Flying Officer Chronograph

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Flying Officer chronograph wristwatch, designed and manufactured in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Gallet & Co., was commissioned by Senator Harry S. Truman in 1939 for pilots of the United States Army Air Forces. Originally known as the "Flight Officer", a rank in the Army Air Forces, the watch's unique rotating 12 hour bezel and 48 cities printed on the periphery of the dial made it possible to calculate changes in the time as a pilot flew across lines of longitude. The Gallet Flying Officer Chronograph holds the distinction as the world's first time zone calculating wristwatch, as well as the first wrist-worn chronograph to be housed in a water resistant case. The Flying Officer was initially available only to flight officers and pilots of the allied forces during World War II. After the war, Gallet began to sell the Flying Officer commercially, and it remained as a popular watch for military, commercial, and civilian aviators.