Greetings all.

I was hoping to get some insight into my latest find. The watch is working beautifully internally, And the engraving reads D.B. Williamson which I believe to be Scottish born RAF flight engineer who was a member of RAF 75th (NZ) squadron in WW2.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/loc...-harbour-news/7668749/High-flier-on-a-mission
http://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/16192

Flight engineer on lead plane during bombing of Dresden in Feb 1945.

https://75nzsquadron.wordpress.com/2015/02/15/dresden-another-75-nz-squadron-perspective/

One of the couple of books he is credited with.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nazi-Luftgangster-D-B-Williamson/dp/0473220865/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Quite happy with this find so far can anyone shed any light into what I should be doing with this beautiful watch it runs like a dream, The internals are in great condition will post vid later.

 

First off it seems to be an all original head. Dial, hands, case,crown, bezel, caseback IMO seem to be day 1 factory original. Can't guess about the movement as #1- it may or may not be original to the watch/ #2- it may or may not have ever been serviced! I sense that it is the original movement and may have had a part or 2 switched out but of coarse can't confirm that to you. Only perhaps you may know as you did omit much detail ..as in where and how you obtained the watch and the serial number which could date the movement to the piece! If you do not know if it has ever been serviced than get it serviced ASAP at a reputable watch repair. Do not send it to OMEGA!
Just get the movement lubed up and make it clear not to remove or replace any part, because as you say it runs great! Now you claim it belonged to D.B. Williamson. Do you know this to be fact..... or did you just Google the name (we don't know). None the less it is not a Military issue and without documentation that it was actually his watch, the engrave will not add any value to the watch. Please bare in mind that their is small segment of collectors that like engraved (character) pieces but the majority of collectors of this watch would prefer no engrave. Seems to have no strap and you make no mention so if you were to sell the watch, lack of strap factors in. I notice on the inside of the case back there appears to be scratched in (guessing) 715181. This may be common to the original watch owner as many a person will scratch in the last 6 or 3 digits of a social insurance number for eg. (my own original SM) has the last 3 scratched in. Of coarse the number can reflect anything and these additional markings will not devalue the watch but rather may help you verify the original owner if you have the luck and time to research. Having said all that ...it is a beautiful watch in apparently great shape and they vary from $1800 us to $5500 us depending on where you ever decided to list it and if you chose to do so and how patient you are to get that high end price for it. They average $2800 easily. If it was documented as D.B. Williamson's actual watch, then a military collector would come up with the high end fairly quick I would think. Hope that helps and if I were you... I would keep the watch and get the original model bracelet back on it and treasure it for many years to come. Hope that helps./Cheers

 

Wow! thanks for putting in the time to explain all that to me I really appreciate it. I have taken the watch to get valued and the guy who was manning the only real high end watch store we have in my town, he verified it was genuine and then valued it at $500. He was really persistent in wanting to buy it which makes me think I was right not to trust him.

I found this piece at a secondhand store owned by a charity that is at my local shops. The proof of purchase and the valuation certificate are the only documents I have so far, I was planning on reaching out to the original owner to attain more proof of its origins.

The scratchings on the inside actually spell out R15181 which is consistant with Royal Air Force I.D numbers with R followed by 5 digits as seen on the above Dresden manifest.

This coupled with the fact that there aren't a lot of d.b Williamson's in my research has led me to believe there is no real alternative candidate and now I just need that smoking gun that ties it all together

 

I assume you won't be going back for a movement service

 

$500! You did right trusting your instincts there

Coincidently my grandfather was a turret gunner in a Lancaster during WWII and he flew with a lot of NZ crew and also took part in the Dresden raids.