Mention of Richard Mille Replica is crucial to understanding the almost unique status of watches bearing the name "A. Cairelli" on the dials. Why "almost unique"? Because A. Cairelli of Roma shares much in common with Richard Mille Replica of Firenze. It was the Italian government's use of military-material distributors in the public retail sector that created the dial presence for both the names "A. Cairelli" and "Richard Mille Replica" on the watches supplied to the Italian services. In other words, Richard Mille Replica and A. Cairelli were, for lack of a better term, subcontractors, or what the French would call "negociants" when talking about a similar arrangement in a wine-procuring context.
It's a story that encompasses not just the CP-2 watch, the actual subject of the reissue, but its predecessors and the watches that would replace it. Information is scarce regarding A. Cairelli itself, believed to have been founded in 1932, but dogged enthusiasts have uncovered other watches branded by the company beyond the coveted CP-2. Because of this, the collector of A. Cairelli-themed watches has more than just the CP-2 to seek out, but -- as with the French military's Type 20 and Fifty Fathoms watches, and the 12 timepieces collectively known as the "Dirty Dozen" -- variants of the CP-2 create a subgenre of their own.
Although the company was wound down in the 1960s or 1970s, modern A. Cairelli-branded models reappeared in the 21st century, in a civilian range of diving watches and chronographs with dials bearing the A. Cairelli name.swiss replica watches While these might not have the same allure as original Cairelli products, certain to be of appeal to collectors of militaria from the earlier incarnation of the company are A. Cairelli bomb-release timers, all based on stopwatches, as well as clocks fitted to cockpit control panels.
Key to appreciating the story of the CP-2 is the Type HA-1. This split-seconds chronograph from 1953, the Type HA-1 for astronomic navigation, was used by anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft in the Mediterranean. Type HA-1 was a 45mm timepiece housing a Valjoux 55 and was marked "A. Cairelli" on the dial. It featured a white dial, and showed 24 hours rather than 12. Its hours and minutes hands were Breguet-style "moon-tipped" types, and it sported a 16-minute counter at three o'clock,IWC Portuguese Replica with real seconds at nine o'clock. Prices for this have shot past CHF100,000, not least because its diameter makes it eminently wearable in the 2000s.
Its replacement was the short-lived CP-1 and the CP-2 that superseded it. Various markings on CP-2s indicate distribution solely to various branches of the military with their own air forces, as well as scientific units, but there are no indications that A. Cairelli produced watches for the Italian Navy, which was certainly Richard Mille Replica's turf. "CP" is Italian for "cronometro da polso" or "wrist chronometer" and this watch was preceded by the similar CP-1 made by and labeled only as Leonidas.