Leonidas, CP-2 Military Chronograph. A fine and rare, manual wind, stainless steel military chronograph wristwatch, circa 1960.
Case: Three-body, screw-down case back. Black, bi-directional rotating bezel.
Dial: Black with luminous Arabic numerals. Subsidiary dials for the seconds and 30-minute registers.
Movement: Caliber 222, signed Leonidas.
Bracelet: Elasto-fixo expandable stainless steel bracelet.
Diameter: 43mm, thickness: 14mm.
Condition: The watch is in excellent condition, particularly the case and bezel which seem to have barely been used with military back engraving very crisp. The dial seems to have some loss of its glossy paint due to humidity with some bubbling of the paint between 4 and 8 O'clock which is not very visible in the photographs. Keep time within Specs +/- 12 sec per day.
Accompanied by original, fitted box.
More about Leonidas:
The Leonidas Watch Company, founded in 1841 by Julien Bourquin. In 1964, Leonidas merged with Heuer to become Heuer Leonidas SA. Later, when Heuer is acquired by the Techniques d'Avant Garde group, the name Leonidas is dropped.
The CP-2 (Cronometro da Polso translating to Wrist Chronometer) was made for the Italian Army, and is marked as such on its case back (the letters “E.I” stand for Esercito Italiano). A pilot’s watch, the CP-2 was issued to Italian helicopter pilots, a division of the Italian Army and separate from the Air Force.
The caliber 222 of the CP-2 includes a flyback complication, which allows a pilot to reset the chronograph without first needing to press the stop button, allowing for faster calculations.
It is thought that Italian pilots would have worn their CP-2 on the exterior of their flight jackets as to prevent the flex bracelet from pulling the hairs of the arm.
