LeCoultre A11 Mark VII "Weems" U.S. Army Air Corps Pilots Watch
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- $8,750
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- $8,750
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Why We Love it
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Why We Love it
–In this age of global travel, it’s easy to take for granted the sight of contrails snaking across the sky. And yet, in the early years of the last century, airplanes were a new invention, and flight brought a new set of problems.
The romance was obvious—the logistics were terrifying. When you’re moving at speed through open air, any navigational error compounds fast. In fact, even being 30 seconds off in one's calculations could put a pilot off course by up to seven miles. Aeronautical navigation demanded specialized tools, and a new kind of timekeeper built not for the drawing room, but for the cockpit.
Just as John Harrison did for sailors in the Age of Sail with his marine chronometer, so too did Captain Philip Van Horn Weems do for pilots. A native of landlocked Tennessee, Weems enrolled at just 19 at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he developed an obsession with celestial navigation. Despite the advances made between Harrison’s era and Weems’s, the tools used in navigation remained surprisingly primitive. Weems himself lamented that many navigators were still trained using tables and methods so complicated that few could even perform them correctly. In his words, “It may be remarked that there is no disgrace in being lost in the air...the important thing is to reduce the periods of being lost or uncertain of position to the lowest limit humanly possible.”
In the late 1920s, he set out to do exactly that, starting with the watch that navigators used. Even with hacking seconds, synchronizing a watch precisely to a ship’s chronometer or a time signal was difficult. Weems’ solution was ingenious: a second-setting system using a movable bezel and seconds scale that could be aligned to a radio time signal, allowing a navigator to adjust for error in real time. As Weems put it, “Strange to say, keeping the watches running correctly is one of the most difficult matters in navigation.” He filed patents for what he called the Second-Setting Watch, and while the most famous civilian executions were made by Longines beginning in 1929, the concept ultimately became foundational to military navigation watches.
This LeCoultre A11 Mark VII “Weems” is a direct result of his ingenious idea. Produced for the U.S. Army Air Corps in the 1940s, it is not a “pilot-style” watch in the modern sense. Rather is a true navigation instrument, built for synchronization, legibility, and function, issued with purpose and engraved accordingly. The 32mm stainless steel case features brushed and polished surfaces, a rotating second-setting bezel, and a snap-on caseback engraved starting with “PROPERTY U.S. ARMY A.C. WATCH, NAVIGATION, HACK, TYPE A” followed by its serial number, 74. The dial is exactly what you want in a wartime cockpit: a crisp white base, black 'Arabic' numerals with a red 12, a clear outer minute track, blued 'sword' hands, and a center-seconds hand.
Inside beats a jeweled manual-wind movement, No. 124877, signed as expected. This is the kind of timepiece that reminds you that Jaeger-LeCoultre has always been about more than elegance and dress watches. At its core, it has also been a serious toolmaker, quietly helping write the history of aviation one synchronized second at a time.
This spectacular piece comes from the collection of Zaf Basha, a noted authority on Jaeger-LeCoultre who has published two books: Vintage Military Watches: A Guide for the Collector and Jaeger-LeCoultre: The Ultimate Guide for the Collector. Over the years, Basha put together one of the most impressive assemblages of vintage JLC timepieces in the world, and we're thrilled and honor to offer many of them for sale on Analog:Shift.
Brand Story
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Brand Story
+For much of the mid-20th century, watches sold in the United States were branded simply LeCoultre, omitting the “Jaeger” entirely. This wasn’t a split in manufacturing, but a deliberate branding decision. In the U.S., the name “Jaeger” was considered hard to pronounce, vaguely foreign, and—crucially—confusable with other companies. So American distributors opted for the cleaner, more approachable LeCoultre name.
Distribution in the U.S. was handled primarily through Longines-Wittnauer, which positioned LeCoultre as a refined, technically serious alternative to both American watch brands and better-known Swiss names. These watches were made in Switzerland by the same manufacture that produced Jaeger-LeCoultre pieces for Europe—often sharing identical movements, cases, and designs—but signed LeCoultre on the dial.
Collectors today prize U.S. market LeCoultre watches for exactly this reason. They often feature exceptional movements—bumper automatics, ultra-thin calibres, early complications—without the full branding premium that later attached to Jaeger-LeCoultre. The aesthetic is typically restrained: clean dials, subtle Art Deco or mid-century modern cues, and an emphasis on proportion over flash.
In short, American LeCoultre watches are not a lesser cousin—they are the same intellectual product, filtered through a uniquely U.S. lens. They reflect a moment when Swiss watchmaking adapted itself to American taste, language, and retail culture, resulting in some of the most quietly compelling watches of the era.
Distribution in the U.S. was handled primarily through Longines-Wittnauer, which positioned LeCoultre as a refined, technically serious alternative to both American watch brands and better-known Swiss names. These watches were made in Switzerland by the same manufacture that produced Jaeger-LeCoultre pieces for Europe—often sharing identical movements, cases, and designs—but signed LeCoultre on the dial.
Collectors today prize U.S. market LeCoultre watches for exactly this reason. They often feature exceptional movements—bumper automatics, ultra-thin calibres, early complications—without the full branding premium that later attached to Jaeger-LeCoultre. The aesthetic is typically restrained: clean dials, subtle Art Deco or mid-century modern cues, and an emphasis on proportion over flash.
In short, American LeCoultre watches are not a lesser cousin—they are the same intellectual product, filtered through a uniquely U.S. lens. They reflect a moment when Swiss watchmaking adapted itself to American taste, language, and retail culture, resulting in some of the most quietly compelling watches of the era.
A:S Guarantee
+
A:S Guarantee
+Our Pledge
Analog:Shift stands behind the authenticity of our products in perpetuity.
Condition
Since our pieces are vintage or pre-owned, please expect wear & patina from usage and age. Please read each item description and examine all product images.
Warranty
We back each Analog:Shift vintage timepiece with a two-year mechanical warranty from the date of purchase.
International Buyers
Please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.
Shipping & Returns
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Shipping & Returns
+All of our watches include complementary insured shipping within the 50 states.
Most of our products are on hand and will ship directly from our headquarters in New York City. In some cases, watches will be shipped directly from one of our authorized partners.
We generally ship our products via FedEx, fully insured, within 5 business days of purchase. An adult signature is required for receipt of all packages for insurance purposes. Expedited shipping is available at an additional cost. We are also happy to hand deliver your purchase in Manhattan or you may pick it up at our showroom.
Returns must be sent overnight or by priority international delivery, fully insured and paid for by the customer. A restocking fee may apply. Watches must be returned in the same condition as initially shipped.
We welcome international buyers, please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.
Make it yours will fit standard 16mm watches
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LeCoultre A11 Mark VII "Weems" U.S. Army Air Corps Pilots Watch
- Regular price
- $8,750
- Regular price
- Sale price
- $8,750
- Unit price
- per
