British menswear designer Nigel Cabourn has revealed his latest collaboration with Timex, called the Survival Watch.
Paying tribute to the bravery of flight crews who crash-landed in the North Atlantic, the watch features a bright yellow dial inspired by the life jackets worn by RAF pilots during the Second World War.
Continuing the theme, the watch’s blue and black interchangeable straps are a nod to the water-resistant Ventile immersion suits worn by RAF crewmen to keep them relatively warm and dry after bailing out of their stricken aircraft. During WWII, the use of Ventile increased the average survival time of a pilot floating in frigid Atlantic waters from two to 20 minutes.
The Timex Survival Watch features 12 and 24-hour markings, with vintage fonts and hands, and a slim red second hand. It also features an interchangeable slip-through leather strap, and the stainless steel case back includes a military-style issue stamp.
Adding to the military theme is the watch’s ‘survival-yellow’ vintage style cotton drill case with a cotton strap designed to look like the waist straps of an RAF life jacket.
The watch’s stainless steel case measures a compact 36mm in diameter, has 18mm fixed lugs, is water-resistant to 30 metres, and is driven by a battery-powered quartz movement.
The Timex x Nigel Cabourn Survival Watch is priced at £150 and is available at End Clothing from 12 June.
