WALTHAM
XA 37 TYPE
This legendary cockpit clock was fitted with Waltham’s famous 37 size, 8-day movement and housed in a black metal, four-lobe, 3-1/8 inch aluminum aircraft case. This clock was attached to the aircraft’s instruments panel so the pilot could note the mean time at a glance. The metal dial was black with luminous hands, dial indexes, and Arabic numerals. A small second sub-dial was located just below the 12 o’clock index. The glass crystal was held in a screw-type bezel. The winding and setting crown was located beneath the case.
The XA Model was able to perform accurately under extremely difficult environmental conditions such as vibrations, and exposure to sudden and extreme barometric and temperature fluctuations commonly encountered in aircrafts. In view of the fact that the XA Model had these capabilities, it became the standard aircraft timepiece for the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Navy Air Service. The Model XA became well-known in aviation circles, not just because of its outstanding performance, but also for its use during several historic flights in man’s conquest of the skies. The XA was selected as one of the few instruments to be mounted on the instruments panel of the Spirit of St. Louis and used by Charles A. Lindbergh during his famous solo transatlantic flight May 20-21, 1927 from New York to Paris. It was subsequently also mounted on the Southern Cross, used for first U.S.-Australia Pacific flight on May 31, 1928 made by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, highly skilled and noted Australian pilot, flying via Hawaii and the Fiji Islands to Brisbane, Australia.
Black metal dial with luminous hands, indexes and Arabic numerals, with small second sub-dial located at the 12 o’clock position