A very good friend of mine has sent me this pic of an Omega pocket watch he inherited from his grandpa.

Not much more to go on but I was hoping somebody here might know something?

Cheers,

 

Hi,

We will need more pics to help!

François

 

I'm working on it...I was hoping the dial would ring some bells.

 

Could look like a British forces WW2 ref. 1140 pocketwatch. Is there engraved something on the back?

 

It does look like a military issued style pocket watch.

 

General Service Time Piece, If it says GSTP on the back thats what it is. The standard watch for military use in the British armed forces. Popular with navigators on RAF heavy bombers among other things.

 

Interesting piece of information
I'm pretty sure my father never used a pocket watch - he was far too 'modern' and he definitely would have mentioned that
But then again he was only in it right at the end
Were these watches used for the duration?

 

I'm surprised that the Swiss might have been supplying watches to the military of any country who was involved in a World War. I have been under the impression that, in order to remain neutral, supply of military items by the Swiss was stopped during hostilities!

 

Maybe they considered themselves neutral by supplying watches to both sides...
White dials for the "good" guys and black dials for the "bad" guys.

 

Or maybe these "military" watches were supplied bybthevSwiss in times of relative peace when they retained their neutrality.

 

The quote from AJTT above states that the Omegas were ordered and supplied during the war.

 

Hi,
Nice and large watch. Mine says hello (not gold plated but the case metal tarnished...) :

 

The Swiss supplied watches different countries of both sides during WW1 and WW2, including and in particular during the war times.

I would be happy to see the movement when possible - I like a lot the 38,5 and would be glad to see one adjusted in 4 positions for a military issue.

 

I had a nice LeCoultre GSTP piece. they were more expensive than the average piece and were issued to lead bombers on important raids, otherwise I guess everybody had one on their navigation tables. Omega, Doxa, they all made them. I can't imagine it would be easy to see a wrist watch under the cuff of a bomber jacket with heavy gloves on and almost zero lighting. You wanted a big timepiece with radium hands and numbers.

 

The Swiss were certainly not neutral about profiting from the war...

 

Confirmation from my mother
My father was given a navigator's wrist watch by the RAF (I don't know if these differed from other flight crew watches - anyone got an example?) but had to hand it in when demobbed
Unfortunately she can't remember the brand of the watch

 

Er.... Swiss companies during WWII supplied tons of watches to the German military, the US, and the Brits....
Longines supplied just about everybody, Omega supplied the US and the UK, Jaeger LeCoultre supplied the US and the UK, Zenith supplied the Germans and the UK, MiMO and Helvetia supplied the Germans, Cyma, Movado, Lemania, Cortebert, Buren, Eterna, Revue and others supplied the UK..... of course the Japanese were primarily supplied by Seikosha but I think even Longines may have sold them a couple watches.

 

It's all about the money.

Honestly, who here really thinks a gold case is worth 5 to 10 grand more than stainless. It's what the market will put up with.

They don't care who you are or if it's right or wrong, it business.

And business is about making a profit.

They're no better than black market arms dealers, there are stories of watch shipments being smuggled about Europe that they are quite proud of.

They could have been prouder of taking a side.

 

Hey C., actually there were thousands of wrist watches issued for navigation during WWII.
The most famous is probably the black US A11 "hack" watch, which were mass produced by Elgin, Waltham and Bulova. Those were the first military watches whose specs demanded, starting in 1942, that they have a black dial with white hands and numerals for visibility. The earlier specs allowed for white dials.

I happen to own two other issued navigation watches, white dialed with blued hands -- one issued for the US Army Air Corps in 1942, and one 1942 British "Air Ministry" (aka RAF as the corps was later called).

Longines, Omega, LeCoultre, Cyma, Ebel among others made WWII navigation wrist watches for the brits and the US.
I'm not sure how differently the wrist watches and pocket watches were being used though.

Sorry to OP for thread drift though.... it'll be interesting to see the additional pics for that beautiful pocket watch.

 

pics please!