In 2016, we announced the return of Guinand, the company once helmed by Helmut Sinn after his departure from his eponymous brand. Driven by new leadership, Guinand promised a revamped catalog of watches that would grow the firm, yet remain true to the ethos that has made Guinand a best-kept-secret in German watchmaking.
One of Guinand?s most technically-interesting watches has been and remains the Flying Officer. It?s a remake of a pilot?s chronograph bearing the same name that Guinand produced in the ?60s (Guinand?s take on the 24-hour chronograph shouldn?t be confused with the Flying Officer also produced by Galet).
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What makes the Flying Officer especially intriguing, and it?s also what one would likely notice first upon seeing or handling the watch, is that it features a true 24-hour dial, with the hour hand advancing across the dial once every 24 hours. To achieve that, the watch?s engine?the now-discontinued Valjoux 7760?had to be modified in-house by Guinand. Furthermore, to achieve the register layout of the original, Guinand had to move the 30-minute sub-dial counter to three o?clock from 12 (the historical model, it should be noted, featured a sub-dial with a 45-minute counter at three). While not an uncommon modification, it is a significant one. In an act of self-restraint, Guinand has also omitted the date window, keeping the symmetry intact. New versus old.
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Going beyond the movement, another appealing trait of the Flying Officer is...