AN-6531 Confort Cable Flying Sunglasses - Limited Edition - American Optical

- LIMITED EDITION & COLLECTOR'S ITEM -

Numbered units.

Last units available. Limited stock, no reorder possible.

American Optical celebrates 90 years of the Aviator!

On the occasion of this historic anniversary, the legendary brand that created the first "Aviator" sunglasses reissues in limited edition the AN-6531-1 model — designed in the 1930s for the US Army Air Corps.  

Sunglasses standardised in November 1941 under the designation AN-6531-1 to replace the Type D-1 at the time of equipment standardisation between the Army and the Navy (AN). The designation Confort Cable refers to the temples whose curved ends are made of metal coils to keep them pressed against the face.

The lenses were manufactured to a standard common to both the US Army Air Corps and the US Navy. As a result, they carried an "AN" (Army/Navy) specification number: the AN6531. The US government specified the shape and colour of the lens, initially tinted green, transmitting 50% of incident visible light.

Several manufacturers produced the AN6531. Among them were American Optical, Bausch & Lomb, The Chas. Fischer Spring Co., Willson Optical and Rochester Optical Co.

Although designed for military use, these sunglasses featured advanced properties: convex lenses, plastic nose pads, a prominent brow bar, and flexible temples. The nickel-plated frame was made from a copper-based alloy to prevent any compass deviation. The teardrop-shaped lenses of the AN6531 were designed for air force pilots who constantly looked down at their instrument panel in flight.

The overall design of the AN-6531 is the origin of all pilot sunglasses that followed.

Source: American Aviators in Europe - Histoire & Collections

These sunglasses are the ones produced in the USA by American Optical and not the Chinese copies widely available on the internet.

Discover the history of American Optical by clicking here