I've done image searches for "elgin timer bur ships", "elgin timer stop", etc, but can't find anything that looks like it. I'm trying to find out if it's worth fixing, as it winds and ticks, but the button on the top doesn't pop back up and the hands never move.

 

From a quick google search:

It is a navy issue stop watch from 1942.
‘They were mostly used for navigation, when shorting stars, sun lines, time to turn.
... And timing torpedo runs’

 

Thanks. I did the quick search and some longer ones too, but I can’t find it anywhere with the black dial in a 60 second timer. That made me wonder if there isn’t something more to know.

 

Yes I was looking at that, obviously you have the a8 stopwatch with the black face that was issued at the same time.
I wonder if the dial was just repainted as a preference? Or Maybe for some sort of black-out manoeuvres?

...or maybe it was just a dial option at the time? As there is also this style:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/254196804008

 

I wonder what those 6.2 second red hash marks are for.

 

Beware guesswork here: For the USN's standard WWII anti-ship torpedo [*] it's the time it would take to travel 100 yards. So when the range to target is known and the torpedo hasn't detonated after traveling far enough then it missed.

Edit: Of course before firing the distance, speed and course of the target would need to be known to calculate the deflection. Not very military, me.


[*] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo