Named after a wild flower, La Fleur de Glycine, the eponymous watch brand was founded by 23-year-old Eugène Meylan in 1914, towards the end of the German Jugendstil period. The marque became a successful producer of reliable automatic watches in the 1930’s, and supplied the German army during WWII. After changing hands a few times and making great advancements in the world of watchmaking (vacuum sealed watch patent, 1965-6 Gemini spaceflights), Glycine survived the Quartz Crisis and ended up being purchased by the Invicta Group in 2016, keeping its independence with the benefits of the larger company’s marketing and distribution systems.

The Airman model was pioneered in 1953 on the request British pilot Chat Brown, effectively becoming the first time zone watch. A decade later, it would become one of the most iconic watches of the Vietnam War. Under Invicta ownership, Glycine issued two ‘Purist’ 36mm re-issues of the original Airman, the GL0159 (limited, acrylic glass) and the GL0371 (non-limited, sapphire).

This limited GL0159 model, unit 259/1000, comes accompanied by its original box, warranty card, soft pouch, and steel expansion bracelet. It keeps good time and it is ready to wear and enjoy!