Eugène Meylan founded Glycine in Bienne in 1914 as a producer of small mechanical wristwatches with finely-finished Swiss movements - an early adopter of the wristwatch format at a time when most Swiss makers were still focused on pocket watches. Through the inter-war and post-war decades the brand built a reputation for chronometer-grade precision and produced wristwatches with platinum and gold cases for the dress segment.
In 1953 Glycine launched the Airman, designed to address a specific request from Pan Am pilots who needed to track home time alongside local time during long-haul flights. The Airman used a 24-hour dial with the hour hand making one revolution per day rather than two, and a rotating bezel marked in 24-hour increments allowed reading a second time zone. The watch was adopted by US Air Force pilots through the 1950s and 1960s and saw heavy use in Vietnam, where the unusual 24-hour layout became associated with American military aviation. The Airman is a true GMT-style travel watch predating the Rolex GMT-Master by one year.
Glycine continued to operate independently through the late 20th century, producing the Combat military-style watch and Incursore vintage-styled mechanicals alongside the continuously-produced Airman. In 2016 the brand was acquired by Invicta Watch Group, the American owner of Invicta and other mid-tier brands. Under Invicta the catalogue has expanded with multiple Airman variants in different sizes (36, 42, 46mm), a Combat Sub dive collection, and ongoing Incursore production. Movements are largely Swiss ETA / Sellita with selected COSC chronometer references.
