The Watch
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The French Army (Armée de Terre) is the land combat branch of the French Armed Forces, comprising over 115,000 highly trained, active-duty volunteer soldiers. As one of Europe's largest and most technologically advanced militaries, its primary mission is defending the French homeland while maintaining a strong global presence through rapid overseas interventions and a leading role within NATO. The force operates a wide array of specialized units—including infantry, armored cavalry, artillery, and specialized combat engineering dive teams—utilizing cutting-edge equipment like the Leclerc tank, CAESAR howitzers, and Tigre attack helicopters. These Army Divers (plongeurs de l'armée de Terre) are elite specialists within the engineering and special forces units, trained to conduct reconnaissance, river crossings, underwater mine clearing, and tactical infiltration in aquatic environments.
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The history of these watches began in 1992 at the CEPAT (the French Army's main diving school), where captains established strict field specifications for a new timepiece contract. Jacques Bianchi's Marseille workshop—already highly experienced in maintaining dive watches for COMEX and the French military—designed a timepiece focused on extreme utility, featuring shock resistance, an anti-reflective satin finish, maximum tritium on the dial, a perlon strap with a special buckle, and an oversized notched bezel for gloved use. Bianchi submitted three prototypes to the French Army for testing alongside competitors; though two of Bianchi's own prototypes were completely destroyed during the rigorous trials, the design ultimately won the contract. This led to an initial delivery of 300 watches in May 1993, followed by two additional orders through the end of 1994, bringing the total number of delivered timepieces to 1000.
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Rather than being decommissioned or sold to the public, these watches were strictly managed internal military assets, issued to army divers upon assignment and reclaimed for re-issue. Unlike the Marine Nationale, which managed its timepieces through a centralized registry in locations like Lorient and Toulon, the French Army decentralized its record-keeping across 16 individual diving units. Because each unit registered its own timepieces locally, a definitive, traceable provenance for any surviving piece on the secondary market is virtually impossible to establish today.
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This Particular example is from the later batch of Watches delivered, with 11-94 on the Caseback, giving a production date of November 1994. This example has Luminova, the early batch was Tritium but all of the later ones had Luminova instead. This guy retains its original black perlon strap, which is rare to see and is in completely all original untouched condition.
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The Specs
Age: c.1994.
Reference: JB300.
Movement: Automatic, Non Hacking Sweep Seconds and Quickset Date.
Calibre: ETA 2824.
Timekeeping: Good.
Service History: Unknown.
Dial: Original JB Fully Luminous Luminova Dial.
Dial: Original JB Fully Luminous Luminova Dial.
Case: All Stainless Steel with Screw Caseback.
Measurements: 42mm.
Bezel: Uni-Directional, 60 Click.
Water Resistant?: No,
Hands: Original.
Crystal: Original Crystal.
Crystal: Original Crystal.
Crown: Correct Original unsigned Screw down Crown.
Strap/Bracelet: On the Original Black Perlon Strap with Original Matted Steel Buckle.
Lug Width: 20mm.
Getting Acquainted
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Bits that stand out:
- Real Deal Mil Diver, NEVER released to the Public.
- All Original and Correct.
- Fully Luminous Dial.
- Original Perlon Strap.
-Crisp Military markings to the back. two star CETEHOR (CEntre TEchnique de l'industrie HORlogere) engraving.
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Nitty Gritty:
-Some minor markings to the Case & Bezel.
- Small crack to Arrow minute hand lume.
-Scratches to the original Crystal.
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Overall the JB is in very nice condition.
The Dial is in very good condition.
Case is in nice shape.
Caseback markings are nice and deep.
Original Crown.
Original Crystal has marks throughout.
Hands are in lovely shape, there is a small crack to the minute hand lume.
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Photographed on a 7in Wrist.