Breaking a Mountaineering World Record with the Bremont Supermarine S300

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Modified calibre 11 ½’’’ BE-92AV automatic chronometer

DEC 31, 2019 — BY ZACH PINA

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/breakin...ermarine-s300/

Records, like rules, were meant to be broken. Though some fall far more easily than others, they both form a loose framework for what it means to be human, and how we’ve all managed to coexist since the beginning of time. As we continue to look back on 2019 and the conclusion of the decade, two of the year’s records in particular stood out as once-in-a-generation human achievements that set new benchmarks for previously perceived limitations on endurance. One of which, of course was Eliud Kipchoge running an incredible 1:59:40 marathon back in October, shattering the long-held belief that the mythical “sub-two” was simply not humanly possible. Granted, Kipchoge’s time can’t be officially counted as a world record as it was run on a special closed street course in Vienna, Austria, and not as a formal marathon event, plus it was achieved with the help of an experimental Nike shoe and a rotating team of Olympians running in formation around Kipchoge to keep him on pace and shield him from the wind. But at the end of the day, a human being ran twenty-six point two miles in less than two hours, and there’s simply no way to not be blown away by the feat.

PHASE ONE:

UPDATE: 3 peaks in 3 days

Everest summit reached on May 22 2019 at 0530 hrs, highest peak in the world


On 22[SUP]nd[/SUP] May, Nims reached Mount Everest summit at 05.30am. The Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The international border between Nepal and China runs across its summit point.

While on his descend from the summit, Nims took a photo of the 'traffic queue' and posted it on Instagram. What he couldn't have foreseen was that this photo would go viral in a very short space of time.

Along with the post, Nims talks about the famous photo and addresses the issues of image caused:
“Certainly, there has been a lot of debate, critics, and the blaming games about this pic which I took on Everest this year. Both climbers coming up and going down wanted to have the priority. Somebody had to step up to solve this issue or otherwise it was gonna go chaotic.

I have never been phased out by the problems at extreme high altitude or in the operations I have been during my Special Forces Career. In-fact, I get outmost satisfaction in problem solving. I was there managing the traffic for almost 90 minutes. Point to note, nobody lost their life or had and issues whilst we were there.

To those who are thinking of climbing Everest in the future; please don’t take short cuts for your own safety! If I’m honest, I do acclimatise a lot quicker than most of the human beings but when I first started mountaineering career in 2012: I started with ticking off 6000m then 7000m then 8000m peaks to experience how my body would react at those altitude. It’s more about knowing your own body and how would they react at different altitude more than anything else.”

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The summit to Everest, captured by Nims.

Lhotse summit reached on May 22 2019 at 1545 hrs - in 10 hrs 15 mins after the summit of Everest. 4th Highest peak, equalling his previous record of summiting Everest & Lohtse.

Only 10 hours and 15 minutes after reaching the summit of Everest, Nims and his team made it to the fourth highest mountain in the world, Lhotse, at 15.45hrs. Lhotse is situated at the border of Tibet and Nepal. It's long east-west crest is located immediately south of Mount Everest, and the summits of the two mountains are connected by the South Col, a vertical ridge that never drops below 8,000m. Makalu summit reached on May 24 2019 at 0600 hrs - as reported on Seven Summit Treks, 5th Highest peak.

Nims reached Makalu the fifth highest peak in the world at 8,485 metres, on 24[SUP]th[/SUP] May at 06.00 hrs. Located in the Mahalangur Himalayas 19 km southeast of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and Tibet Region, China. Makalu is one of the eight-thousanders and is an isolated peak whose shape is a four-sided pyramid. ------------

UPDATE: Dhaulagiri and Kanchenjunga

Dhaulagiri tested the mental resilience of the team in a different way. Despite being the only team on the moiuntain which allowed them focus on fixing lines for the summit attempt, the weather was dangerous with winds in excess of 70mph. Nims made the decision to keep the team off of the mountain and wait for it to improve.
“We summited quite late on the 12th May. 1800hrs is not ideal as you still have to get your team down and off the mountain. If I am honest, this was probably 5 times harder than Annapurna due to the weather conditions. We could only climb a few steps when the wind is a bit slow and then brace when it’s at its speed, we did this pretty much all day.” - Nims​
The team descended at 7pm to meet a pre-planned helicopter taking them 470km away to Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world.


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Nims explains the journey and challenges that Mt. Kanchenjunga brought...

“Myself and Mingma David Sherpa were dropped at Kanchenjunga base camp at 11am on May 14. We went for the summit push directly from the base camp at 1pm that same day. With 5 sleep deprived days and battered by the weather summiting Dhaulagiri, we still made it to the summit of Kanchenjunga in just over 22 hours later.

Whilst descending we met an Indian climber, Biplab Baidya, 48, at 8450m with his guide; both had ran out of oxygen (O2) and needed rescuing. We gave them our spare O2 and started the rescue mission.

We immediately requested for a back up team from camp 4, with extra O2 if possible. After descending 150m, we found another climber, Kuntal Kanrar, 46, who was left behind by his guide and his team.

I gave him my own O2 and continued with the rescue mission. After descending a few more meters, our guide Geshman Tamang then had to give his O2 away.

By 2.30pm all my team had given away our own O2 to the two climbers.

I was told 3 Sherpa’s were coming up with O2, this never happened. I was told this every time I radioed asking. This seriously impacted my team and was a huge risk to life.

Geshman Tamang started developing mild High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) and his feet started to freeze. I sent him back down. By this point we had sadly lost Kuntal due to no back up with the extra O2. The wind started picking up, but we continued rescuing Biplab.

Now the strongest Sherpa I have ever known Mingma appeared to be having HACE. We could not afford to have another casualty with no help coming up so I sent Mingma down. Leaving just Dawa and myself with no O2 performing the rescue.”

Undeterred, Nims continued to the Basecamp of Mount Everest where to complete the last 3 mountains of this phase in just 3 days. In doing so, he will be beating his previous record of 5 days and 10 hours.


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Dhaulagiri summit reached on May 12th 2019 1800 hrs, 7th highest peak.

Kanchenjunga summit reached on May 15th 2019 1119 hrs, 3rd highest peak.


------------ UPDATE: Mt. Annapurna


With 3 rescues, 3 ‘8000ers’ summited and then 3 more in just 3 days, Nims is not only breaking records, but he’s putting his chances of doing so aside to save others. This incredible adventure has shown the world what a modern day hero looks like.

April 23rd saw Nims and his team summit Annapurna after a daunting climb. As the 10th highest peak in the world, Annapurna is renowned for being the most deadly with a 35% death rate due to its technical difficulty and climatic instability. The weather window narrowed and the days passed with the other summit windows being pushed further into the summer monsoon season. But Nims and his team became the first to summit in the Himalaya this season setting Project Possible on a positive path to completion.

During the descent, news spread of another climber on the mountain who had gone missing. Despite completing his descent, Nims led a team up to 7,500m at the point where the climber, Dr Wui Kin Chin, was last seen.
“When the altitude is too great then we have to do a ‘longline rescue'. We are literally underneath the helicopter and are dropped close to the site. We still had a long climb past Camp 4, the last base before the summit, and we realised that we had to work quickly.” - Nims​

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The rescue of Dr Wui Kin Chin was widely documented and whilst Dr Chin was rescued by Nims and his team off Annapurna enabling a medical transfer to his home in Singapore, tragically Dr Chin passed away from his injuries.

This was not the first time that during a World Record climb Nims has been involved in a rescue.
“When I first started, my training was geared to climbing Everest without oxygen. In 2016 I was executing a solo attempt on Everest when I came across a fellow climber who had been passed by other climbers. Being a Gurkha and a former member of the Special Forces, we never leave any man behind. I used everything I could to bring her below the ‘death zone’ for a rescue. I have never been that tired before.” - Nims​

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Annapurna summit reached on April 23rd 2019, 10th highest peak.

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One man will embark on a record-breaking attempt to scale 14 of the world’s highest peaks, all of them over 8,000m. The previous attempt took over 7 years. If successful this will smash that record by completing the challenge in just 7 months. As a retired member of the Gurkhas and SBS, as well as being the current world record holder for climbing 3 of the 8,000ers in the fastest time ever recorded, Bremont ambassador Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja MBE will embark on this challenge sporting the new Bremont S300 White. Nims aims to establish a paradigm shift in the perception of human potential, breaking more than 7 speed world records on mountains above 8,000m.

Known for producing watches which are tested far beyond the normal call of duty, and with the extensive military pedigree that we have, Nims knew that Bremont could deliver a tough and reliable timepiece for this epic adventure.
“I firmly believe that everything in life is possible armed only with a determined approach and positive mindset, this much Nick and Giles have proven in their own way in terms of bringing back watchmaking to Britain. Now that my military career is behind me, I will strive to break more boundaries and help others move forward in their lives, realise their dreams and exceed my and their limitations. This challenge I am about to embark on is certainly hard, but I’m excited and driven by the prospect of creating history. When so many elements are out of my control, having failsafe equipment is a necessity and I couldn’t be more confident in having Bremont as my timing partner. I grew up with British Gurkha and Special Forces heritage, it’s an honour to represent what I believe is the ‘best of British’ in teaming up with this pre-eminent British watch company in their endeavour to reinvigorate the British watch industry. Project Possible 14/7 is a time sensitive mission and I look forward to testing the S300 to the next level, where no man or woman has taken it before.” - Nims​

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Learn more about Nims...


Nirmal Purja, known as Nims, is a Gurkha who proudly served in one of the British militaries most distinguished regiments in defence of the United Kingdom. Nims is the first Gurkha to climb Mount Everest while serving the British Military and he is the current holder of multiple World Records for the fastest ascent of double and triple header mountains in the ‘higher than 8000m’ category.

Nims was awarded an MBE for his outstanding achievement on high altitude mountaineering which includes:

• Orchestrating the rescue of a stricken Indian climber, who had succumbed to cold weather injuries in the infamous ‘Everest Death Zone’. Although the rescue was gruelling, it was successful, and the climber has made a full recovery.

• Completion of the G200E Gurkha Expedition that took 13 Gurkhas to the top of Everest, for which Nims was the lead instructor.

• Fixing the all-important rope lines to the summit of Everest. The original fixing team missed multiple windows due to bad weather; Nims formed a team and took care of this essential work. This action resulted in the safe and successful summit of G200E expedition as well as for all other teams and climbers on Mount Everest that season.

• Shortly after the G200E Gurkha expedition Nims returned to the region and managed to set a number of world records during his 7 days spare leave:

• The fastest consecutive summits of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu (Higher 8000m peaks) taking a total of five days.

• The fastest time ever from the summit of Everest to the summit of Lhotse, taking a total of 10 hours 15 minutes, beating the previous record of 20 hours.

• The firt person to summit Everest twice, Lhotse once and Makalu once, in the same season, taking a total of 17 days.

“Project Possible: 14/7” is a unique chance to captivate the scientific research community and advance knowledge on the high-altitude adaptation and physiology. The project will provide important opportunities for local Sherpas and guides to forge a career in the mountains and will promote the homeland of the Gurkhas among the 8,000m mountains. The project aims to raise awareness for a number of significant causes, most notably for UK military charities, supporting Nims’ colleagues who may have been wounded, injured and/or who suffer mental health issues. Equally, the support for Nepalese children’s charities and orphanages dedicated to education and wellbeing is of paramount importance, not forgetting raising crucial awareness of climate change and global warming.

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Nims will be wearing the Bremont S300 White.

Bremont S300


ADVENTURE, EVEREST, EXPEDITIONS, K2, MILITARY, MOUNTAINEERING, NIMS, NIMS DAI, NIMS PURJA, PROJECT POSSIBLE, SUPERMARINE, WORLD RECORD

Just a few short weeks later in the same month of October, another incredible long-standing endurance record fell – perhaps lesser-known, but a mammoth in the global mountaineering community and no less of a remarkable achievement. This one would be broken by Nirmal “Nims” Purja, a Nepalese mountaineer who summited all 14 of the world’s “Death Zone” mountains above 8,000 meters (26,246 feet) in just six months, shattering the previous record of eight years. On his wrist for each of those fourteen summits, a white-dialed variant of the Bremont S300 Supermarine dive watch, but we’ll get into that in a moment.

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Like Kipchoge, Nims wasn’t alone, deploying a rotating team of elite sherpas to assist him with line-fixing and logistics for each of the fourteen summits. It’s also worth noting that the high-altitude mountaineering community tends to find itself divided between those who use supplemental oxygen, and a far smaller number of those those who do not. And Nims and his team did use oxygen, along with plenty of other modern mountaineering equipment and experience – valuable tools which were likely not available with the same readiness or capacity when the record was first established back in the late eighties. But far more important than the gear, is the climber’s ability to operate at a high level in the oxygen-starved air above the ‘Death Zone,’ and doing so while spending prolonged periods inside the planet’s most hostile and unforgiving weather environments. And it’s here, where Nims’ unique physiology and military experience puts him literally and figuratively in the rarified air above his peers – most of whom with many more years of mountaineering experience.

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I first heard of Nims when most watch fans did – at the outset of the year, right around the Bremont Townhouse event when the British watchmaker named Dai as its newest ambassador, and announced its support of his “Project Possible” expedition to climb all 14 of the world’s tallest mountains, including Mt. Everest and the notorious K2 – in under a year. The previous record had only been held twice – first in 1987 when the feat was first accomplished over the course of seven years and eleven months, then was broken some sixteen years later in 2013 when it was completed in seven years and ten months. Though neither were speed records by any stretch of the imagination, both lengths of time suggest that this was a feat not undertaken lightly in the tight-knit global climbing community, due to the combined amount of skill, risk, and sheer luck involved. Unsurprisingly, Nims – a then-unknown mountaineer had few supporters at the outset of his mission, but what many outsiders didn’t know, was just how determined, and well-suited Nims’ prior experience would serve him in the months to come. The former Ghurka and British Special Forces operator would ultimately take an ice axe to both records, smashing them in a window that remained open a little longer than a single climbing season: six months and six days.

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DESCRIPTION

Having proven incredibly popular since launch, introducing the S300 White into the Supermarine range is the perfect counterpart to the other darker dialled variants within the line. The contrasting blue ceramic bezel sets off the lighter dial beautifully and matches the blue indexes and two tone Nato strap. In keeping with the existing models, the S300 White features a unidirectional bezel, Super-LumiNova® hands and the 40mm steel case is decorated with the silhouette of the original Supermarine aircraft on the back.
  • BE-92AV automatic chronometer with 42-hour power reserve
  • 40mm Stainless Steel Trip-Tick® case construction
  • Water resistant to 30 ATM, 300 metres
  • 20mm blue Temple Island rubber strap and additional blue and white Nato strap
In 2019, Bremont Ambassador, Nirmal 'Nims' Purja MBE embarked on a record-breaking attempt to scale 14 of the world’s highest peaks, all of them over 8,000m, sporting this new S300. The previous attempt took over 7 years. If successful this will smash that record by completing the challenge in just 7 months.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

MOVEMENT

Modified calibre 11 ½’’’ BE-92AV automatic chronometer fitted with Bremont decorated rotor and 25 jewels, Glucydur balance and Anachron balance spring, with Nivaflex 1 mainspring. Rated frequency of 28,800 bph with 42-hour minimum power reserve. FUNCTIONS

Hour/minute/seconds with date at 3H. CASE

Stainless steel Bremont Trip-Tick® case construction with scratch resistant DLC treated case barrel. Case diameter 40mm. Overall height 13mm. Lug width 20mm. Polished ceramic uni-directional rotating bezel with Super-LumiNova®. CASE BACK

Stainless steel screw-in and decorated case back. DIAL AND HANDS

Painted white dial with Super-LumiNova® coated numerals and indexes. Nickel satin hands filled with Super-LumiNova®. CRYSTAL

Domed anti-reflective, scratch resistant sapphire crystal. WATER RESISTANCE

Water resistant to 30 ATM, 300 metres. STRAP

20mm blue Temple Island rubber strap and additional blue and white Nato strap. RATINGS AND CERTIFICATION

Chronometer rated to ISO 3159 standard.


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"THIS CHALLENGE I AM ABOUT TO EMBARK ON IS CERTAINLY HARD, BUT I’M EXCITED AND DRIVEN BY THE PROSPECT OF CREATING HISTORY."

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