Is it Dirty or is it Swedish?

Here's an interesting one for the forum. My daughter has an Omega which was once owned by her Grandfather and needs some repair (new crystal and the second hand has dropped off). I always assumed it was one of the Dirty Dozen as her Grandfather referred to it as "the watch King George gave him" - not literally, he was an officer in the Polish Army.

Looking closely it has no broad arrow or W.W.W. markings. The numbers are non-reflective gold. Minutes have railroad markings and the seconds dial is at 6 o'clock. The back is plain apart from the numbers 1026 3005. On the inside of the back it has a triangle with the Ω and OMEGA inside it; the words FAB.- SUISSE and SWISS MADE along with STAYBRITE and STAINLESS STEEL. The movement serial number is 9407685 so it was made in 1939, years before the British government put in their order.

Digging deeper I found the SWEDISH Army ordered watches in the early 1940s too and hers has a similar face but doesn't say "Officer" on it (or have the special back of the Omega Officer). Deeper still and there's a Swedish civilian version called the Suverän - again a similar face but not quite the same and the hands are different.

Now given that her Grandfather was in a Russian prison camp until late 1941/early 1942 when he came out via Persia to fight with the Polish 2nd Corps how would he have been issued with a watch made in 1939 and intended for the Swedish market? Or did Omega sell them inside Switzerland? I know he "visited" Switzerland in the months after WW2 ended as he brought a gold chronograph there.

Any ideas gratefully received - sorry for the poor quality photos. Who knew it was so hard to photo a watch?

Oh and it has sprung bars not welded ones!

I think you need to try again with pics.

THAT bad eh? It's off to the watchmaker tomorrow so maybe later.

It's hard to say from the pictures, but it's probably a civilian version.

I am going to forgive the picture quality, if for no other reason than you now have 3 posts and have yet to ask “How much is this worth?”

Kudos to you! You are a rare bird in the world of “My relative has this watch, and....” 👍

Is the dial black and red?😕

As a Swede I have to say:
It can be both Dirty and Swedish😉


Sorry for not contributing in a meaningful way.

judging by the colouration of the steel, I think it's black but the camera had the wrong settings (terrible focus notwithstanding)

Wouldn't a wartime dirty dozen have the twig & berries lume at 12 and dots at other indices? That alone makes me think this is post-war.