Base stands for air-base or a military air field and the 22 stands for the 22nd generation of Airman Swiss Rolex ETA Replica watches , which this watch is. During my stay in Basel, Frank and I visited the Glycine booth and had a talk with Katherina Brechbuehler, CEO of Glycine Watch SA. She told us that this watch was something collectors of Airman watches have been longing for ever since the original Airman was succeeded by more modern versions.The Airman Base 22 (ref. 3887) will be available in three versions. The basic version that resemblances the model pictured above, second is a GA-version that allows the owner to change the time zone on the main hour hand without having to hack the movement as home time is indicated by the secondary hour hand. This Swiss Rolex ETA Replica watches is capable of displaying three time zones.The Glycine Airman GA version. Photo courtesy of Glycine.
Glycine (founded in 1914) introduced a multiple time zone watch in 1953, the Glycine Airman. These watches were meant to be for travellers and pilots that needed a watch that enabled them to read two different time zones. Through all these years, the Airman watch was never absent from the Glycine collection, but it changed a bit every once in a while. Purists will swear by the original vintage Airman model (nicked Old Airman) that was in production from 1953 till 1973. This model was embraced by the military (chopper) pilots during the Vietnam war with its useful second time zone and AM/PM indicator. These first models had a Felsa caliber 692 movement and was succeeded in 1960 by an A.Schild movement.Picture courtesy of Ron Engels.Above a picture of this first batch of Glycine Airman Swiss Rolex ETA Replica watches , a 1960s model. Now, in 2010, Glycine introduces a successor that comes very close to these first Old Airman models, the Airman Base 22.
