The Tärnan Formule MS80

During my daily rummaging of the net I found a watch on my local internet auctionsite, a Swedish wristwatch, or rather a watch licensed by the Swedish company of watchmakers “Stjärnurmakarna” during the 50ies and 60ies.

Photo from Tradera

The watch was somewhat in bad shape when I got it. The metal dial is painted with some kind of plastic and has gotten a bang on the crystal making a dent that cannot be fixed without further damaging the dial. The secondhand was missing, but arrived luckily with the watch in the mail, also it was in need of a new watch band.

Photo from Tradera

The “Tärnan” was a popular brand during the 50ies and 60ies and was only sold on the Swedish market. During this time most of the brands made in Sweden was licensed from abroad and had Nordic names according to the nationalistic atmosphere like Birka, Runa, and Viking.

The Formule MS 80 watch was inspired by the Ford Cosworth powered racing car Matra MS80 that held great successes for Jackie Stuart and winning him the Formula One World Championship title in 1969.

Photo from Wikimedia

The MS80 was one of the first F1 racing cars to be designed with “wings” for downforce to increase high-speed tire grip. Only two MS80´s were made in 1969.

Photo from Wikimedia