Rawlins
Inspired by diving medicine pioneer Sir John Rawlins, The Winton Watch Company’s latest watch is equally at home under the sea as in the boardroom.
Hand assembled in Switzerland and water resistant to 200m, with sapphire glass, it will take pretty much anything you care to throw at it.
With a blue dial, the timeless design features applied markers and large ‘paddle’ pointers, making it easy to tell the time at a glance, and high luminescence means you can read it no matter what the conditions – whether diving wrecks or flagging a cab in the city.
The Rawlins includes a rotating bezel – a feature introduced in the early 1950s to track a diver’s bottom time, or time spent underwater. The bezel can also act as a reminder to prevent divers from exceeding their diving time limit – and features a 15 minute ‘red zone’.
It’s sister watch, the Walker, has a black face and is inspired by William Walker, a diver who saved Winchester Cathedral.
Specification
- 316L stainless steel case and integrated bracelet
- 43mm diameter
- Rotating bezel
- Screw down crown
- Anti-reflective sapphire glass
- Applied hour markers with lume
- ‘Paddle’ pointers with lume infill strip
- Sweep second hand with lume pointer
- Date marker
- Exhibition case back with sapphire glass
- Up to 200m water resistance
Movement
- Ronda R150
- Swiss-made automatic mechanical movement
- 28,800 beats per hour
- 25 jewels
- Nivaflex main spring
- 40-hour power reserve
- Incabloc anti-shock system
- Hours, minutes, central sweeping seconds, date
Who was John Rawlins?
Surgeon Vice Admiral Sir John Rawlins was a Royal Navy officer and diving medicine pioneer. A descendant of the diarist, Samuel Pepys, in 1944, while still training, Rawlins volunteered to treat the injured servicemen returning from the D-Day landings. Following his time in Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a surgeon lieutenant for his National Service, Rawlins transitioned to active duty and was assigned to the RAF Institute of Aviation, where he worked on protective helmets and the G-suit. He later developed of an automatic escape system for aircrew and broke his coccyx into six pieces while testing the system on the ground. Following time at the Royal Naval Physiological Laboratory, he was selected as the Royal Navy’s ‘man of the year’ and spent the next three years as principal medical officer aboard HMS Ark Royal. Following a secondment to the US Navy’s medical research unit at Bethesda, Maryland, where he worked on ‘Project Tektite’, Rawlins served as the RN Director of Health and Research and the RN Medical Director General.