Some may be surprised at the reference (page 248) in the new IWC book, “Engineering Time Since 1868” that Sir Edmund Hillary wore an IWC Mark 11 during his part of the 1957 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Hillary was leader of the support party from Scott Base, and was the third person to travel overland and reach the South Pole (1958) after Amundsen (1911) and Scott (1912).
Two IWC Mark 11 watches were provided, one to Hillary and the other to Bob Miller, Deputy Leader and Senior Surveyor. These were donated by Messers Weiner and Co. of Wellington, the IWC distributors at that time, and described in “Antarctica” by Helm and Miller as “Two first class watches”, while Smiths of England provided a wrist watch for every member.
Hillary had been a Royal New Zealand Air Force navigator duing World War 2, flying on Catalina aircraft, and on the Expedition took an aircraft bubble sextant for navigation purposes. This later leaked and the bubble grew larger making it unreliable as his party made its way to the pole.
During winter Hillary instigated a series of weekly talks, one of which was a Navigation Course conducted by Bob Millar that covered, Dead reckoning, Time – including chronometers and time signals, Practical work with Theodolite and Sextant, etc. So no doubt the IWC Mark 11's were put to good use.
Cheers from the cellar.
Sources:
Antarctica, A.S Helm and J.H Miller Engineering Time Since 1868, Manfred Fritz, Paulo Coelho and Enki Bilal Hellbent for the Pole, Geoffrey Lee Martin No Latitude for Error, Sir Edmund Hillary The Crossing of Antarctica, Sir Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hillary
Very interesting indeed. Some have reported that Hillary wore an Ingenieur when climbing Mt. Everest --which is incorrect but it has been reported, presumably correctly, that he did for other expeditions. But now perhaps it wasn't an Inge but a Mark 11!
My guess is that he wore an Inge for some and a Mark 11 for the expedition you've mentioned.
803 Discussions and CommentsMember since Feb. 9, 2007
Thanks Greg-didn't know Hillary had used an IWC. He wore a Smiths Deluxe on Everest (and Tensing a R***x) although it seems unclear if he actually wore it on the summit.
1 Discussions and CommentsMember since Feb. 12, 2011
Michael Friedberg Wrote:Very interesting indeed. Some have reported that Hillary wore an Ingenieur when climbing Mt. Everest --which is incorrect but it has been reported, presumably correctly, that he did for other expeditions. But now perhaps it wasn't an Inge but a Mark 11!
My guess is that he wore an Inge for some and a Mark 11 for the expedition you've mentioned.
Hi Michael,
Long time I was not online here but I can tell you, I still love your ex-urportugieser ref 325 enormously!
&
About Hillary's IWC, I saw the Ingenieur with special caseback gravure. Next time i'll make a picture of it ;-)
160 Discussions and CommentsMember since Jan. 25, 2012
Netherlands
Hi everyone,
I am currently on holidays in New Zealand and got some information that might also be fun to read in this regard. Many thanks to Andrew from the Wellington IWC AD for sending me these old articles after a very nice talk in Wellington.
Thanks Greg, for another significant contribution to my IWC knowledge!
Thanks Waimar for the added info!
Great thread, I'm glad it was resuscitated.
Regards,
Jeronimo
Omar Khayyám (Persia XI-XII Century) offered that Time should not only be measured in length but also in width due to the intrinsic difference between a minute or other depending on what is happening to the beholder... I wonder how a watch would look like...
David Hills Wrote:Great post. It would be interesting to know where the watches used by the expeditions ended up.
+1!
And I'm sure they would deserve a place in the museum...
Regards,
Jeronimo
Omar Khayyám (Persia XI-XII Century) offered that Time should not only be measured in length but also in width due to the intrinsic difference between a minute or other depending on what is happening to the beholder... I wonder how a watch would look like...
Two IWC Mark 11 watches were provided, one to Hillary and the other to Bob Miller, Deputy Leader and Senior Surveyor. These were donated by Messers Weiner and Co. of Wellington, the IWC distributors at that time, and described in “Antarctica” by Helm and Miller as “Two first class watches”, while Smiths of England provided a wrist watch for every member.
Hillary had been a Royal New Zealand Air Force navigator duing World War 2, flying on Catalina aircraft, and on the Expedition took an aircraft bubble sextant for navigation purposes. This later leaked and the bubble grew larger making it unreliable as his party made its way to the pole.
During winter Hillary instigated a series of weekly talks, one of which was a Navigation Course conducted by Bob Millar that covered, Dead reckoning, Time – including chronometers and time signals, Practical work with Theodolite and Sextant, etc. So no doubt the IWC Mark 11's were put to good use.
Cheers from the cellar.
Sources:
Antarctica, A.S Helm and J.H Miller
Engineering Time Since 1868, Manfred Fritz, Paulo Coelho and Enki Bilal
Hellbent for the Pole, Geoffrey Lee Martin
No Latitude for Error, Sir Edmund Hillary
The Crossing of Antarctica, Sir Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hillary
cellar@gregsteer.net
Last edited: 4 January, 2013 - 22:35
My guess is that he wore an Inge for some and a Mark 11 for the expedition you've mentioned.
Regards, Michael
mfriedberg@iwcforum.com
Last edited: 5 April, 2012 - 19:53
He wore a Smiths Deluxe on Everest (and Tensing a R***x) although it seems unclear if he actually wore it on the summit.
ross (at) baverstock (dot) me (dot) uk
Last edited: 17 May, 2013 - 09:58
Hi Michael,
Long time I was not online here but I can tell you, I still love your ex-urportugieser ref 325 enormously!
&
About Hillary's IWC, I saw the Ingenieur with special caseback gravure. Next time i'll make a picture of it ;-)
Best to YOU!
rg.Philipp
I am currently on holidays in New Zealand and got some information that might also be fun to read in this regard.
Many thanks to Andrew from the Wellington IWC AD for sending me these old articles after a very nice talk in Wellington.
Cheers,
Waimar
Waimar
Last edited: 21 March, 2013 - 07:03
Thanks Waimar for the added info!
Great thread, I'm glad it was resuscitated.
Regards,
Jeronimo
Omar Khayyám (Persia XI-XII Century) offered that Time should not only be measured in length but also in width due to the intrinsic difference between a minute or other depending on what is happening to the beholder... I wonder how a watch would look like...
Last edited: 21 March, 2013 - 07:24
Regards
Dave
+1!
And I'm sure they would deserve a place in the museum...
Regards,
Jeronimo
Omar Khayyám (Persia XI-XII Century) offered that Time should not only be measured in length but also in width due to the intrinsic difference between a minute or other depending on what is happening to the beholder... I wonder how a watch would look like...