Lemania Dive Supervisors Watch, Super Compressor Case EPSA, 1965

Dealer description — Vintage Watch Specialist

A Very Rare Lemania 'Supervisor' - Only produced for 1 Year in 1965, Only Approximately 300 Issued! In excellent Condition With a Nicely Aged Lume. Initially, there was speculation as to whether these Lemania ‘Dive Supervisors’ were genuine - they were issued to the Royal Navy and were proven by the community at the Military Watch Forum to be genuine and possibly one of the rarest military-issued watches ever made. The proof is documented in a Def Stan (UK Defence Standardisation) document (64 Table III.a) that states ‘0552/160647’ as a ‘supervisor’s watch. These markings are found on the back of this Lemania, and a second document from a Royal Navy dive book (BR 2806 Chapter 3334.1) that states ‘two types of watches are provided for use when diving- the diver’s watch ‘Rolex’ or ‘Omega’, and the supervisor’s watch, ‘Lemania’. What’s On Offer As the name would suggest, these watches were built for Military dive supervising officers and therefore were not built to withstand the diving depths of the other issued watches such as the Rolex Mil Sub and the Omega Military Seamaster 300, they were cased however, in an Ervin Piquerez S.A. (EPSA) super compressor cases which were used by other well-known brands for their dive watches. The no-date Lemania dive s upervisor was issued for one year only in 1965 - it is a VERY rare watch - it is thought only around 300 were ever issued. We are very pleased to be able to offer this beautifully preserved example for sale! The dial is in very nice shape with all the hallmarks we expect from British military watches - the stark black dial, the crisp white bold Arabic numerals, and the lumed hour plots which have aged to a beautiful custard colour. The dial also displays the T which denotes it as a tritium dial, the arrow which marks it as property of the MoD and the Lemania logo. The dial is completed with original sword hands which also still contain original lume. Paired with a NATO-style strap this watch is a supreme example of one of the rarest British military-issued pieces there is.