This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the first live-fire test of a Martin-Baker ejection seat with a human test pilot aboard. It’s an important milestone for the British company, which about seven years ago teamed with fellow Brits Bremont to make a series of ejection-tough watches replica.
Both companies agreed at the time that any co-branded watch needed to withstand the same intense level of testing that Martin-Baker requires of each of its ejection seats.
Two years later, Bremont debuted its MB range (MBI & MBII). The limited edition Bremont MBI was solely for pilots who had ejected from an aircraft using a Martin-Baker seat. This select group includes U.S. congressmen and senators, CEOs and the chiefs of six air forces around the world. With one model reserved for the ejected few, Bremont’s MBII was made available to all and has become a Bremont best seller.
This year a new Bremont watch marks not only Martin Baker’s live testing procedure’s 70th anniversary, but also marks the 7,500th life saved by Martin Baker’s pioneering ejection seat technology. The Bremont MBII White offer offers a striking new look to the classic MBII collection. The new model features the collection’s distinctive knurled aluminum barrel (inspired by components on the ejection seats themselves) and will be available in orange, green and anthracite. Like all MB models, the MBII White has been put through the same intensive, extensive testing schedule that the ejection seats go through, including shock, vibration, temperature extremes, and salt-fog tests.
iW recently spoke with Martin-Baker’s Andrew Martin about his company’s relationship with Bremont.
iW: Nick and Giles English established Bremont’swatchmaking operationsin 2002; your company approached them in 2007. Please share thepaththat led your companies to the Bremont MB model line collaboration.
Martin: Bremont approached us several years ago, sometime before the first watches replica went into production. We liked the idea but we were very clear on the fact that if we were going to have our name associated with a watch it clearly had to be up to the job and a had to be a watch that could meet the rigors of becoming pilot ejection certified.
We asked Bremont to get the brand established and come back to us, in the interim we took a selection of well-known aviation watches replica and put them through the testing process- none of which came close to requirements. A few years later the brothers came back with standard production models, which performed better than their rivals. The weak spots were quickly identified and enabled us to make the necessary modifications to ensure they are worthy of carrying the Martin Baker name and we now believe the Bremont MB is the most resilient watch available.
iW: Two years elapsed between those initial discussions and the release of the original Bremont Martin-Baker models. Please describe the creative processand collaborative effort that led to the final designs.
Martin: The overall goal for the Bremont MBI was to ensure that it could actually withstand the MB ejection seat test program, which leads to the over-engineered design of the watch. This is now is apparent in all models in the MB range. Both the movement and mechanism of the Martin-Baker have been designed to ‘float’ in a controlled manner within the Bremont patented Trip-Tick® case by attaching the inner case to it via a flexible ring. In doing so, shocks to the movement are minimized and shock energy absorbed.
As well as this, the inner case that encloses the movement of the Bremont Martin-Baker has the function of an anti-magnetic shield. This inner case is made from soft iron and has been created to work as a ‘Faraday-Cage’ making the Bremont Martin-Baker watch immune to extreme magnetic fields, and a timepiece that has truly been ‘Tested Beyond Endurance’.
The design features of the MBI and the rest of the range were inspired by our Martin Baker seats using subtle hints such as the official warning symbol found on all ejection-seat-equipped aircraft and the seconds hand that features the yellow and black loop at the end– a direct reference to the ejection pull handle. The red barrel of the MBI signifies that a pilot has gone through an ejection and should one endeavor to purchase one, you will need your serial number to verify your story.
iW: Martin-Baker maintains a large battery of destructive threshold-testing equipment that is used to validate its ejection technologies and products. Could you offer insight intohow these facilities were utilized by Bremont for stress testing of the Martin-Baker series of watches replica?
Martin: To be qualified, the watch must undergo extreme tests such as survive the corrosive environment of an Air Force carrier flight deck, long exposures to severe heat and cold, impact tests and a host of other extremes. The corrosive testconsists oflong exposure to a saltwater mix. For the severe temperature tests, the watch is heated to 49 C for twenty-four hours, and for the cold, the entire watch is frozen in a solid block of ice also for twenty-four hours.
iW: Your company maintains a celebrated “Ejection Tie Club” roster of honored individuals who are confirmed veterans of Martin-Baker ejection events, and the firm’s website offers arange of Martin-Bakerenthusiastmerchandise including the Bremont Martin-Baker series of watches replica. How did such a specialized industrial product spawn such a pop-culture following?
Martin: I think it’s to do with capturing the imagination and allowing people to actually understand what we do as a company. People love to be in the know about things that aren’t necessarily so commercial and can buy into the brand and feel part of the club without having been ejected.
iW: 2016 marks the 70th anniversary of the first Martin-Baker airborne ejection -a manned test conducted with a 1946 prototype seat. Does the company plan to mark the occasion in any celebratory fashion?
We are having a celebration at Blenheim Palace to commemorate the 7,500th life saved. Our plan is to hopefully take a picture of the first and the 7500th life saved, standing next to each other. In between them are 7,499 pilots from over seventy years and from more than 100 countries worldwide.