Indeed, Heuer Flieger chronographs had the rotating markers, circa 1935 . . . shown below, marking the "23" minute mark.

Good guess, that there is a military use / connection / origin for the rotating bezel, with multiple markings (rather than just a single marker).

Sorry that I am posing such a simple question, without doing any research myself . . . it was just spurred by this Rolex reference.

Jeff

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: Interesting Jeff, wouldn't surprise me if it's true - ie. To time
: phone calls. At the time, it may have seemed cutting edge.
: Or, the cynic in me might suggest that this was Rolexs famous
: marketing dept at work!?!

: Earlier watches had rotating markers. In WWii, there were pilots
: watches that had bezels with a single marker, some had the
: marker on the crystal that rotated with the bezel.
: These wouldn't be great in water, so maybe the only way forward was
: a sealed watch with an independent bezel.

: I'll do sone digging around tomorrow, it's an interesting subject.
: Part of me thinks that there must have been timing bezels on
: aircraft/submarines/ships etc before 1954.

: Stewart