PUNCHING OUT
A WATCH COMMEMORATES AVIATION’S MOST EXTREME MOMENT: TRIGGERING THE EJECTION SEAT.
You can’t just buy the Bremont MBI. You’ll notice that the watchmaker’s website lists it as “out of stock,” with a price on application. You have to earn the right to wear it.
And to earn that requires one hell of an escape. The Bremont MBI is made available only to “ejectees,” those who have had to rip the handle of a Martin-baker ejection seat and rocket from the cockpit of a moving airplane. The violent shift in g-forces often breaks a person’s back; survivors can walk away an inch and a half shorter than before. The ordeal is that brutal.
That makes the MBI both a badge and a scar. Martin-baker subsidizes its cost—the company also sends a tie clip to mark the occasion—so those who have one can look down at their wrist and reflect on the moment they faced extreme mortal danger and escaped death.
Don’t want to duel with death for a watch? Bremont sells a nearly identical piece, the MBII (shown here), differentiated by the logo on the dial and the color of the knurled-aluminum ring encircling the case. But the most hard-core MBI is reserved for those who have seen the face of God up close and lived.