Director Christopher Nolan’s attention to detail is legendary, and his latest film “Dunkirk” is a source of excitement for watch lovers. In the movie, Tom Hardy, who plays the Royal Air Force pilot, regularly watches his watch. Hawkeye watch lovers like me have regarded watches as Omega. Specifically, the problematic watch is the Omega CK2129, which is the story behind it.
For readers unfamiliar with the 2017 film Dunkirk, it is currently a great success in the cinema, telling the story of Dunkirk’s evacuation during the Second World War. Dunkirk is the name of the French beach. In 1940, the Allies were trapped by the Germans and had nowhere to go.
Reliable timing is an important aspect of war, so watches are a very important tool. They are especially important for pilots who rely on watch navigation. In Dunkirk, we see that Hardy’s role depends largely on his watch, which plays an important role in the film. [SPOILER ALERT] This is not a real spoiler, but the most critical role of the watch (perhaps the most obvious shot) is that when his fuel gauge is damaged, he asks another pilot to take a fuel reading and over time The spread smeared it on the dashboard of the plane.
The watch chosen for Hardy’s character is the Omega CK2129. This choice is appropriate because it is reported that Omega provides about half of all the watches used by the Royal Air Force. In addition, the Omega CK2129 is the most commonly worn Omega watch by the Royal Air Force personnel in World War II. It is estimated that Omega delivered more than 110,000 watches to the British Ministry of Defense during the Second World War to support its forces.
Omega CK2129 originated in January 1940, shortly after the start of World War II. It was then that the Royal Air Force decided to take a watch with a rotating bezel and asked Omega to produce 2,000 such watches. By rotating the bezel, pilots can make calculations and time events easier and more accurate. The Omega CK2129 watch was finally delivered in March of the same year.
The Omega CK2129 is designed to be easy to use and easy to read. It has a cream dial, blue hands, a large Arabic hour scale, a large rotating bezel and two oversized crowns. These two large crowns allow the pilot to easily handle and wrap the watch while wearing gloves. In addition, the second crown at 4 o’clock is used to lock the rotating bezel so that it does not misread when accidentally hitting a narrow range of the cockpit of the aircraft.
The Omega CK2129 is powered by the Omega Calibre 23.4 SC, a hand-wound movement that has been used in many other Omega models during this time. Notable is its central seconds hand, which is very useful for short events in less than a minute. It has a frequency of 2.5 Hz and a power reserve of about 40 hours.