Airman 42 Grey Purist - Bracelet Ref. GL0139


Inspired by the historic Glycine Airman, the Glycine Airman 42 Grey Purist - Bracelet Ref. GL0139 is a 24-hour timepiece flaunting a beautiful modern interpretation of the cult-favourite pilot’s watch with both a classic matte grey dial and a classic stainless steel bracelet, packed in a sweet 42mm form factor. A stunning piece from Glycine that packs a whole lot of innovative features, serving as a true aviation tool watch.

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

Glycine Airman 42 Grey Purist - Bracelet Ref. GL0139

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 is 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

Made from 316L stainless steel, The Airman Ref. GL0139 bears nostalgia yet with a distinctive vintage aesthetic. It’s classic aviator case style measures at 42mm and 12mm thin for unsurpassed comfort on all wrist sizes. The slender lugs with lugs to lugs length of 49mm, help the watch to wrap around the wrist like a pair of gloves while glamouring one's wrist.

Glycine’s Airman collection is 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. Entirely hand finished and Made in Switzerland, the watch is satin brushed on the top, and highly polished on the sides to a very high standard, again synonymous with Glycine. 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 and date adjustments.

Unique matt grey dial

When Glycine first debuted their first ever Airman, it showcased a distinctive 24-hour dial that cooperatively functioned with the 24-hour bezel to effectively track a second time zone without the need of an additional GMT hand. This format was dubbed the “Purist”, a pure 24-hour timepiece that presents an hour hand that sweeps the dial only once per day. Being a true representation of the heritage Airman, the no-nonsense matte grey dial of the Airman 42 employs the same “Purist” layout with a broad syringe-style handset and round hour indexes that are treated with Swiss C1 Super-LumiNova for excellent night-time visibility. The dial is protected with a double domed scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with 3 layers of anti-reflective treatment on the underside for extra clarity.

Replacing the vintage Felsa Bidyanator automatic movements, the Airman 42 Grey Purist - Bracelet Ref. GL0139 is driven by Glycine’s Cal. GL293 Swiss automatic movement. Based on the ever-reliable ETA 2893-2/Sellita SW330 movement modified to a 24-hour format, this 25/26 jewel movement is renowned for its reliability as a ‘workhorse’ movement with a 4Hz beat rate of 28,800 BPH and a power reserve of 42 hours. The movement with Glycine’s custom decorated rotor is visible at the back of the watch through its screw-down mineral crystal display case back which provides protection against accidental water splashes with 100m (330 ft) of water resistance.

C1 SuperLuminova

The Airman comes with a solid 22mm stainless steel 5-link style bracelet secured with a butterfly deployant clasp, handsomely complementing the steel bezel and the utilitarian look of the piece.

The Airman 42 Grey Purist - Bracelet Ref. GL0139 embodies the fundamental attributes of the original Airman while remodelled into a fetching design packing incredible performance and value. Coming from a brand with such strong heritage, this is definitely an appealing model that has become a true icon. 


Video is not available