Timex x Nigel Cabourn "Sea Survival" Camper Watch in Yellow.
Third watch in the collaboration pays tribute to RAF pilots during WWII.
Hi, this Alan. Thanks for reading this page, and for your interest in these watches. My contact info is below, at the bottom. Here is the Spring 2020 watch from a collaboration between Timex and designer Nigel Cabourn. It is the "Sea Survival" watch, and follows the 2018 Nam Watch, and the 2019 Football Referee Watch. This watch is very similar to the first one from2018, using the same solid-lug steel case that Timex Japan developed for the SST Camper (here is one from Timex and Engineered Garments,) a mineral glass crystal, and a dial and hands that are identical in design, but with different colors. Like the two previous, it is supplied with two straps, and a small zippered pouch.
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Let's take a look at the dial and hands. The most defining feature of this watch is the color of the dial. Photos vary in how they show the color. It is yellow with hints of orange. It is meant to evoke the color of the high-visibility life vest worn by Royal Air Force pilots and crew during WWII. The numerals are in black, in simple and bold lettering, creating very good contrast against the black dial. Arrows and dial markers at the periphery, and TIMEX upper center. Notice that 12 has been replaced by the Broad Arrow. Hour and minute hands are black, with a red seconds hand. Now, see the below watch, the Nam Watch, and notice the similarity. Aside from color differences, the dial print, and the hands are the same.
"Wing Commander Richard Milne in the cockpit of his Spitfire IX, February 1943. (Photo by H V Drees.)" I am not sure if this is an original color photo, or if it has been colorized.
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The watch originally released in Japan in Apriil 2020, where it sold for ¥ 31,900 including tax, about 297 US dollars. It then went on sale about six weeks later, in June 2020 on timex.com, and the Nigel Cabourn e-commerce site, selling for $180, and £150, respectively. (UK price included VAT, but the US price was pre-tax)
As best I remember, this is the first time that the Cabourn/Timex watches didn't go on sale simultaneously, everywhere. I am not sure if this is because the release occurred in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, but I suspect this was the case. Production, supply chains, those were all affected for so many companies, and it would not be surprising if production and distribution delays affected release dates.
April 7th declaration, on the Nigel Cabourn Japan website, above. Below, sales page.
The fixed-lug steel case is wonderful, and is the same case that was used for more premium versions of the Camper (SST, Engineered Garments, others) that arose out of the Original Camper project, by Timex Japan. The resin case used for the Original Camper was reverse-engineered by optically scanning a vintage mechanical Camper Watch, and this steel version was based on that same template. So, the design continuity was continued from the original 1980s watch. Below is a diagram of the design. The original mechanical Campers did not have a caseback that opened, but of course the modern quartz versions needed a way to replace the battery, so they built in a caseback into the design.
Two NATO/G10-style straps, one in black leather, and the other (above) in dark blue Ventile. The Ventile strap is the other aspect of this watch that pays tribute to the RAF. Ventile: "Extra-long-staple (ELS) cotton fibres are used to form a low-twist yarn, which is then woven into a tight high-density textile to create a 100% cotton fabric, capable of providing an effective barrier against inclement weather. In wet weather the softly spun yarns - within the tight weave - dynamically expand to form an effective barrier against the elements.[2]." The flight suits the aircrew wore appeared to have been made from such material, so that if they plunged into the icy cold waters of the North Sea while battling with the Luftwaffe, they had a longer lag time before they became wet and cold beyond survival, They still needed to be rescued quickly (20 minutes or so?) as the Ventile was only able to temporize the inevitable, but without this material it is believed that most would have succumbed to hypothermia. (Rescue was by flying boats, or by air-dropped lifeboats, some with motors and sails.)
Each strap is embossed with the Broad Arrow. Above, this is on the inside leather backing of the Ventile strap, and below on the outer surface of the black leather.
It is a particularly nice version of the Broad Arrow that Nigel has chosen to use. There are others, but this one with its "converging" or "tapering" design looks almost Modernist, and is to me more visually appealing than others. My least favorite Broad Arrow is the "fat arrow" on the 1953 Omega 6B wristwatch, made for the RAF. If you want to see it, have a look. It reminds me more of a tree in Middle Earth amongst the Hobbits.
The watch as it arrived. You can see the plastic grommet at the stem, keeping the crown out. Stopped at 8:26:39
Brown paper packages, tied up with.... (stickers.)
I can't say enough about how great this case is, one of the best cases Timex has made in many years. Again, developed out of the Japan Camper project in the 2010s, reverse-engineered from a vintage model, and then adapted to stainless steel.
I believe Nigel was wise to adopt this case for his #1 and #3 watches. And like the Japan SST Campers, the Nigel Campers also have a mineral glass crystal. Note: the photo below is not mine. I generally like to use my own pic, but this one (by timex.com) is so superb, I thought to include it here.
Let's have a look at the little pouch that every Timex x Nigel watch has come with, so far. Here are all of them, above. They are cotton, have a front flap and tie, and an internal zippered compartment. They are modeled after field mending kits supplied to the Italian Army. Here is a pic of one of them.
On the inside flap of the pouch, there is information about the inspiration for this project.
Metal zipper. Zipper pull has the Broad Arrow. The zipper pull on the Nam Watch was made by YKK, a Japanese zipper manufacturer. Here is the Nam.
I don't have anything from the RAF. But I do have this woolen shirt that says SHIRT, FLIGHT. Seems WWII era, from this label and the W&G manufacturer. So, it's probably from the "Army Air Force," a division of the US Army from before there was the USAF.
From pages 244-245 of the Nigel Cabourn SS Catalog.
In the early 2000s, I took this pic of a well-maintained War Department ordnance marker, with a nice Broadarrow, at the north end of London's Tower Bridge. Not sure when it dates from, but it seems like it's older than the sidewalk, and when they re-did the sidewalk they made an effort to keep the marker. It looks like it's probably been painted.
Along the shores of Lake Michigan, June 2020
Above is not my pic. I am sorry I don't remember where I found it. A sales site in Japan, I believe. It shows the watch overlying some kind of vintage survival gear. Talks about a ship, and shows a broad arrow, so maybe Royal Marines? The stamp is from G. STRAUSS & SONS, a supplier of military garments. Maybe these were some kind of flotation trousers.
