Original vintage 1950s advert for the Omega 30mm dress watch, along with a very iconic Cold War USMIL "jet sky jeep" article.
Dimensions: 10 inches wide by 13.5 inches high.
The Cold War - from just after WWII to the end of the Soviet Union in 1989 (although many note, with good reason, that it continues today between the U.S. and Russia) - was an era of tremendous innovation, which resulted in the invention of a multitude of useful items - the internet, GPS, etc.
It also resulted in a number of less than useful ones, too - like the so-called "jet sky jeep."
In 1951, at the request of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force developed the XH-26, a one-man, pulsejet-driven helicopter. Rather than having an internal engine like other helicopters, the Jet Jeep was powered by two pulsejets on the end of each rotor blade tip. American Helicopter chose the name "Jet Jeep" because the XH-26 would be used like an aerial Jeep.
When collapsed, its storage container fit on a trailer towed by the one-quarter ton Jeep. If stripped for air drop, the Jet Jeep weighed less than 300 pounds, and it could be assembled by two men in just 20 minutes. It could also burn the same fuel as a Jeep.
The Army and USAF evaluated five prototype Jet Jeeps, and they performed well. Unfortunately, the pulsejets were so loud that the Army found the aircraft unsuitable, and cost considerations forced the cancellation of the program.
For the past 70+ years, Omega has produced a staggering array of Seamasters to suit a variety of needs; from solid gold dress watches to solid blocks of stainless steel used for dive watches, from soccer timers to world timers, the Seamaster has seen them all.
Omega debuted the Seamaster family – like this full serviced 1972 Seamaster Ref. 168.0061 chronometer here – in 1948 to celebrate the company’s Omega’s 100th anniversary loosely based upon designs made for the British Royal Navy near the end of World War II. It was, in essence, a “splash-proof” dress watch – it now holds the honor of the longest running model since Omega’s founding in 1848.
Omega’s design of the first Seamaster, the 300, drew influence from older waterproof watches worn on the wrists of the British military during WWII. However, what would initially distinguish the first Seamaster from its other predecessor watches from Omega competitors was its rubber O-ring gasket, which separated the dive watch from other lead or shellac gaskets which were more susceptible to temperature changes. Instead, Omega’s rubber gasket prevented any water infiltration in severe temperature changes ranging between -40° C to 50° C.
In the 1950s, Omega engineers were so confident of the Seamaster’s durability, they attached one to the outside of an aircraft and flew it over the North Pole in 1956. The Seamaster 300 performed so well, in fact, that Jacques Cousteau’s team used it during experimental dives in 1963 and beyond.