Lemania is a name that should be as well-known as that of Omega or Tissot. The firm – dubbed by one watch blogger as ‘the greatest maker of watches that you may never have heard of’ – provided every single chronograph movement that those much better-known brands used until the 1970s.
Most branded Lemania watches are military-style issues. From the late 1940s until the 1970s Lemania was the sole provider of chronographs to British forces.
All operated with a single pusher; dispensing with the need for the extra zero button and the possibility of resetting errors. Ideal for navigating and measuring distances while dead-reckoning current position, they were supplied to the RAF, the Fleet Air Arm and other branches including the Hydrographic Service.