The watch was an operational component whose precision connected the rotating shipboard signal to the bearing calculated in the aircraft. A timing error translated into a directional error, so the mechanism had to be accurate and carefully maintained. Surviving 1937, 1940, 1941, and 1943 Fleet Air Arm navigator watches show the instrument's development, and the earlier examples are especially scarce. Their rarity reflects both limited issue and the fact that some went to the seabed with the aircrew who wore them. Museums and collectors value them as the human-scale component of a much larger radio-navigation system. A small personal instrument was operationally inseparable from the carrier's masthead transmitter.
Notable Point · 41:31-43:53
The precision watches behind the beacon system
Precision Fleet Air Arm watches were an essential, easily overlooked part of the earlier beacon method.