H2 – BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Battle of Britain (1940)
(41mm – 50 builds)

Featuring recast Hawker Hurricane Merlin Engine casing

Launched on the 31st October to mark the end of the Battle of Britain, Zero West Watches have created a very limited release of just 50 H2 timepieces with the dial design based upon the slip-turn indicator of the iconic Mk1 Hawker Hurricane and the date code of the battle’s Hardest Day – 18/08/40. Mounted in the watch back are discs of the rare and original metal, recast from the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine of P3708.

A turning point in WW2, this timepiece captures the epic story of the Battle of Britain, from its initiation by Germany’s Luftwaffe on the 10th July 1940 to its conclusion on the 31st October 1940. It was a battle fought by the few in dogfights over British shores in planes designed by Britain’s best aeronautical engineers. Sergeant Alexander Girdwood was one such pilot. Flying Hawker Hurricane P3708 he engaged the enemy alongside legendary fighter ace Robert Stanford Tuck.

As part of 257 Squadron, Girdwood limped away from his burning plane during the Battle’s Hardest Day on the 18th August 1940. He fought again but P-3708 remained buried where it crashed on Foulness Island until its excavation in 1990. Girdwood would not see the end of the Battle of Britain but his bravery is not forgotten.

This ultimate sacrifice by him and many other pilots will forever be honoured by Churchill’s poignant words, ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

Of the 50 we are making we have just 1 left and it’s: 1/50.