Post pics of your watches ***Please NO QUOTING PHOTOS***

SmartinMartin wrote: »

@wibbs, that trench watch is probably the most unusual watch I'll ever see. Beautiful. How did you come by it?

Thanks S, got it years ago in my collecting early years of the wristwatch phase. Mainly because they were very cheap back then and few were interested in them. When the wristwatch started to get popular, primarily among military guys in WW1, the makers tried all sorts of case designs, most were basically small lady's movement pocketwatches with wire lugs attached for a strap. In this case the popular pocketwatch design of the half hunter, with the flip top lid to protect the dial.



It was often sold as a "protection" against shrapnel. Scary stuff.



They weren't particularly popular at the time as they're not as legible as an open face watch and when "unbreakable" watch crystals came along they became even less popular(though the design stayed popular enough in Britain even after the war). One of these days I'll get the original radium lume removed and replace it with non radioactive stuff.

Prices have definitely strengthened since then, though not nearly as much as in other areas. Here's one from the UK for under 500 quid. and a nicer one again from Australia for around the same money. That would attract customs duty. Then again it is over a hundred years old so there may be an exemption for actual antiques?

It is. Though I have a few others of that same vintage and slightly earlier, inc. a 1912 Longines which is older than their museum has as an early wristwatch (and that one is for a woman) and they're mostly in great nick.


L-R 1912 Longines, 1916 Longines and the Mappin.

A surprising number survived well enough. I suspect for a few reasons. Maybe they were seen as a reminder of the war and put in a drawer soon after, or the man who wore it never came home, but his personal belongings did, or they were treasured presents from loved ones so only worn on high days and holy days(a lot feature personal dedications), or when the men went back to civvie street and the wristwatch wasn't that fashionable yet they were left in drawers and when they did overtake pocketwatch sales they were of a different more Art Deco shape so the old Trench watches looked unfashionable*.

A fair number are fairly ropey though and many have lost their original hands and their movements are very worn. That one above is pretty clean in the movement, but a 1916 Longines I have is much cleaner and one of the most accurate watches I have.

If you're looking for one, try and get one with a Borgel case(the case back is all one piece and the movement and dial screws in from the front). These were an attempt at dust and moisture proofing and when new were actually pretty well sealed, so their inners tend to have worn the years better. Make sure the hands are original as replacements are like rocking horse poo.

Here's a Longines from 1923 in a Borgel case and in pretty good nick too, but a service would be a good plan. About right price wise and actually they've dropped a bit in price over the last couple of years. Not having the maker's name on the dial was common enough back then as people tended to buy more from well known shops(as few would have heard of Omega, or Longines or whatever), who would put their names on the dial. In England Harrods would be one, Mappin another. My half hunter above had a very faded Mappin on the dial when I got it first. Example of ad from the time:








*though they were still being sold in England well into the 30s' so the style remained in play there. Maybe because many were involved in military stuff because of empire?

Wagner German military watch issued by the RLM "Reich Luft Ministerium", Ministry of aviation in world war two. These were mostly issued to paratroopers and some ground staff, not pilots as they're often sold as, no doubt to up the prices.





Unlike most of their issued watches these were German made. As Germany needed hard currency to buy other stuff for the war, they turned to local producers for some of their watches(they also made some for the navy with pale dials). They can also come with Nila, Stowa, Aristo and Aeschbach on the dials. These used nice quality Glashutte Urofa movements which were originally designed for "Tank" watches, so the movement is rectangular and fitted to a round chrome plated case. They're slightly larger at 36 mm than most of their issued time only watches which were 35mm or under.