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Tornek-Rayville US - “TR-900”

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The Watch that started its life from Bulova's Research and Development contract for the US Navy to produce a divers watch for their Underwater Demolition Team (aka: UDT) in 1957  1933 Buy-American act prohibited the U.S. Navy from purchasing Swiss-made watches, so in 1957 BULOVA started working to produce a dive watch which incorporates a NO RADIATION & MOISTURE / WATER INTRUSION indicator to a MILSPEC dive watch. BULOVA produced a handful of test watches , but decided not to pursue the USN contract and backed out. Allen V. Tornek was a New York importer of Blancpain at the time and won the bid to take over the BULOVA contract along with all research material Bulova had, Blancpain now had access to all the material which they refined and incorporated in their 1957 model, now back to the 1933 “Buy-American Act” and Allen V. Tornek, He rebranded the 1957 BLANCPAIN with the ' MOISTURE / WATER INTRUSION indicator ' as the " TORNEK - RAYVILLE US " to get around the 1933 act and sell the rebranded Blancpain pieces to the U.S. government. There were two batches ordered, one in 1964 and another in 1966, for a total of 1,000 units. Due to the radiation markings on the dial, the government reportedly destroyed many, and some say less than 50 survived.
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(Edited)
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RayF
22219
Feb 18, 2021
Very interesting; wasn’t aware of the history or the watch. Thanks for the submission!
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