizon GMT Bronze has an upgraded domed sapphire crystal that covers almost the entire surface, with three layers of anti-reflective coating on the underside for added clarity under different lighting conditions for excellent durability and readability.

The highlight of Airman continues onto the “horizon” cross-hair dial. It seems like Glycine has brought everything from the 50s Airman with some inclusion of amazing aviation touch. Like this instant, it features a declivity gradient blue dial, from a dark shade of blue to lighter one, creating a scenery of our mesosphere, and when our views from the airplane when it's airborne. 
 

Bezel locking system done by the crown at 4

Used to be powered by vintage movement Felsa Bidyanator automatic movements, the Airman got its upgrade by having a Glycine GL293 movement which is essentially an ETA2893-2/SW330, operating at 28,800 bph (4 Hertz) with hacking and hand winding capabilities. It has 25/26 jewels with a power reserve of 38 hours. With this movement, the Airman follows a more current style time reading by driving the main hour hand around twice per day, having a slim GMT hand doing the 24-hour duty.

The Airman comes with a matching blue leather with full stitch and finishing off with a signed Glycine buckle.

C1 SuperLuminova

Overall, the Airman 44 Horizon GMT Bronze  Ref.GL0167 exhibits very great value given the history and built of the watch. The original Airman treatment on the bronze case provides a thorough rugged look, while being in congruence with the original Airman No. 1, merely a sense of nostalgia on many wrists. The unique Glycine looks thoroughly purpose-built and radiating its origins in the cockpit of many airliners back in those days, make this an exceptional bargain and hard to beat. The Airman fits Glycine's philosophy that Mr. Eugène Meylan set out in 1953.

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