Military watch TV ad

scwazrh

Did anyone else see this ad on tv

http://www.military-watches-collection.com

I'm sure the watches won't be great quality but for £ 10 a month the magazine alone might be worth it .

Wibbs

The watches are a bit... well inventive, for the most part S. The Luftwaffe WW2 one... Oh oh... Still, I suppose the magazine might give some info, though there are sites and forums that would give far more and for free and for the price of the whole series of magazines you could probably pick up one actual military issued watch with a bit of history to it and you could definitely pick up any number of ex USSR military watches for 20-60 quid. Though you'd want to sell the house to buy an issued SAS Rolex and the actual WW2 Luftwaffe navigator watch would need both a few grand and wrists that would shame the Hulk..

Then again it does show the potential interest in these watches. They're very popular these days and have been for the last 10 years or so. The civilian version in precious metals and higher fanciness, can be a third of the price of a plain and battered old issued piece. I remember a time in the 80's where you couldn't give most of the mil stuff away. EG boxed lots of IWC ex RAF watches going for a couple of hundred quid, if that. I got an original WW2 Luftwaffe navigator B-Uhr for under 300 quid in the late 80's. Too big to wear but cool, kept it until the early noughties and sold it for.. well add a zero and a couple of grand on top. Mad. Those days are mostly over though.

IMH where the action is now is in dress watches from the 40/50/60s in slightly bigger sizes.

Wibbs

Actually S, thinking more on it and considering your average car mag or whatever is nigh on 6-7-8 quid an issue, you're right, it's not too pricey and you get a watch thrown in with it.

peasant

Well ..the watches all are Chinese "military" watches (and that includes the "Russian" one) ... makes you wonder if the bumpf in the magazines is any closer to reality

Tomo.Murphy

I picked this up today. Haven't gotten around to reading the magazine yet, but the watch isn't bad for €6. My only complaint is that the strap is a bit rough, but I wasn't expecting much for the price.

I highly doubt I'll be picking up the whole series, but the Luftwaffe Aviator watch in issue 2 and Italian diver watch in issue 5 look quite interesting.

Wibbs

Of the lot, for me the last one in the series(extreme bottom right) which is an "homage" to the WW2 Japanese airforce Seikosha pilots watch looks fairly good of a copy.



I'd give my left nut for an original like above.

Wibbs

As an aside and that all said, over my years of watch lunacy looking at old photos of world war two pilots, remarkably few had issued watches, or even military looking watches. A helluva lot of dressy tank style watches of all things on all sides of the conflict. The exception would be German fighter guys who favoured chronographs like Hanharts bought as a private unit purchase. Even there they're not that common. The famous B-uhrs that IWC's Big Pilot is based on were worn by navigators not pilots and were signed in and out after each mission. You do see WW2 ground soldiers, enlisted men wearing issued watches alright. I suspect because the pilot types were more likely to have come from a slightly better off background so had money to buy their own, or their family did. A lot of the enlisted men would have often come from quite poor backgrounds so a watch was a big purchase.

In the earlier great war you see some wrist watches/wristlets and on different ranks too, but again not so common.

Later on in say Vietnam, the US guys could get issued watches and many did, but it seems just as many chose to buy things like Seiko divers(even Rolexs for the guys with a few bucks) at the on base shops(PX's where there are discounts). Seems to be the same today. Any US forces guys I've talked to over the years rarely even saw issued watches, never mind wore one. Most bought Timex Ironmans and G-Shocks at the PX. Indeed one chap who actually sourced my Marathon Navigator for me was surprised and amused I was interested and in so many words asked "why would you want that crap?".

The German guys in the Bundeswehr seem to have more access to issued pieces and such pieces were of much higher quality than the US stuff as a general rule. They could get Heuer bundeswehr chronos and Porsche designed Tutima chronos(not just pilots either). Fancy stuff. More latterly the Bund soldiers stationed in Afghanistan could get a titanium cased quartz yoke made by Boccia, the Boccia BUND. Pretty cool and cheap for them. It seems a fair few of them bought them too. Around 60 quid I gather, though they change hands on ebay for 200 +. Bit silly as I was told they made 40 odd 1000 of them, so prices will drop. A lot, I'd warrant.

Dub.

That huge Luftwaffe pilot watch was pretty decent for the price. Nice leather strap as well.

I would love to know what the upcoming French Foreign Legion watch looks like, as i didn`t even know such a thing existed.

93Cab

I popped into Easons yesterday to see the Panerai homage and decided against it. Not bad but a bit small and the second hand was flopping around when you moved it. I got the mock flieger a few weeks ago and it did the same but sorted itself out when the watch started going. They are very light and the strap is leatherish but not for me. I moght get another Parnis instead! On the watch section in Pistonheads a guy has taken one apart, given details of the movement and pressure tested it and was pleasantly surprised!

beauf

I thought they looked poor quality even for €10

Dub.

93Cab wrote: »

I popped into Easons yesterday to see the Panerai homage and decided against it. Not bad but a bit small and the second hand was flopping around when you moved it.

They all do that until you release the plastic clip that starts the battery.

Dub.

beauf wrote: »

I thought they looked poor quality even for €10

They have a sturdy little Seiko movement, so hardly poor value for a tenner.

beauf

They maybe ok internally. I just thought they looked/visually not amazing.

What's nice about older pilot watches was the nice typeface and clarity. I'm not sure that always achieved on remakes, especially cheaper ones. That said beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc.

Deep Thought

all this talk of vintage watches is making me widh mine was back form overhaul...

been 5 weeks now , so only 4 more to go...:mad: