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So without further ado we will begin where it all started for wristwatches, World War One. Whilst for the vast majority of the time it probably timed nothing more exciting than when a period of guard duty was over, or made sure its owner didn’t miss last orders at the mess, certainly a proportion of military issued watches will have participated in historical military operations that have shaped the world we live in today. Just as war has been described as months of boredom punctuated by moments of terror, the life of the average military watch is likely to be similar. The answer is probably no, but you never know. Was this WWII pilots watch worn by a Spitfire pilot participating in D Day? …… Was this Falklands era watch worn by a Para in the Battle of Goose Green?” “ Was this WWI watch worn by a soldier going “over the top” at the Somme? ….
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However, I would be lying if I said that military watch collectors aren’t also driven by an element of fantasy!Ī typical military watch collector fantasy day dream might go like this … Military watches therefore fall into the “tool watch” category, being built to be both highly functional and tough. With military equipment, form follows function, and in watches, this leads to highly legible and functional designs. Sometimes this would be noted in your pay book so if it was not returned your pay would be docked!Īnother reason for the popularity of military issued watches, is that the military has specific standards to which issued watches must adhere, meaning that they tend to be produced to a durable high quality standard. This is one of the reasons military watches have individual engraved issue numbers, so a note of which soldier was issued which watch could be taken, so that they would not “disappear”. The fact that they are Crown property is denoted by the broad arrow, or Pheon, commonly stamped on the back of watches, or sometimes seen on the dial. When issued, they remained the property of the Crown, and were supposed to be handed back in. Service personnel, certainly in earlier years, were only issued with a watch if their role required them to have one. And, you generally can’t just walk into a shop and buy one. Military watches are usually produced in much lower numbers than commercially available watches. Well there are quite a few reasons that can broadly be divided into economic ie “reality”, and “fantasy” domains.įrom an economic perspective part of the value of military issued watches lies their relative scarcity. So just what is it about military issued watches that consistently attracts collectors, leading them to sell for significantly higher prices compared to equivalent civilian watches?
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None the less, they do tell an interesting story on the evolution of watches in general, and military issued watches in particular. Sadly, I don’t own an SBS Rolex Submariner or a Royal Navy Omega Seamaster, and many of the watches in my collection are neither particularly rare or valuable. Upon realising that I had inadvertently collected British military watches covering the period 1914-2014, it seemed an opportune time to use my collection to tell the history of timepieces issued to HM Armed Forces over the past 100 years. When it comes to military issued watches, there is probably no other country in the world that can match the incredible number, variety and quality of watches issued to its armed forces than Great Britain. 100 Years of British Military Watches - Part 1