Airain Watches

Airain watches, founded by a famous French watchmaker dynasty, is the official timepiece of the French Air Force. The original Montres AIRAIN dates back to the 19^th Century, in Besancon, France and the legacy has continued. First starting as a supplier to the French Air Force with wrist chronographs, they continued with dashboard chronometers for airplanes. Because of their uncompromising construction and reliability during peacetime as well as combat conditions, the watches garnered a great reputation that made them so popular that other military organizations like NATO forces, as well as European, South American and North African military personnel began using them. The Type 20 Chronograph was at the head of the top when it came to the collection. ItÕs unique reverse engraved bezel that worked counter clockwise, enabled count down timing measurements that became popular with the fighters of the famous French Foreign Legion. With the new mode of quartz watches during the 1980Õs, AIRAIN watches became less used and the company closed before going bankrupt. But, a dependable watch never stops ticking. In the year 2000 an Austrian pilot and air traffic controller resurrected the legacy of AIRAIN. They transported the construction of the famous watch from France to a famous Swiss watch making region in Jura. The company garnered a network of Swiss partners to supply top quality Swiss movements, cases, dials and other key components and a new generation of AIRAIN chronographs was born. Quality has always been key and the new chronographs are based on strict quality controls constructed with the pilot in mind with a high readability in every type of light and conditions. The AIRAIN watches will be flight tested by the Swiss Aerobatic pilot, Hektor Bertschi on board his aircraft at different altitudes in special carriage boxes to insure flight fitness before being available to customers. In keeping with the tradition of the original pilotÕs chronograph, the philosophy and new marketing techniques will target only professional and military pilots with limited editions. Their slogan ÒAirain Airforce ChronographsÓ shows their focus to become the suppliers of various professional Air Force units worldwide again.

Company website: www.airain.at/english/history1.html