S P I T F I R ELIMITED EDITION

EP120WATCH

PREPARED BY DIRECTION OF THE BREMONT WATCH COMPANY

PROMULGATED BY ORDER OF THE BREMONT WATCH COMPANY

TESTED BEYOND ENDURANCE

www.bremont.comCOPYRIGHT THE BREMONT WATCH COMPANY, 2008

190 mm

258 mm

BLACK CUTTER

PAPER STOCK

CARTER WONG design Ltd.29 Brook Mews North

London W2 3BWTelephone 020 7569 0000

info@carterwongdesign.com w.carterwongdesign.com

Printing Colours Non Printing Colours

AWDate

Client

File Name

Designer

Artworker

Variant

Substrate

Size

Job Number

17.06.08

Bremont

6661 Spitfire Brochure SB Cover_front

SM

NT

Softback Cover Front

Docuguard Manilla Board - Blue225 gsm

190 mm (h) x 258 mm (w)

6661

A M E N D M E N T SAmendment lists will be issued as necessary and will be gummed for affixing to the inside back cover of these notes.

Each a mendment list w ill, where applicable, b e accompanied by gummed slips for sticking in the appropriate places in the text.

Incorporation of an amendment list must be certified by inserting date of incorporation and initials below.

The Bremont Watch Company is very proud to release

information on its latest member of the Bremont stable

– the limited edition EP120. This particular watch has

been developed over a number of years through the

company’s desire to make a truly unique timepiece that

quite simply cannot be replicated again.

The inspiration for many of the Bremont timepieces

come from the world of aviation, non more so than

the EP120 whose roots lie in the original wartime

chronograph still found in the Mark Vb EP120

Spitfire.

BREMONT WATCH COMPANY

1

Time began for BREMONT when Nicholas and

Giles English, two brothers with a shared passion for

aviation, embarked on a project to make beautifully

crafted pilot’s watches of exceptional quality. Inspired

amongst other things by their love of historic aircraft,

the watches had to be durable and mechanically special.

They would be built in limited numbers by hand at their

own dedicated atelier.

Today, the workshop produces no less than six different

models, plus the EP120 – the first of Bremont’s limited

editions. With the passion that continues to fuel all of the

Bremont ranges was a desire to produce a truly limited

edition watch – a watch limited through necessity.

The watch naturally had to be limited to 120 pieces, all

hand-crafted using exceptional amounts of skill, time

and effort to include original parts of the Spitfire EP120

saved during restoration. These Spitfire parts form the

chronograph dial on the front of the watch, and also

the rotor on the reverse of the watch that can be seen

through its sapphire back.

ABOUT US

NICK ENGLISH GILES ENGLISH

2 �

�

EP120’s HISTORY

EP120 was built at Castle Bromwich, and entered RAF service in May 1942 with �01 (County of Gloucester) Squadron at Ibsely in Hampshire. Whilst in the hands of the Ibsley Wing Leader, Wing Commander ‘Pat’ Gibbs, she claimed her first kill; a Do17. There are Spitfires in existence with a wartime combat record, however Spitfire Mk Vb EP120, at seven ‘kills’ represents a proven fighter with something quite special. EP120 is currently one of only four airworthy Mk V Spitfires in the world.

EP120 sustained some damage on 16th July 1942 after a ground collision as was very nearly written off. After repairs, the aircraft returned to �01 Sqn in time to provide air cover for the withdrawal of forces involved in Operation ‘Jubilee’, the disastrous Dieppe raid, flying three sorties to protect the shipping convoy taking troops and equipment off the beach at Dieppe. The third sortie was flown by Wing Commander Gibbs, which saw a number of encounters with FW190’s before three Dornier Do-217’s were sighted south of the convoy. Gibbs was able to bring EP120 onto the tail of one of the Dornier’s and open fire with the cannon and machine guns before himself being attacked by an FW190. Gibbs shook the FW190, dived to sea level and met the rest of Yellow Section before heading home and being credited with the kill.

The aircraft was damaged again later in July 1942, but after repair she was allocated to 19 Sqn at RAF Perranporth, part of 10 Group in Cornwall. At this time, the RAF’s Spitfire Mk Vb fleet was being upgraded in an effort to combat the new Focke Wulf FW190, which was superior to the RAF’s Spitfire V. EP120 was modified having her wings clipped and the Supercharger impeller blades cropped to improve the performance of the engine. EP120 flew a total of 61 combat sorties with 19 Sqn over a seven month period, most of these being channel shipping protection patrols.

4

6 7

The squadron flew to Digby and exchanged it’s Spitfire Vb’s on the 22nd April 194� with the Canadian 402 (City of Winnipeg) Sqn, and it was here that EP120 was re-coded AE-A. As EP120 arrived, so did a new squadron commander, Malta veteran Squadron Leader Geoffrey Wilson Northcott DSO, DFC and he adopted EP120 as his own personal aircraft.

Northcott scored his first victory after five days as 402 Squadron’s commanding officer. Flying EP120, Northcott made his first kill against a Bf109 which was defending a German convoy from attack by Beaufighters off the Dutch coast.

After minor modifications at 3501 Servicing Unit at Cranfield between 1st and 6th July, the Squadron returned to Digby. The 2nd of August proved to be another eventful day both for EP120, and Northcott, when 402 Sqn was tasked with providing cover for another Beaufighter strike against German convoy’s operating around Den Helder. After refuelling at Coltishall, the squadron flew across at low level under thick cloud, arriving at around 11:00hrs to take up station. Six Bf109’s were spotted to the North East; 402 Sqn and sister unit 412 Sqn, turned to engage. Northcott flying EP120 was able to bring down two Bf109’s in this action using �0 rounds of cannon ammunition and �00 machine gun rounds. This action earned Squadron Leader Northcott a bar to his DFC.

Apart from providing cover for RAF Beaufighters, the squadron also flew escort missions for USAAF B26 Marauders. On 22nd August 1943 402 Sqn was ordered to provide top cover for an attack on Beaumont Le Roget, in which the bomber formation came under attack by 1� plus FW190’s. In the following encounter, Northcott latched onto the leader and shot him down with a short burst of combined cannon and machine gun fire.

On another B26 escort mission over Lille on 4th September, a mixed force of Bf109’s and FW190’s rose to attack the bombers, although largely driven off by 402 Sqn, though some were able to attack the bombers. The formation was attacked again over Le Touquet by FW190’s, but they were once again engaged by the escorting Spitfires with Northcott flying EP120 attacking another FW190 tearing off it’s

port wing in the process, one of four FW190’s shot down with another claimed as damaged.

The last two victories claimed by Northcott in EP120 were another Bf109 on the �rd October 194�, and the last on the �rd November while escorting 72 B26’s on a raid over Schiphol with 412 Sqn. The wing sighted a formation of Bf109’s en route to the target and engaged, the wing brought down a total of nine enemy aircraft with Northcott claiming one destroyed.

On the 12 February1944 EP120 suffered another accident and was transferred to 33 MU, after which she was allocated to 53 Operational Training Unit at Kirton-in-Lindsey, until May 1945. Her flying service ended on 2nd June 194� when she was transferred to No 4 School of Technical Training at RAF St Athan as 5377M to assist in the education of RAF mechanics.

EP120 has been used in several feature films since its ‘retirement’, including ‘The Battle of Britain’ and ‘Pearl Harbour’. The aircraft is now owned and operated by the Fighter Collection based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire and can be seen flying regularly throughout the year.

� 9

1110

12 1�

14 1�

16 17

Fig. 1THE BREMONT EP120

AUTOMATIC CHRONOGRAPH

Your EP120 shows you the time in hours, minutes, seconds and the date. It also shows the time in another time zone using its 24-hour hand (or UTC hand). With the chronograph you can measure up to �0 minutes (in minutes and seconds) through the ‘Time of Trip’ dial positioned at 12 o’clock. The mechanical movement with automatic winding has a free-swinging rotor that keeps the mainspring wound via the motion of your wrist. The movement in your EP120 has 2� jewels, runs at 2�,�00 bph and has a 42-hour power reserve once fully wound. The watch is water resistant to 100m (10 ATM) and the dial is protected by a dual anti-reflective sapphire crystal that is retained securely (in the case of low pressure found at extreme altitudes). The case of your watch is made from an especially hardened stainless steel with a DLC (diamond like carbon) coating. To ensure that this rather special watch continues to run beautifully for years to come, you must follow a few important operating instructions.

Key to Fig. 1

WATCH FEATURES

1. �0 minutes counter2. Hour hand�. Chronograph Second hand4. UTC/24 hour hand�. Bezel crown6. Chronograph start/stop7. Minute hand8. Date indicator9. Setting crown (position I,II,III)10. Chronograph reset button

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

WATCH DIMENSIONS

• Case Diameter 43mm• Lug Width 22mm• Case Thickness 17mm

1� 19

Fig. 2THE BREMONT EP120

AUTOMATIC CHRONOGRAPH

Key to Fig. 2

CROWN - � POSITIONS

1. Normal running of watch and hand-winding2. Rapid correction of date and 24 hour hand�. Position for setting the time with the stop second and correction of

the date at every passing of midnight

Rapid date and day correction is not possible between �pm and 2am

Self-winding of the watch by the movements of the wrist.

ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS

a.1. Start2. Stop Read�. Restart4. Stop Read�. Restart6. Stop Read

b.1. Reset to zero

1 2 3

a

b 1

56

34

12

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Air Data Publications, St Annes On Sea, LancashireThe Fighter Collection, Duxford

UK-Warbirds.net

20Designed by www.carterwongdesign.com

S P I T F I R ELIMITED EDITION

EP120WATCH

PREPARED BY DIRECTION OF THE BREMONT WATCH COMPANY

PROMULGATED BY ORDER OF THE BREMONT WATCH COMPANY

TESTED BEYOND ENDURANCE

www.bremont.comCOPYRIGHT THE BREMONT WATCH COMPANY, 2008

190 mm

258 mm

BLACK CUTTER

PAPER STOCK

CARTER WONG design Ltd.29 Brook Mews North

London W2 3BWTelephone 020 7569 0000

info@carterwongdesign.com w.carterwongdesign.com

Printing Colours Non Printing Colours

AWDate

Client

File Name

Designer

Artworker

Variant

Substrate

Size

Job Number

17.06.08

Bremont

6661 Spitfire Brochure SB Cover_front

SM

NT

Softback Cover Front

Docuguard Manilla Board - Blue225 gsm

190 mm (h) x 258 mm (w)

6661