Things You May Not Know About Jardur: Aviators, Watch Makers, Radio-Men, and Spy Catchers?

Brothers, passionate aviators, & owners of the Jardur Import Company, Samuel and Herman Klepper, were first employed by the Hamilton Radio Company before venturing out and designing one of the most iconic tools of WWII, the Bezelmeter, 960.  In 1934, with brother-in-law Wolf Kalmin at the helm of the Hamilton Radio Company, the Kalmin’s and the Klepper’s decided to change the radio company name to the Pilgrim Electric Corporation.  In 1937, these two companies both then started producing and importing, from Switzerland, exclusive aviation chronographs and aviation wrist-watches for military personnel.  These companies also produced precision “Aviagation Instruments” such as the Jardur Super Flightmaster, & the Jardur Air Navigation Protractor.   You can still see the Pilgrim Electric Corporation etched into the bridges of the highly precise Valjoux 71 and 72, respectively.

Fun Fact:

There is knowledge or lore that based on their experience with radio and radio equipment and based on their relationship with Switzerland, the Klepper’s and the Jardur Import Company assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation on weeding out spy’s possibly rooted in the NYC area during WWII.  This is not documented and there have been efforts to find more information in the FBI archives, but to no avail.   Fun stuff anyway! CC