The Rise and Fall of Glycine: How the Airman Became a Cult Classic — Then Got Swallowed Up
Horology Archive
7,371 views
In 1966, an astronaut took this watch into the open vacuum of space — over his pressure suit — and it kept perfect time. Today, the brand that built it is owned by a company best known for cable TV shopping channels.
The Glycine Airman was born from a five-page letter written on a DC-4 over Asia in 1953, after a pilot described the exact watch no one would build. Four months later, it existed. It became the best-selling pilot's watch in America, went to Vietnam on Air Force wrists, orbited the Earth 120 times, and beat Omega to a record nobody remembers: the first automatic watch in space.
Then, handoff by handoff, the company stopped listening to the cockpit — and started listening to retailers, distribution maps, and finally a Florida marketing department. This is the story of the watch a pilot designed, the murder its founder's story ends with, and how a legend ended up at 3069 Taft Street, Hollywood, Florida.
19 Comments
The watch always draws attention. With the 24 hour dial, anyone glancing when its 12 noon sees the watch hands in the 6 o'clock position of a conventional watch. That confuses the hell out of them or they politely tell me my watch has stopped.
Still made today at reasonable cost.
My Glycine Combat Sub 39 runs chronometer spec where my Pelagos 39 will lose 3s a day lol.
The dial is intoxicating and the case is beautiful and thin!
The Rise and Fall of Glycine: How the Airman Became a Cult Classic — Then Got Swallowed Up
Horology Archive
7,371 views
In 1966, an astronaut took this watch into the open vacuum of space — over his pressure suit — and it kept perfect time. Today, the brand that built it is owned by a company best known for cable TV shopping channels.
The Glycine Airman was born from a five-page letter written on a DC-4 over Asia in 1953, after a pilot described the exact watch no one would build. Four months later, it existed. It became the best-selling pilot's watch in America, went to Vietnam on Air Force wrists, orbited the Earth 120 times, and beat Omega to a record nobody remembers: the first automatic watch in space.
Then, handoff by handoff, the company stopped listening to the cockpit — and started listening to retailers, distribution maps, and finally a Florida marketing department. This is the story of the watch a pilot designed, the murder its founder's story ends with, and how a legend ended up at 3069 Taft Street, Hollywood, Florida.