If there was ever a sleeper of a watch, this could very possibly be it. Thought to be fake initially due to certain discrepancies, these Lemania ‘Dive Supervisors’ issued to the Royal Navy were proven by the community at the Military Watch Forum to be genuine and in fact one of the rarest military issued watches ever made.
The proof that this watch was genuinely issued to the Royal Navy is provided through two corroborating documents. The first is from a Def Stan (UK Defence Standardisation) document (64 Table III.a) that states ‘0552/160647’ as a ‘supervisor’s watch. These markings are found on the back of this Lemania. The second is from a Royal Navy dive book (BR 2806 Chapter 3334.1) that states ‘two types of watches are provided for use when diving- the diver’s watch ‘Rolex’ or ‘Omega’, and the supervisor’s watch, ‘Lemania’.
As we all know, the first watches mentioned are the Rolex Mil Sub and the Omega Military Seamaster 300. As for the third it is agreed to be the very Lemania you see. Dive Supervisors were not required to dive, but instead were always top-side supervising. This is further supporting evidence as the Lemania Dive Supervisor is not similarly robust as the Rolex or Omega.
That being said, it is still housed in a Ervin Piquerez S.A. (EPSA) super compressor case. These cases were used by many companies who also produced dive watches such as Enicar and Jaeger-LeCoultre. Despite seemingly small at 34mm, this watch wears much larger due to it’s unusually long lugs.
The no-date Lemania Dive Supervisor was issued for one year only in 1965, with a date version issued in 1968. An extremely rare watch, it is estimated only 300 or so were issued.
As the Military Omega Seamaster 300, Rolex Mil Sub and Lemania Diver Supervisor are all historically tied, for those who know, owning the trilogy is somewhat of an achievement.
